CINEMA NEWS – Even though Blonde is a fictional story about Marilyn Monroe, some people are still not happy about Ana de Armas’ accent in the film.

The arrival of the full trailer for Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde has sparked quite a bit of backlash, much of it directed against the star’s Ana de Armas accent, which is still present in the iconic actress’ portrayal. Along with that, the trailer reignited earlier complaints that the film was just another way to exploit Monroe’s life and the traumas of her life. However, the complaints are mostly unnecessary, considering that the feature film is not a biopic but a fictionalized version of Monroe’s life based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

Blonde is told from Monroe’s point of view, showing her perspective and opinion on her life and how the world saw her as Marilyn rather than Norma Jeane. Although the film had been in development for over a decade and several actresses had previously applied for the lead role, No Time To Die’s Ana de Armas finally won the coveted role.

According to a report from The Times, de Armas underwent nearly a year of vocal training, but as you can see in the trailer, his natural accent really comes through. Since the actress only transitioned to English-language roles in 2015’s Knock Knock, it’s no surprise that she hasn’t lost her accent, which was clearly not a factor that writer-director Andrew Dominik had a problem with. Since the story doesn’t stay true to Monroe’s true story, it looks like the complaints won’t cause sleepless nights for Netflix or anyone involved with the film.

Despite these minor gripes, the trailer for Blonde presents the film as a fascinating mix of colour and black-and-white, with a story as intriguing as Marilyn Monroe herself. Since Netflix has had some underwhelming movies of late, with the likes of Red Notice still pulling in huge ratings while being heavily ripped by critics, Blonde could change all that. De Armas looks flawless as Monroe, and was praised by author Oates, who praised the fact that the actress wore makeup for four hours to become the icon for the shoot. Oates also spoke about the director Dominik: “Andrew Dominik is a very brilliant director. I think he managed to show Norma Jeane Baker’s experience from her point of view, not from the outside, looking at a woman through the male gaze. She was immersed in her perspective”.

The supporting cast of Blonde includes the following stars: Adrien Brody as Arthur Miller, Bobby Cannavale as Joe DiMaggio, Julianne Nicholson as Gladys Pearl Baker, Caspar Phillipson as John F. Kennedy, Toby Huss as Allan “Whitey” Snyder, Sara Paxton as Miss Flynn, David Warshofsky as Darryl F. Zanuck, Evan Williams as Edward G. Robinson Jr., Xavier Samuel as Charles Chaplin Jr., Michael Masini as Tony Curtis, Luke Whoriskey as James Dean, and Garret Dillahunt, Scoot McNairy, Lucy DeVito, Chris Lemmon and Dan Butler.

Blonde debuts on Netflix on September 23rd.

Source: Movieweb