Ghost of Marilyn Monroe 'truly close' while filming Blonde

And Ana de Armas cried the entire time.

And Ana de Armas cried the entire time.

Marilyn Monroe's spirit plagued Cuban actor Ana de Armas's dreams while filming the biopic, Blonde.

Perhaps the raucous crowd who gave Andrew Dominik's film a whopping fourteen-minute standing ovation on the Lido at the Venice Film Festival felt it too.

Ana de Armas broke down in tears at the applause.

“So many things happened to us during the shoot,” she said at the press conference.

“I truly believe she was very close to us and I felt so much respect. We were in her service. She was all I could think about, she was all I could dream about and talk about. She was with me and it was beautiful. Being in all the same places that she was, filming in her house, it was a very strong sensation. I think she was approving of what we were doing and I think we all felt it.” 

When asked about how she felt she might be perceived in the movie she said, “I did this movie to push myself, because I felt it was a gift to myself. I didn’t do the movie to make people change their opinion about me. Whatever happens, it’s the experience I take with me. This movie has changed my life,” she says welling up with tears (again). “So it will be what it will be.”

The almost three-hour film Blonde took many years to go into production - in 2010 Naomi Watts was attached to the project - though Dominik stuck with it through thick and thin. 

Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 novel, Blonde blends fact and fiction to reimagine the private and public life of Marilyn Monroe.

“It was very stressful,” de Armas admitted. “You needed to be ready to be heartbroken.” 

When the project was finally given the green light, she admits she “had a lot of work to do. But it was an exciting challenge to figure out how to pull this off.” 

Adrien Brody, who plays Arthur Miller, Monroe’s second husband, in the film, said he couldn’t think of anyone who could bring what de Armas brought to the role. 

“I was transported to another time and place,” he said. 

“I have always had a soft spot for Marilyn Monroe partially because I'm very aware of the great divide between all this public adulation, and respect and acknowledgment that is so far from who she is, and then and it doesn't reach her, it doesn't quench her burning desire to be creative and to be fulfilled with the work and to be appreciated for the calibre of work that she is strives for. On various levels, this is something that many actors feel. But in her case, she's one of the most durable iconic figures and the fact that she's so revered and so loved by men and women alike. 

“And yet her inner struggle and her sadness, and all these traumatic moments in her life never left her. So I have always been drawn to that aspect of this. And I think we're very fortunate to have someone like Andrew, and Ana, who are able to pour in their artistic sensibilities to represent something that I feel is lost upon most people. This perspective of being inside of her is such a gift to us and it was such a privilege for me to be a small part of that. It’s good for her legacy and it’s good for us as human beings.”

Dominik had first seen de Armas on television in Eli Roth’s thriller Knock Knock. 

“I felt that girl could be Marilyn Monroe, she looked like her and when she was on screen she was all you wanted to watch. Ana and I had a conversation, and then she read for it. But I knew for certain as soon as I saw her. It's a bit like love at first sight when the right person comes through the door.”

The next step of course is for de Armas’s performance to be love at first sight for audiences. 

It seems likely.

Another star on the rise is Australian actor Xavier Samuels who plays Cass, a depiction of Charlie Chaplin Jr.

Blonde imagines Marilyn living in a three-way relationship with Cass and Edward G Robinson Jr (played by Evan Williams) before she hits the big time.

Speaking to The Oz, Dominik said Samuels is an “under-used” actor.

Was his character real? Yes, Dominik confirmed and no, he didn’t do what he does in the film.

Hollywood star Xavier Samuels.

The film has been classified as NC-17 in the US - the highest rating used for graphic films for audiences aged 18+ due to the inclusion of a rape scene.

Dominik clarified the rumours that began swirling around the controversial scene a few months ago. He did so followingreports there was a menstrual oral sex scene, which he called “hilarious”, but admitted the inclucion of sexual assault in the film swims in “dicey waters”.

The rape scene is depicted in the film’s source material, Joyce Carol Oates’ seminal 2000 novel of the same name which is a fictional work that explores Monroe’s imagined “inner life.” 

Blonde will stream on Netflix from September 28.