Andrew Dominik addressed the backlash against Blondher biopic Marilyn Monroe for Netflix which strongly divided public opinion after its world premiere in Venice.
Speaking at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, the director said American audiences had the strongest negative reaction to the film – “they hated the film!” — and claimed that when it comes to iconic Americans like Monroe, they only want to see a celebration.
“Now we live in a time where it’s important to portray women as empowered, and they want to reimagine Marilyn Monroe as an empowered woman. That’s what they want to see,” he said. And if you don’t show them that, it upsets them.”
Instead, he said Blondwhich featured Ana de Armas as an iconic character, was accused of exploiting Monroe.
“Which is a bit strange, because she is dead. The movie doesn’t make a difference one way or another,” he said. “What they really mean is that the movie tapped into their memory of her, their image of her, which is fair enough. But that’s the whole idea of the movie. It’s trying to take the iconography of his life and put it to use in something else is to try to take things that are familiar to you, and turn their meaning inside out. But that’s what they don’t want. see.
As an Australian who came of age in the 1980s, when ‘offending his audience was a solemn duty, to wrench them out of complacency about things’, Dominik said he was actually ‘really thrilled’ that Blond had “outraged so many people”.
He also claimed that American films were becoming “more conservative”, like a bedtime story where people already knew every word and any deviation would provoke a reaction. “But I don’t want to make a bedtime fuss.”
Despite the backlash against BlondDominik said “tens of millions of people” watched the film on Netflix.
The Red Sea Film Festival runs until November 10.