Filmmaker Andrew Dominik has already created history with his upcoming fictional Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde being the first-ever Netflix Original film to have received an NC-17 rating, which frankly “surprised” the director. Already quite controversial, Netflix bosses were allegedly miffed with the initial graphic content; now, Dominik has promised to “offend everyone” with the film.
Starring Adrien Brody and Ana de Armas, the film is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ eponymous novel.
Knives Out star Ana de Armas will star as Norma Jeane in this re-imagining of Monroe’s life while the film will chart Norma’s rise to stardom, the “childhood drama” and the various trials and tribulations in her life as she went on to become an icon.
Killing Them Softly filmmaker, Dominik described the film as the story of “an unwanted child who becomes the most wanted person in the world and can’t deal with all of that desire coming at them.”
He also had an interesting way of saying how Blonde is a “baby daughter” of films like Citizen Kane and Raging Bull which would not have been made without the #MeToo movement as “nobody was interested in that sort of shit, what it’s like to be an unloved girl, or what it’s like to go through the Hollywood meat-grinder.”
The director said, “I think if I’m given the choice, I’d rather go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story. Because we know that her life was on the edge, clearly, from the way it ended. Do you want to see the warts-and-all version or do you want to see that sanitized version?”
Blonde was originally scheduled for a 2021 debut at the Cannes but failed due to last-minute edits. After the streamer did not partake in the 2022 Cannes Festival either, Dominik has been aiming at Venice International Film Festival.
Dominik did not hold back from talking about how a “big business” like Netflix has “much bigger fish to fry” and would rather invest their marketing strategies for big-budget films and not for $22 million films like Blonde.
Dominik has also promised the film to not be “as cut-and-dried as people want to see it. There’s something in it to offend everyone.”
Stay tuned for more updates regarding the upcoming film which will release sometime this year.