Ana de Armas has questioned why Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe film Blonde, in which she plays the lead, has received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA.
The actress was asked about the rating in a recent interview, and she suggested that there are much more intense films that still managed to get an R rating. “I didn’t understand why that happened. I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than Blonde,” she told French magazine L’Officiel, per The Hollywood Reporter. “But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”
The film received a NC-17 rating for “some sexual content” back in March. Even before the arrival of the first trailer for the film, Blonde raised eyebrows over its adults-only rating. It’s very rare for a movie produced by a mainstream distributor, such as Netflix, to garner such a rating. When it does happen, however, studios typically opt to appeal or edit the movie in order to obtain an R rating instead. Notable recent examples include Don’t Breathe 2, The King’s Man, and Midsommar, all of which faced cuts for their theatrical releases.
Speaking with ScreenDaily back in February, director and writer Andrew Dominik predicted that Blonde would get an NC-17. “It’s a demanding movie. If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the fucking audience’s problem,” Dominik said. “It’s not running for public office.” Netflix apparently “insisted” on hiring Tenet editor Jennifer Lame to “curb the excesses of the movie,” but ultimately decided to release it in its NC-17 form.
Blonde debuts on Netflix on Sept. 28. Until then, check out the trailer for the film up top.
