Sadly, the fictional Marilyn Monroe musical from the TV show Smash, “Bombshell,” doesn’t seem to be making its Broadway debut any time soon, but we are getting another look at the life and loves of Marilyn Monroe: Blonde, starring Ana de Armas. The movie—based on the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name—was bought by Netflix, and will hit the streamer after premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September.
Here’s everything we know about the project.
A 700-page historical fiction account of Monroe’s life (and, crucially, inner life) by Joyce Carol Oates. The novel explores the idea that Monroe may have been assassinated, which is, um, very unlikely, but a very good story! In fact, Oates’s novel proved popular enough to be turned into a two-part miniseries a year after it was published. We expect this newer adaptation to make more of a splash.
It doesn’t look like Oates had much of a hand in writing the screenplay, which is credited to director Andrew Dominik online, but she’s already supportive of the project, calling the footage she’s seen “brilliant” on Twitter.
Twitter content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The official reasoning is “sexuality,” but director Andrew Dominik said he was initially “surprised” by the rating in a Vulture interview. “It’s not like depictions of happy sexuality,” he said. “It’s depictions of situations that are ambiguous. And Americans are really strange when it comes to sexual behavior, don’t you think?” Dominik added that he’d rather see the NC-17 Marilyn Monroe story rather than a sanitized one.
In addition to de Armas as the titular blonde, the movie will feature several well-known faces playing well-known names. Adrien Brody is the Playwright (a.k.a. Monroe’s husband, Death of a Salesman scribe Arthur Miller), and Bobby Cannavale plays the Ex Athlete (another Monroe husband: Yankees centerfielder Joe DiMaggio). Caspar Phillipson, who bears an uncanny resemblance to JFK and played him in Jackie, will play the President, per Time Out.
The film is produced by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B Entertainment, and is scored by Nick Cave.
