Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Ana De Armas will ‘offend everyone’ says director Andrew Dominik

The NC-17 rated biopic of Marilyn Monroe starring Ana de Armas has ‘something in it to offend everyone’ said the film’s Australian director Andrew Dominik.

The 54-year-old New Zealand native in an interview with Vulture on Wednesday said he was surprised the upcoming Netflix film received the NC-17 rating, which does not allow anyone under 18 to watch in theaters in any circumstance. 

‘On the one hand, I think if I’m given the choice, I’d rather go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story. Because we know that her life was on the edge, clearly, from the way it ended. Do you want to see the warts-and-all version or do you want to see that sanitized version?,’ Dominik said.

Blonde, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, has been a longtime project for Dominik with shooting first scheduled to start way back in January 2011.

Dominik said it was an ‘interesting time’ for Blonde to be released.

‘If it had come out a few years ago, it would have come out right when Me Too hit and it would have been an expression of all that stuff. We’re in a time now, I think, where people are really uncertain about where any lines are,’ he said.

‘It’s a film that definitely has a morality about it. But it swims in very ambiguous waters because I don’t think it will be as cut-and-dried as people want to see it. There’s something in it to offend everyone,’ Dominik added.

Jessica Chastain, 45, was in talks in 2014 to play Monroe.

Cuban actress de Armas, 34, in late 2019 was cast in the lead role.

Dominik gushed about the actress while responding to a question about his casting of Australian actor and comedian Eric Bana, 53, to portray notorious Australian criminal Mark ‘Chopper’ Read in his 2000 biopic Chopper.

‘He could do Mark. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, the real guy? It’s unbelievable how close Eric is to that guy. His own father thought that in some parts of Chopper, it was actually Mark. Usually, the problem with most films is they’re miscast. Not most films, but it can happen,’ Dominik said.

‘It’s the same problem with Blonde. You have to cast somebody that you buy as Marilyn Monroe. She’s amazing, that girl. You’ve got no idea, dude. You’ve got no idea how good Ana is. She’s as good as James Gandolfini,’ he declared.

Blonde is scheduled for release in September on Netflix and will be the streaming service’s first original film to garner an NC-17 rating.