Ana de Armas finally made her debut as Norma Jean after months (or years; who knows) of speculation. Actress plays Marilyn Monroe for the first time and has an identity struggle in the first full-length teaser for Andrew Dominik's highly-anticipated (almost legendary) Blonde. Despite her Hollywood success, Norma Jean doesn't regard herself as Marilyn Monroe.
As the trailer progresses, a smooth rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" plays in the background, creating the ideal balance between creepy and lovely. The clip begins with Bobby Cannavale (who plays "The Ex-Athlete") asking Marilyn at dinner, "How did you get your start?"
She claims she "never got her start," Marilyn says. She was suddenly thrust into the spotlight, and fame hasn't left her side since.
She sobs, "I guess I was discovered." You're just meant to get accustomed to it, I know. However, I simply cannot. I've acted in numerous roles based on Marilyn Monroe. I just can't bring myself to play Marilyn Monroe again. The existence of Marilyn is a complete fabrication.
It's clear that the actress isn't happy with her life, as the teaser shows her looking tired and uneasy on the sets of classic movies like Some Like It Hot and The Seven Year Itch, particularly during the famous subway grate scene from the latter. The photographers are as oppressive as the glitzy gowns. Marilyn looks at herself in the mirror and seems to chuckle, but she isn't actually laughing in this great scenario. The girl in the mirror is the only one who is laughing; her true identity is silently watching from the other side.
After such box office successes as Knives Out and No Time to Die, Ana de Armas appears to be delivering another career-best performance. Within the span of two minutes, she goes from dazzling an audience full of A-listers to screaming her lungs out in a burning building, demonstrating the whole gamut of her celebrity aura. You may go home, filmmaker Andrew Dominik; the spotlight has shifted to Marilyn Monroe and Ana de Armas.
However, de Armas' accent as Monroe, whose lilting, breathy voice is indelible to her legacy, has already been met with mixed reactions. Some people have found de Armas' Cuban-Spanish accent "distracting," yet she has staunch supporters who have defended her.
One Twitter user said that the fact that people were complaining about Ana de Armas' Spanish accent in the BLONDE teaser was a contributing factor to the difficulty of actresses whose first language is not English finding work in the entertainment industry. Audiences are willing to suspend disbelief for masked individuals with superpowers, but they won't go for foreign accents.
Dominik-related buzz has been building for some time as the film, scheduled for a late 2022 release, gets ready to hit theaters. He has already middle-fingered people who aren't interested in seeing his film. Furthermore, he has been somewhat conceited about the fact that Blonde has been given the extremely unusual NC-17 rating. But now that it's headed to Netflix, I don't see how the streaming service can prevent it from being viewed by young adults.
It's a very hard film. That stupid audience has a problem if they don't like it. Dominik said to Screen Daily, "The picture is not a political campaign." An NC-17 film starring Marilyn Monroe is roughly what you're want, right? If there's an NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story, I'd like to see it.
The film's numerous setbacks—production on it didn't begin until 2010—have only increased the anticipation for it. However, on September 1st, Blonde will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and on September 28th, it will be available on Netflix.
