Andrew Dominik's 'Blonde' And Paul Verhoeven's 'Benedetta' Reportedly Pushed Back To 2021 Release Date

With a global pandemic forcing theaters around the world to shut down and film festivals to cancel, dozens upon dozens of films both big and small are now changing their release dates. Among them are the anticipated “Benedetta” by Paul Verhoeven, and Andrew Dominik‘s “Blonde,” starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. The films were expected to premiere at one of the major 2020 film festivals, but due to the global pandemic, both films are reportedly opening in 2021 instead.

We’d previously written about how Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” was reportedly going to play at this year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival before the festival was canceled. The French-language film stars Virginie Efira as a lesbian Italian nun during the 17th Century who was accused of fabricating miracles.

The film’s producer, Saïd Ben Saïd shared the news on Twitter, saying “‘Benedetta’ by Paul Verhoeven will be released in France in May 2021. I saw the film again this morning with great enthusiasm and said to myself, God forgive me, that it could ‘make entries’.” After his previous film, “Elle” resulted in an Oscar nod for Isabelle Huppert, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for next May.

Similarly, another film that was expected to be released this year is Andrew Dominik’s Netflix film “Blonde.” Dominik gave us one of the best films of the 2000s with “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” but then followed that up with the disappointing “Killing Them Softly,” so a lot was riding on “Blonde” which follows a fictionalized version of the inner life of Marilyn Monroe. The film also stars Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale as Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio, respectively.

According to IndieWire, “Blonde” is now intended for 2021, though it is unclear whether they’d still try to have the film play in festivals before a theatrical release.