Ana de Armas says that she and the crew visited Marilyn Monroe's grave to ask permission for upcoming film Blonde. The Netflix film comes after plenty of media centered on Hollywood starlet Monroe, including 2012 biopic My Week with Marilyn, 2001's Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days, and 1991 TV movie Norma Jean and Marilyn. While some projects have leaned more heavily into biography, others take liberties with the icon's life and fictionalize aspects of the history. Blonde, which stars de Armas as Monroe, will take the latter approach, basing itself on the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name rather than Monroe's real life.
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Directed by Andrew Dominik, Blonde has been marketed as a no-holds-barred, nearly sordid exploration of Monroe's life, even earning an NC-17 rating. Alongside de Armas, the film will star Adrien Brody as Arthur Miller, Bobby Cannavale as Joe DiMaggio, Julianne Nicholson as Gladys Pearl Baker, and Caspar Phillipson as John F. Kennedy. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Monroe was known to have a complicated relationship with her public persona, and she eventually passed away as a result of a drug overdose at 36 years of age. The actor's personal life was often commented on and picked apart by the public and the media, which makes any project seeking to chronicle those sensationalized events inherently delicate. According to de Armas, she approached her role with the utmost respect for the late performer, including a unique visit.
In a conversation with AnOther Magazine, de Armas revealed that she and the rest of the crew had an interesting way of getting in touch with Monroe while filming. As de Armas recounts, they signed a card and put it on her grave as a way of "asking permission" from the star to tell this version of her story. See what de Armas had to say below:
“We got this big card and everyone in the crew wrote a message to her. Then we went to the cemetery and put it on her grave. We were asking for permission in a way. Everyone felt a huge responsibility, and we were very aware of the side of the story we were going to tell – the story of Norma Jeane, the person behind this character, Marilyn Monroe. Who was she really?”
De Armas' comments show the lengths she and the rest of the crew were willing to go in order to pay respect to Monroe with Blonde. Though a grave visit may seem like a small gesture, de Armas and the crew could have taken a different approach to the material since their film is a fictionalized version of Monroe's life. The fact that they felt a responsibility to "ask permission" and connect with the star in this way shows that, though some events in Blonde may be fiction, the film and novel alike seek to point to a greater emotional truth, allowing audiences to gain an understanding of the Marilyn behind the mask that history just can't reach. Based on de Armas' statements, the truth of who Monroe was remained a driving force through their rendition of her story, making the graveside visit a fitting way to honor her.
While some could call de Armas' approach to connecting with Monroe strange, it's clear that she took her duty as an actor bringing the starlet to life once again very seriously. With so many biopics and projects about Monroe, Blonde is working to set itself apart with the intentionality behind the film, which de Armas speaks to here. Her approach seems to have paid off, with early reviews for the film praising de Armas' performance. With a generally positive critical reaction ahead of its September 28 release on Netflix, Blonde promises an updated and respectful portrait of the iconic star.