Ana de Armas Blonde
Blonde. L to R: Xavier Samuel as Cass Chaplin, Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe and Evan Williams as Eddy G. Robinson Jr.. Cr. Matt Kennedy / Netflix © 2022

Ahead of the Venice International Film Festival next month, the first full trailer to the explosive biopic Blonde has been released by Netflix. I was forced to do a double, if not triple take this morning as Ana de Armas perfectly resembled Marilyn Monroe and her real self embodiment as Norma Jean Mortenson.

Directed by Andrew Dominik, the forthcoming film is adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name. Instead of documenting the life of Monroe from life to death — like many biopic films do — it is set to “explore the complicated life” of the Hollywood icon. The two-minute teaser reveals recogniszble moments from the actress’  career including her pink-fueled diamonds performance.

In a February interview with Screen Daily, Dominik explained, “It’s a demanding movie. If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the f**king audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office. It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe, it’s kind of what you want, right? I want to go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story.”

Blonde. Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. Cr. Netflix © 2022

Transforming into the blonde bombshell was a long and arduous process for the Cuban actress. In an earlier interview de Armas recalled spending four hours in the makeup chair each day.

Blonde Ana de Armas
Blonde. L to R: Choreographer Denna Thomsen and Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. Cr. Matt Kennedy / Netflix © 2022
American actress and singer Marilyn Monroe on the set of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes directed by Howard Hawks. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
Blonde. Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. Cr. Netflix © 2022
Film star Marilyn Monroe poses over a Manhattan subway grate as the wind blows her white dress up. Photographers capture the moment on camera, which takes place on September 16, 1954, during the filming of Seven Year Itch. Reportedly, Monroe’s husband Joe DiMaggio was displeased at the attention his wife received from the crowds.

“I had to go bald every day, because with the blonde wigs… [Marilyn] went through different shades of blonde from golden to really platinum, so for these wigs that are beautifully made, you can’t have anything dark underneath, so we had to make a bald cap every single day from my forehead to [around] my whole head,” she explained to Byrdie.

The film also stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne Nicholson and will receive a screening in Venice before it’s released onto Netflix from September 23.