The official trailer for Blonde gives the most detailed look yet at Ana de Armas in the role of Marilyn Monroe. The film, which brings to life the lurid story behind the classic film star who appeared in iconic projects including Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, is a fictionalization of Monroe's life, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. Brought to the screen by director Andrew Dominik, who previously dabbled in historical revisionism for his Oscar-nominated 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Blonde will be rated NC-17 (for graphic sexual content), the first streaming exclusive film for which that is the case.
The film will follow Monroe through her career's dizzying rise, breathing life into some of the most notorious myths about her life, including her alleged affair with President John F. Kennedy (Caspar Phillipson, who previously played the same role in 2016's Jackie). The film will also detail her two high-profile celebrity marriages, to baseball star Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and The Crucible playwright Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody). The large ensemble cast also includes David Warshofsky as studio exec Darryl F. Zanuck, Eric Matheny as Monroe's Niagara co-star Joseph Cotten, and Xavier Samuels as Charlie Chaplin Jr.
Netflix unveiled the first official trailer for Blonde. While there was previously a 45-second teaser for the film released in mid-June, that only showed a brief black-and-white clip accompanied by some quick flashes of moody imagery. This new glimpse at the upcoming film shows the full scope of the star's lurid life, showing the cracks as the actress struggles with her identity. Check it out below:
One thing that is particularly interesting about this trailer is the way that it switches frequently between black-and-white and color. It is currently unclear if this is a stylistic choice for the trailer meant to highlight Monroe’s status as a classic film star, or a feature of the film itself. If so, it may take a similar route to Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical Belfast, bursting into color in particularly emotional or “real” moments, highlighting the difference between Marilyn Monroe and her true identity of Norma Jean Mortensen.
As much as Blonde is mythologizing the larger-than-life exploits of Monroe, the trailer makes one thing very clear. The filmmakers are interested in Monroe first and foremost, and in fact there’s hardly a line of dialogue present that isn’t spoken by her. Even though it will be fabricating certain elements, the story is clearly first and foremost going to be about digging into the psyche of the woman behind the facade.
Source: Netflix
