How the intensity of shooting ‘Blonde’ put Ana de Armas in the Marilyn Monroe mind-set, or at least the one she hoped it would give her.
Blonde, a new film about Marilyn Monroe, won the Oscar for Best Picture at the Oscars last night. The film, directed by Ana de Armas, won a total of three awards, including Best Director, along with Best Picture and Best Actress for Emma Stone (who plays Monroe). The film was also nominated in the category of Best Original Screenplay, but lost to The Big Short.
When Ana de Armas started talking about her film, I thought it would be like this: a period piece. It’s the story of a woman who went through some real hardship – the sort of story that would make her a folk hero. I imagined she could be in this film looking for justice. I thought she would have a lot of heart, and the sort of strength of character that would make her a great actress.
After all, Marilyn Monroe was a woman who achieved great status in the eyes of many people; a woman who was very sexual and very popular in her time. And she was certainly someone who had that kind of heart.
When I went into this film, I was thinking about the challenges that Monroe was up against. She had been married a couple of times, and had experienced some very traumatic events in her personal life. It was a difficult time for her, and I just wanted to highlight the things that made her unique.
I also thought it would be interesting to get into her head when she was struggling to feel like a survivor of tragedy. There were plenty of interviews where she talked about her marriage and how she didn’t have a man to support her during her time of loss. And what was also interesting to me was that when she first came out to Los Angeles, she spoke about the insecurity she felt; she was very afraid she got too big for her britches. But, she also talks in interviews about when she became a star and going to these kinds of premieres. She was just really confident that she could handle whatever was thrown at her.
So, I tried to show what it was like to be a woman with an intense need to be noticed and a lot of vulnerability that came with