‘Blonde’: Andrew Dominik Likens His NC-17 Marilyn Monroe Movie To ‘Citizen Kane’ & ‘Raging Bull’ Having A Baby

Filmmaker Andrew Dominik‘s new Marilyn Monroe movie “Blonde” starring Ana de Armas (“Blade Runner 2049,” “No Time To Die“) is easily one of the most anticipated films of the year (it’s certainly high on our list). In the Netflix project Armas plays the blonde bombshell actress who tragically died too young. The story is based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name and is expected to explore the darker side of Monroe’s life. It’s been a passion project for Dominik who has been at work on it for years.

The film is being released with an NC-17 rating, something of a first for Netflix, and while promoting his upcoming Nick Cave/Warren Ellis documentary music film, “This Much I Know To Be True,” Dominik used a lot of big superlatives and lofty comparisons to describe “Blonde.”

READ MORE: Andrew Dominik’s ‘Blonde’ Starring Ana de Armas Confirmed For NC-17 Rating

“Netflix is letting me release the movie I wanted to make, and even with the NC-17 rating, I think that’s pretty good,” Dominik told Collider. As many suspected, “Blonde” has been ready for some time (since July 2021) and could have conceivably premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year. In fact, that’s where it’s likely going to premiere this year.

“I guess it could have gone to Venice last year,” he explained. “It could have come out in the sort of fall crop last year, but…it took a while to cut it. All my films take a while to cut. The idea is it goes to Venice now, so what’s that, September?” Yes, indeed it is.

The filmmaker, known for not being very shy about his ambitions and aims, likened the movie to two masterpieces, one from Orson Welles and one from Martin Scorsese.

“Blonde is a movie for all the unloved children of the world. It’s like ‘Citizen Kane‘ and ‘Raging Bull‘ had a baby daughter,” he said.

Dominik says the film will have familiar elements from Monroe’s career that the public will identify with, but will try and put her into context as a human being with struggles that many didn’t know about at the time.

“It uses all the imagery that you have seen of Marilyn Monroe, the films, and photographs of her life. But it changes the meaning of all those things in accordance with her internal drama. So it’s sort of a movie about the unconscious in a way. And it’s a tragedy. It’s sort of like an unwanted child who becomes the most wanted woman in the world and has to deal with all of the desire that is directed at her, and how confusing that is. It’s kind of a nightmare. It’s about being in a car with no brakes. It’s just going faster and faster and faster,” Dominik revealed.

Other cast members include Oscar-winner Adrien Brody as Arthur Miller and Bobby Cannavale as Joe DiMaggio.

If “Blonde” premieres in Venice in September, which seems likely, that probably means Netflix will be releasing the movie sometime after that in the fall, during the awards season. October or November are probably good bets, giving the film’s sure-to-be-controversial moments time to explode in the online and social discourse. A good point of comparison would be Jane Campion‘s “The Power Of The Dog” arthouse film which Netflix released on November 17 of last year. Stay tuned.