A week or so ago, we were chatting with some buds about what might be in this year’s TIFF lineup, when the topic of Andrew Dominik’s long-gestating Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde came up. We made a joke that it’d take a post-bankruptcy asset sale for us to ever see a clip from the Netflix release, which has attracted a fair bit of scandal even though… no one had seen a single frame of it. At least until now. Well, the streamer certainly proved us wrong, as they dropped a teaser trailer for the film earlier on Thursday that has two important bits of information included within. First, a September release date, which means that we’ll probably see it at TIFF or Venice, a fitting return to the marquee for the director of films like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Killing Them Softly. Secondly, an NC-17 rating, which means, yes, pretty much all of the rumors about the film’s content are true. Gear up, folks, this one is going to be gorgeous and traumatizing.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis:
“Based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates, ‘Blonde’ boldly reimagines the life of one of Hollywood’s most enduring icons, Marilyn Monroe. From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, ‘Blonde’ blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves. Written and directed by Andrew Dominik, the film boasts a cast led by Ana de Armas and featuring Bobby Cannavale, Adrien Brody, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel and Evan Williams.”
But for a more illuminating experience, check out this Netflix Queue story about the film, which features some really interesting quotes from both de Armas and Dominik. Here’s the latter on his intentions with the film:
“‘The film is sincere. It’s made with love. It’s made with good intentions. But it’s full of rage at the same time,’ says Dominik, ‘I seem to get myself in these situations where people regard me as provocative, but it’s never what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to say it as clearly as I can. My ambition is to make you fall in love with Marilyn.'”
Blonde arrives on Netflix on September 23. We cannot fucking wait.