‘Blonde’ star Ana de Armas on the two faces of Marilyn Monroe

Ana de Armas channels Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s movie, Blonde, now  streaming on Netflix, and starring Adrien Brody as Arthur Miller. The film explains the unseen abuses and trauma that the indelible 1950s film icon experienced out of the public eye. Referring to her as a sex symbol sounds inflammatory in this age of #TimesUp, #MeToo and wokeness. But, in her own epoch, no-one epitomised that image more than the voluptuous, platinum-haired actress who had a gift for comedy and self-deprecation and who continues to fascinate as an icon of the silver screen to this day.

To say that the film is controversial is an understatement. De Armas spends much of the movie braless and engages in sexual encounters that leave little to the imagination, including a close-up of an oral sex act that is shot so the audience feels like the recipient. There are also long scenes that focus on the Hollywood star’s foetus — spoiler alert. In Blonde’s almost three-hour runtime, Monroe undergoes two abortions and loses a pregnancy which the audience views from between her legs.

Abortion advocates have suggested this film will be welcomed by right-to-life proponents.

A New York Times review called Dominik’s portrayal problematic. “Dominik ends up reducing Marilyn to the very image — the goddess, the sexpot, the pin-up, the commodity — that he also seems to be trying to critique,” writes Manohla Dargis. “It’s a baffling take,” she continues, “though particularly when he takes us inside Marilyn’s vagina — twice, once in colour and once in black-and-white — while she’s having abortions. I’m still not sure if this is meant to represent the point of view of her cervix or foetuses, who also make appearances. It certainly isn’t Marilyn’s.”

Blonde, based on a 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oats and produced by Brad Pitt’s company, Plan B Entertainment, focuses on Norma Jeane Mortenson (Marilyn’s real name) in segments that are true and fictional. The film follows her trajectory from a troubled childhood to becoming recognised as the most famous Hollywood star of the 1950s and early 1960s. It exposes her private life, her off-screen dramas including the men she was associated with, her loves, her losses, her exploitation by the industry’s moguls and others and her drug addiction.

At the Venice Film Festival, De Armas discussed the balance of portraying the two aspects of the star: the public persona and the more problematic, behind-the-scenes personality. “I didn’t approach it in the sense of switching back and forth,” explained the 34-year-old. “It was the same person I was portraying.”

She pauses, a little frustrated at the inability to articulate exactly how she managed to inhabit such contrasting aspects of the same person. “It’s so hard to explain. I was connected to both of them emotionally at all times. It wasn’t a conscious decision when I was going to be more Marilyn or more Norma Jeane. It would just happen.”

Marilyn was a glamorous movie star who men wanted to own and women wanted to be like. Norma Jeane was a fragile survivor of a traumatic childhood whose mother was institutionalised leaving her young daughter to be raised by the state. Both aspects of the personality existed. The silver screen star was a cover for the insecurities of the vulnerable child.

“It was difficult,” notes the actress, who at 1.6m is the same height as Norma Jeane. “The film focuses more on the Norma Jeane element of the star’s character,” says De Armas. “And then, of course, Marilyn Monroe takes over a few times. She’s also present — I mean, she was two sides of the same person. They fed each other. They needed each other.”

De Armas explains the process: “It was very immersive, a long process of preparation and understanding the character because I wasn’t very aware of Marilyn. I was familiar with some of her movies, but really learning about her was a huge discovery for me and an immense learning process. I started by reading Oates’s book and, of course, the script. Then I worked with director Andrew Dominik for months, learning about her and getting to know or her,” she says, adding that parts of the biopic were filmed in her house where the crew noticed a strong sensation that ‘something’ was in the air.

“The majority of the film is about the moments that aren’t public knowledge. The intimate moments that are not on camera,” says the Knives Out star. Ironically, these are the aspects that many viewers of the film have taken issue with. “We wanted the biopic to be very detailed and honour Marilyn as Norma Jeane’s alter ego, but I had a lot of room to create the real woman underneath that façade.”

Also known for her roles in the 007 film, No Time to Die, and Blade Runner 2049, De Armas, who dated her former Deep Water co-star Ben Affleck for a year, confesses: “It was about understanding, empathising and connecting with the character’s pain and trauma. If you put aside the movie star that she was, she’s just a woman like me. Same age and also, like myself, an actress in the industry.”

On the more controversial aspects of the film, De Armas had no illusions about what she was taking on. “I knew I had to be open to the project. I had to go to places in my psyche that I knew would be uncomfortable, dark and vulnerable. But I think that’s where I found the connection. Who she was. I wanted to find her emotional truth.”

What was her takeaway lesson from portraying such a troubled star? “The character I played provoked a little more empathy and respect for actors who find themselves in difficult situations. Actors who not only live with so much pressure from the media but must also contend with the awareness of the damage that can cause to their mental state. 

“No-one is prepared to live under that pressure and the expectations of who the public supposes them to be — what people project on to stars, what they want them to be. I’ve learnt to understand that more, how to protect myself better to avoid putting myself in that situation. I learnt that Marilyn was extremely strong. She tried to do her best.”

• Entertainment journalist Margaret Gardiner is a former Miss SA and was the first South African woman to win the Miss Universe Pageant. Follow her on YouTube or Instagram.