Blonde: Ana De Armas never felt exploited by the nudity

Last Updated on September 27, 2022

Andrew Dominik’s Blonde, about the tragic life of movie icon Marilyn Monroe, releases in a couple of days on Netflix, where she will be portrayed by Ana De Armas. Reviews have been pouring in and have been headlining the film’s raw treatment of the starlet’s demons and how it rides the line on being exploitive as it provides commentary on exploitation. One of the biggest draws of the screen icon was her sexual appeal, and she became a bombshell forever immortalized by her signature style.

The film aimed not to shy away from any topic, no matter how uncomfortable or taboo. The movie would receive a highly publicized NC-17 rating, which is a rarity reserved for graphic sexual content. IndieWire recently reported on Ana De Armas’ recent interview, where she stands by the nudity depicted and explains how it will be harder on the viewer than herself, “It’s harder for people to watch [those scenes] than for me to make them, because I understood what I was doing and I felt very protected and safe. I didn’t feel exploited because I was in control. I made that decision. I knew what the movie I was doing. I trusted my director. I felt like I was in a safe environment. We had hundreds of conversations about these scenes. Everyone felt a deep respect for the movie we were making. And in that sense, I had no fear. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, even though they were really hard scenes.“

Armas also went on to praise the intimacy coordinators on Blonde as she felt the sex scenes didn’t feel any different from regular scenes, “We had an intimacy coordinator with us all the time, and she was very helpful. But I wouldn’t even say these scenes were more difficult than any other scene. It was just a part of a whole story. I knew exactly what the shot was going to be. I knew exactly what was going to be seen, what was not going to be seen, and it felt like it was the right thing to do.“

Blonde is currently in select theaters and streams on Netflix on September 28.