Ana de Armas offers up a taste of the darker side of Hollywood, its adoring and obsessive crowds and incessantly flashing photo bulbs as Marilyn Monroe in the second look at Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe pic Blonde.
Netflix released a second trailer for the upcoming NC-17 feature film, based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates on Thursday, giving viewers a closer look at how the Dominik-written and -directed film will explore the more unsavory parts of Monroe’s professional and private life.
“I’ve played Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe,” de Armas can be heard saying over the montage of footage of the woman born as Norma Jeane struggling with the effects of her public image. “I can’t face doing another scene with Marilyn Monroe.”
As de Armas narrates, images of Monroe in her most popular projects are spliced between frenetic and overwhelming instances of a woman grappling with her fame. De Armas can be seen pushing through crowds of press and obsessive fans, screaming on set, crashing a car and being carried away down a hallway alongside smaller yet still significant moments of Jean’s professional façade cracking.
“Marilyn doesn’t exist,” de Armas continues on. “When I come out of my dressing room, I’m Norma Jeane. I’m still here when the camera is rolling. Marilyn Monroe only exists on the screen.”
The two-minute trailer — which pitches the main character as someone “watched by all” and “seen by none” — also features some of the film’s first major looks at Armas’ supporting cast, including Bobby Cannavale as “The Ex-Athlete” and Adrien Brody as “The Playwright.”
Blonde is a reimagining of the life of Marilyn Monroe that explores the split between the late Hollywood legend’s public and private lives. The film touches on everything from Norma Jeane’s childhood to her rise to stardom and her many romantic entanglements while blurring the line between fact and fiction.
The film also stars Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel and Evan Williams, Lily Fisher, Toby Huss, David Warshofsky, Caspar Phillipson, Dan Butler, Sara Paxton and Rebecca Wisocky. Blonde is produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon and Scott Robertson, with Christina Oh as executive producer.
The film will release globally on Netflix on Sept. 28.
