Starring Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne Nicholson, the upcoming Netflix biopic on Marilyn Monroe, titled Blonde has already stirred conversations with its NC-17 rating and allegedly graphic content.
Directed by Andrew Dominik, the film will chronicle the life of the iconic Marilyn Monroe who continues to be a pop-cultural phenomenon, decades after her untimely demise that left a huge gap in the industry.
However, the graphic content led to an unprecedented delay in the release as the streamer was not happy with the filmmaker’s explicit and raunchy version of the project which apparently contained overt sexual and misogynistic tones in the portrayal of the legend’s life.
While Netflix had hoped for the biopic to partake in the Oscar race, the film, which borders on the “obtuse arthouse” realm, left them disgruntled, and the director soon engaged in a conflict with the studio, causing further delay.
The filmmaker has, however, opened up about how Blonde is a “demanding movie” and could make Netflix history. He said, “If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the fucking audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office.”
Talking about how “it’s kind of what you want, right”, the filmmaker talked about how the film would focus on the story of an “unloved girl” who had to endure the “Hollywood meat-grinder.” When asked about the alleged cunnilingus scene with menstrual blood that led to the delay in release, the filmmaker said it was all false but indeed “hilarious”.
Expressing “gratitude for Netflix”, he said, “It’s much easier to support stuff when you like it. It’s much harder when you don’t.”
Ana de Armas will indeed have a busy 2022 with Blonde, The Gray Man and other projects down the pipeline.
