Carol Oates: Last News

Liza Foreman When Cuban-Spanish actor Ana de Armas was asked to play Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s Netflix feature “Blonde,” she spent months preparing and studying for the role. “It was very important to discover the real woman and bring all of those elements together,” she said Saturday at the San Sebastian Film Festival. “My idea of Marilyn in the past was quite elementary,” she said at a press conference. “I knew her films and little more. To get to know her story was fascinating for me. She represented the dream that we all want to be. So what could go so wrong? I now respect her much more, and understand her better and could humanize her much more, and give her more credit for the effort she put into things.”

Ellise Shafer “Blonde” author Joyce Carol Oates, who penned the biographical fiction novel that the Netflix film is based on, has weighed in on the discourse surrounding Andrew Dominik’s controversial portrait of Marilyn Monroe. On Friday, Oates answered some burning questions from fans via Twitter, including about backlash the film has received that it exploits Monroe’s trauma. Dubbed a fictionalized retelling of the movie star’s life and untimely death, “Blonde” loosely recreates several tragedies during the life of Monroe (Ana de Armas), including the abuse she endured from her mother and the sexual assaults she experienced in Hollywood. In addition to fan outrage on social media, the movie has also been panned by several film critics, including The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis, who wrote in her review: “Given all the indignities and horrors that Marilyn Monroe endured during her 36 years, it is a relief that she didn’t have to suffer through the vulgarities of ‘Blonde,’ the latest necrophiliac entertainment to exploit her.”

Ana de Armas doesn't want to be typecast.The 34-year-old actress has played a variety of roles on screen, including a crime solving nurse in Knives Out, a spy in No Time to Die and most recently, a CIA operative in The Gray Man.Her most controversial role to date will be as Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix film, Blonde.The versatile star opened up about starring as the iconic actress in an August cover interview with Elle, in which she shares some of her reasons for tackling the troubled actress. Big shoes to fill: Cuban-born actress Ana de Armas is opening up about being cast to play screen siren Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming Netflix film Blonde; seen July 13 in HollywoodAna, who was born and raised in Cuba, may not have seemed the logical choice to some.