Marilyn Monroe Estate Defends Casting Of Ana De Armas In Netflix Biopic

"Based on the trailer alone, it looks like Ana was a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn’s glamour, humanity and vulnerability," a spokesman told Variety.
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The casting of Cuban-born Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming Netflix biopic, “Blonde,” has caused some Twitter users to go into a tizzy, but she is getting support from where it counts: the iconic actor’s estate.

Although Monroe’s estate hasn’t officially authorized the film, Marc Rosen, president of entertainment at Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which owns the estate, told Variety he approves of de Armas in the title role.

“Marilyn Monroe is a singular Hollywood and pop culture icon that transcends generations and history,” Rosen said. “Any actor that steps into that role knows they have big shoes to fill. Based on the trailer alone, it looks like Ana was a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn’s glamour, humanity and vulnerability. We can’t wait to see the film in its entirety!”

When the film’s second trailer was released last week, some Twitter users commented that they found de Armas’ accent distracting, according to TMZ.

The film is based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name. De Armas told Netflix Queue that she prepared for the role by studying “hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, films — anything I could get my hands on.”

She told The Times of London in January 2021 that she spent months working with coaches trying to sound like Monroe ― and it wasn’t easy. “It took me nine months of dialect coaching, and practicing and some ADR sessions [to get the accent right]. It was a big torture, so exhausting. My brain was fried.” ADR stands for automated dialogue replacement, the post-production process where an actor’s lines are rerecorded.

The film will be released globally on Sept. 23. Director Andrew Dominik told Vulture that it has “something in it to offend everyone.”

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