As if there weren’t already enough reasons to look forward to the upcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, here’s one more: director Andrew Dominik has warned that everybody will be “offended” when it comes out.
Talking to Vulture, the director – who spent the best part of ten years adapting the book of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates into a film – explained that it was “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,” he added. “There’s something in it to offend everyone.”
Blonde, the biopic of Marilyn Monroe’s life, raised eyebrows back in March when it was officially rated NC-17 in the US, making it the first Netflix Original film to be given the dubious accolade.
In the UK, this translates to an 18 rating, most likely due to its explicit sexual content.
Dominik added that he was “surprised” by the decision.
“I thought we’d colored inside the lines,” he explained.
“It’s not like depictions of happy sexuality. It’s depictions of situations that are ambiguous… 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?”
Blonde was originally due for release in 2020, but was pushed back due to the pandemic – something that Dominik added had an interesting effect on the way the film would likely be perceived.
It’s an interesting time for Blonde to come out. 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.”
Though no release date or trailer has yet been announced, Netflix have confirmed that the film is finally set to drop on its platform later this year, so keep your eyes peeled.
