Blonde: Ana de Armas Marilyn Monroe film delayed to 2022

Last Updated on August 10, 2021

Days ago news surfaced that Blonde, Netflix's fictionalized depiction of Marilyn Monroe's life starring Ana de Armas, had been delayed until 2022. Not much of a reason was given for the film's delay and some insiders were surprised because they believed that Netflix was potentially gearing the film up for a bit of an Oscar push. While official news hasn't been revealed for the film's delay, rumors are surfacing online that a major reason behind the shift is Netflix isn't too happy with director Andrew Dominik's first cut of the film. 

If this is true, Netflix should've really known with they were getting into with director Andrew Dominik. His sensibilities are of the arthouse variety and anyone that knows his work knows he's not making anything we'd really expect. This is the man behind The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Killing Them Softly. He's definitely a director of a particular taste but he really connects with cinephiles that respect his work because he's unique and a bit offbeat. I mean, the director described Blonde as "a really sprawling, emotional nightmare fairy-tale type movie." I think you can tell from that statement alone this isn't going to be your traditional biopic.

The film is also based on a fictionalized book about Marilyn Monroe by writer Joyce Carol Oates. Last year, Oates spoke of seeing a rough cut of the film and her comments even make it seem this is not a film that is going for popular appeal but she loved what she saw:

"I have seen the rough cut of Andrew Dominik's brilliant adaptation and it is startling, brilliant, very disturbing, and [perhaps most surprisingly] an utterly feminist interpretation…not sure that any male director has ever achieved anything (like) this."

Blonde had been in development since 2010 and actresses like Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts were in consideration for the project before Ana de Armas landed the role. In perhaps another telling moment, Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux stated in an interview with "Deadline" that he had invited Blonde to screen out-of-competition at this year's festival but Netflix passed. Did they pass because the cut they saw isn't to their liking? This could very well be the case. This is all speculation at the moment but the timing of the delay mixed with these latest murmurs does make it seem like something is going on behind the scenes.

What are YOUR thoughts regarding the rumors around Blonde?