Ana de Armas Doesn’t Understand Blonde’s NC-17 Rating

Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde has been officially rated NC-17, but that’s perplexing for the film’s lead star, Ana de Armas. In the film, Armas plays the late Hollywood legend, and as the star of the movie, she was recently asked about the film’s rating by French magazine L’Officiel. Per THR, here’s what Armas had to say in response.

“I didn’t understand why that happened. I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than Blonde. But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”

Director Andrew Dominik has previously said he wasn’t surprised by the NC-17 rating, as he knew he was pushing the envelope with the content included in Blonde. For Dominik, it was more important to accurately tell Monroe’s story than to give the film the censorship that would have been required to get an R-rating. As he told Screen Daily:

“It’s a demanding movie. If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the f***ing 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.”

Related: Ana de Armas’ Best Movies from the 2010s, Ranked

Blonde Has Also Faced Criticism for Its Casting

When the trailer for Blonde was released, there had been some complaints on social media about the casting of a Cuban actress as Marilyn Monroe. While director Andrew Dominik said that there had been some work involved with getting Armas’ accent right for the film, he was blown away by her performance. No matter what criticism ultimately meets the movie when it is released, Dominik is confident that people will be satisfied with Armas in the role, regardless of her ethnicity.

“She is f***ing amazing – the one thing nobody’s going to complain about is [de Armas’] performance.”

Blonde is based on an original novel by Joyce Carol Oates. Along with Ana de Armas, the film stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher, Evan Williams, Toby Huss, David Warshofsky, Caspar Phillipson, Dan Butler, Sara Paxton, and Rebecca Wisocky. It will be released in theaters on Sept. 16, 2022, followed by its streaming release on Netflix on Sept. 28. You can check out the official trailer and synopsis for Blonde below.

Based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde boldly reimagines the life of Marilyn Monroe, exploring the split between her public and private selves.