Overview
First came Princess Diana, then Elvis, then Marilyn Monroe. That's not how it happened in reality, of course, but it's how 2022's big biopics are shaping up Down Under. This year has already seen both Spencer and Elvis sashay onto local screens — and, because star-studded movies about stars are a film buff's best friend, or so studios seem to think, Netflix's Blonde will follow come September.
Here's hoping that the long-awaited feature — which started shooting back in 2019, but was delayed due to the pandemic — completes a trifecta of excellent recent films about icons, too. It has just as wild, chaotic and tragic a story to tell, and someone just as famous at its centre. This take on Monroe's life is based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, so it'll spin a piece of biographical fiction; however, looking at the just-dropped full Blonde trailer, there's plenty that sticks with the facts in the movie's frames.
Dresses, moments, that titular hair, the husbands, the fame, the scrutiny: they're all a part of this haunting sneak peek at the film, which sees Ana de Armas hopping from Knives Out, No Time to Die and The Gray Man into her biggest role yet. The trailer features her voiceover throughout, explaining the toll that all that success had. "I can't face doing another scene with Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn doesn't exist. When I come out of my dressing room, I'm Norma Jeane," she says.
"Marilyn Monroe only exists on the screen," she continues — and that's clearly set to be a constant point throughout the movie. Blonde will peer back at the days when she was only known as Norma Jeane, explore her rise to stardom, and look at her romances as well, all to unpack the gap between who she was in private and the persona that the public demanded.
Blonde hits Netflix on Wednesday, September 28, with Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik both writing and directing, and the cast also featuring Bobby Cannavale (Nine Perfect Strangers), Adrien Brody (Succession), Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown), Xavier Samuel (Elvis) and Evan Williams (Westworld).
Of course, de Armas isn't the first actor to step into the icon's shoes — and twirling frocks and diamonds, too — or to do so in an adaptation of Oates' book. Aussie actor Poppy Montgomery (Christmas on the Farm) did the same back in 2001, in a made-for-TV version also called Blonde.
Elsewhere, Michelle Williams (Venom: Let There Be Carnage) did the honours in the unrelated 2011 movie My Week with Marilyn, and earned an Oscar nomination in the process, while Mira Sorvino (Shining Vale) and Ashley Judd (Berlin Station) shared the part — one as Marilyn, the other as Norma — in 1996 TV effort Norma Jean & Marilyn.
Check out the trailer for Blonde below:
Blonde will be available to stream via Netflix Down Under on Wednesday, September 28.
Images: 2022 © Netflix.