In the past month, audiences have seen a few other stills as well as a short Blonde teaser trailer, all building up hype for the film’s hotly anticipated debut at Venice International Film Festival in late August. Now, audiences have received even more new photos from the upcoming Netflix movie.

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The latest sneak peek from Vanity Fair shows de Armas on set portraying the legendary Marilyn Monroe — real name Norma Jeane Mortenson. In one still, the production team trying to recreate an iconic photo of Monroe with New York Yankees all-star Joe DiMaggio, played here by Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire, Mr. Robot), as director Andrew Dominik holds up the original photo for reference. In another picture, de Armas is shown in black and white with Charlie Chaplin Jr. (Xavier Samuel) and Edward G. Robinson Jr. (Evan Williams). The on-set photos show the team’s commitment to visual authenticity, and de Armas melts away into her performance as Monroe. Despite the attempt at accuracy, however, the film is not simply based on the actress’ life story, but rather Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 historical novel Blonde. In the novel, Oates mixes loose facts of Monroe’s tragic life with moments of fiction, speculating on what might have happened behind closed doors.

de Armas is quickly becoming a major star, with significant supporting roles in films like Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out, No Time to Die, and The Gray Man. However, her bravura performance in Blonde, expected to be one of the biggest movies of the year, will likely launch her career even further. Director Dominik previously made the biopic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as well as two documentaries in the U.K., One More Time with Feeling and This Much I Know to be True, so a film inspired by real-life events will be right up his alley.

With Blonde, Netflix is no doubt hoping for awards at the next Oscars. At the very least they can expect to be in contention for Best Actress with de Armas, but they likely have their eye on Best Picture as well. For the past 5 years or so, the streaming company has been pushing major prestige films in order to make waves at the Oscars, with their ultimate goal being the coveted Best Picture win. They’ve come close, most notably with Roma in 2019 and The Power of the Dog earlier this year, but so far they have had no luck. To make matter worse, Apple TV beat them to the punch by notching the first ever Best Picture win for a streaming film with CODA. The Netflix executives were no doubt burned, and they can be expected to up their game.

Indeed, Blonde is a very ambitious and unusual project for the company because of its unconventional subject matter. The Marilyn Monroe film was given a rare NC-17 rating, most likely from extensive nudity and graphic sex scenes, and it will be the first such film ever distributed by a streaming platform. Although Blonde will almost certainly not win Best Picture, it will absolutely be a film to look out for later this year.

Blonde is scheduled to release on Netflix on September 23, 2022.

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Source: Vanity Fair