Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
While in conversation withThe Hollywood Reporterfor an interview conducted during the film’s Venice Film Festival premiere and later published Thursday, the actor, 49, spoke about his newest release, describing the film as one that is “supposed to be a traumatic experience.”
Noting howBlondeand the2000 novel of the same namethat it is based on are “both rife with themes of exploitation and trauma,” Brody told the outlet, “Marilyn’s life, unfortunately, was full of that.”
“I think that since [the film is] told in this first-person perspective, it works somehow for the film to be a traumatic experience, because you’re inside of her — her journey and her longings and her isolation — amidst all of this adulation,” he added. “It’s brave, and it takes a while to digest. And I think it’s in conflict with what the public’s perception of her life is.”
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Detailing that he believes those themes are whereBlonde"triumphs," Brody continued, “Whether it’s an extreme depiction or not — it’s honoring the extreme chasm between the public’s perception of the fame and the glory of Hollywood’s most famous, iconic actor, and the reality of that individual, the loneliness and emptiness and mental turmoil and abuse of that individual.”
“And so, therefore, I find that those … are all part of the storytelling, and I see where [director] Andrew [Dominik] is going with it,” he said. “It’s fearless filmmaking.”
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The Oscar winner also praised Dominik, 54, in his conversation with theTHR, stating, “I think Andrew is a beautifully brave director, and he’s someone I’ve longed to work with for many years. And I love what he’s done. I think it’s a remarkable achievement, and he’s done it hand-in-hand with Joyce Carol Oates' work, honoring the novel with this amazing adaptation that she endorses.”
Later expressing praise for starAna de Armas, who plays Monroe, Brody — who stars as Monroe’s third husband,Arthur Miller— added: “Ana’s work here is just brilliant.”
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Blondehit Netflix Sept. 28 and tells a fictionalized story of Monroe navigating a grueling Hollywood experience. It’s told in a provocative, surreal way to depict what Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson, might have been going through internally beforeher sudden death 60 years ago at age 36.
Many critics panned the controversial NC-17 rated film, includingTheWashington Post’s Ann Hornaday, who called the film a “breathtakingly misguided adaptation” of the 2000 novel, while Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Timessaid that Dominik’s version of Monroe in the film is “is almost nothing more than a victim.”
In hisnegative review forThe Los Angeles Times, critic Justin Chang wrote, “Because Dominik can’t conceive of Monroe as anything but a victim, he can’t even grant her the respect of seeing her as, at the very least, a participant in her successandher undoing. A smarter, tougher movie would have explored that participation and recognized it as its own kind of power — a power as undeniable as the allure of the movies themselves.”
Blondeis now streaming on Netflix.
source: people.com
