What a week it’s been for Marilyn Monroe. On Thursday, Netflix released the trailer for Blonde, the highly anticipated NC-17-rated Marilyn Monroe flick starring Ana de Armas.
Content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde reimagines the life and times of Monroe from her origin as Norma Jeane Baker to her ascent to Hollywood stardom. It’s directed by The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’s Andrew Dominik and also stars Bobby Cannavale, Adrien Brody, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel and Evan Williams.
“I read Joyce’s novel, studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, films — anything I could get my hands on,” de Armas shared in an interview with Netflix’s Queue. “Every scene is inspired by an existing photograph. We’d pore over every detail in the photo and debate what was happening in it. The first question was always, ‘What was Norma Jeane feeling here?’ We wanted to tell the human side of her story. Fame is what made Marilyn the most visible person in the world, but it also made Norma the most invisible.”
The black and white trailer finds Marilyn sitting before a vanity in distress. “Please come. Don’t abandon me,” she ekes out as a makeup artist, wipes away her tears and attempts to finish her eyeliner. “She’s coming,” he assures her. As cameras flash on Marilyn’s iconic subway grate moment, a melancholy version of “Diamond’s are a Girl’s Best Friend” plays. The trailer than pivots from black-and-white to technicolor to catch Marilyn stepping out of a limo and on stage in a shoulder-baring pink gown.
We then pivot back to black-and-white to find Marilyn at the vanity. “She’s coming,” her makeup artist says. “She’s almost here.” De Armas gains her composure, then flashes that classic Marilyn mega-watt smile to end the trailer.
Who is Marilyn so desperate to see? You’ll have to wait till Blonde debuts on Netflix on September 23rd to find out.
