De Armas stars as the late bombshell in Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde,” an NC-17 portrait of the iconic film star. De Armas bares all for the film, emotionally and physically, spending long sequences topless and, at one point, fully nude. “I did things in this movie I would have never done for anyone else, ever,” de Armas told Variety. “I did it for her, and I did it for Andrew.” While de Armas previously said she was baffled by the NC-17 rating for the Netflix film, streaming September 28, the “No Time to Die” alum can anticipate which sequences will “go viral” because of her nudity, much like in her 2015 feature “Knock Knock” opposite Keanu Reeves.
“I know what’s going to go viral, and it’s disgusting,” de Armas explained. “It’s upsetting just to think about it. I can’t control it; you can’t really control what they do and how they take things out of context.”
Related Andrew Dominik: It’s ‘Kind of Strange’ That Fans Wanted Marilyn Monroe to Be ‘an Empowered Woman’ in ‘Blonde’ ‘Don’t Worry Darling,’ ‘Blonde,’ and the Faux Feminism of 2022’s Most Debated Films (Opinion) Related New Movies: Release Calendar for December 23, Plus Where to Watch the Latest Films Oscars 2023: Best Sound Predictions
She added, “I don’t think it gave me second thoughts; it just gave me a bad taste to think about the future of those clips.”
“Blonde” director Dominik noted that “in a way, Ana’s not aware of how good she is” as Monroe onscreen. “Certainly, when we were shooting the film, I don’t think she had an inkling of how extraordinary it really was,” the writer/director said.
De Armas noted that she could “feel” Monroe “in my body” while on set, and even felt Monroe’s presence on set after visiting her grave in Los Angeles. As for the nudity onscreen, de Armas told L’Officiel that “Blonde” is far less explicit than other films.
“I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than ‘Blonde,’” she said. “But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”
For all the details on “Blonde,” click here.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.