Ana de Armas
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Ana de Armas attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

“I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.” – Marilyn Monroe

Ana de Armas has arrived at the 2023 Academy Awards in a scene stealing Louis Vuitton gown which took 1000 hours to create. With subtle beading and three-dimensional embroidery, its classic silhouette is a nod to Marilyn Monroe – the screen siren de Armas played in the controversial television series Blonde.

The 31-year-old Cuban actress is nominated for Best Actress this evening for the role. She will go head to head with Cate Blanchett (TÁR), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans), Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie).

Ana de Armas
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Ana de Armas attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Ana de Armas
THE OSCARS® – The 95th Oscars® will air live from the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT. (ABC)
ANA DE ARMAS

It’s a polarising thing when the performance of the lead actor/actress was so well received only for the film itself not to be (indeed it was considered by many critics as exploitative for old times’ sake). No one could argue, however, that de Armas did Norma Jean Baker justice.

“In Blonde, we re-created a lot of scenes from the films she was in,” she told W Magazine. “I saw all of them several times—the ones we re-created, I watched on repeat. Andrew, the director, is very meticulous and detailed. We had two monitors on set, one playing the real scene with Marilyn, and one with us. We had to do everything spot on, or he would not move on. It was a lot of pressure, but a lot of fun too. It was mind-blowing to do those scenes; it felt very special and kind of surreal.”

Ana de Armas
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Ana de Armas attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Meet me back to here to see if de Armas takes the win.