Andrew Dominik addresses US backlash against Monroe’s ‘blonde’ pic – Deadline

Andrew Dominic He shared his thoughts on the unexpected backlash against the Marilyn Monroe drama Blonde During an event during the conversation in The Red Sea International Film Festival on Sunday.

The feature, which stars Ana de Armas as the famous tragic actress, divided critics when it premiered worldwide in Venice Film Festival in September and then received a torrent of criticism when it went down Netflix On September 28th

He admitted he was surprised by the response at first.

“I was expecting a big hit, and then no one would see the movie. That’s what I’m kind of used to, movies that have a positive critical reaction, and then people don’t see them. Blonde It was kind of the opposite, at least in America,” said Dominic.

“America was where it was worse. They hated the movie. They were angry about the movie. They were angry about the movie, but a lot of people saw it, so, I was kind of surprised by it.”

Dominic said he didn’t let the criticism get to him.

“Criticism only hurts if you agree with it. And I didn’t really agree with any of it. I think the movie is great,” he said.

“You can’t really have other people thinking for them, but I think when it comes to a creative American, what they want is hagiography, they want to celebrate that person, celebrate that person according to the mores of the time,” he said.

He noted that his portrayal of Monroe did not align with the themes of female empowerment that are popular at the moment.

“We live in a time where it’s very important to present women as empowered, and they want to reinvent Marilyn Monroe as an empowered woman, you know, that’s what they want to see,” he continued.

He added, “If you don’t show them, it bothers them.” “Americans don’t like you so much that you mimic their myths so much. They often want to jump into the solution without actually looking at any shock.”

Dominic dismissed suggestions from film critics that he took advantage of Monroe.

“It’s kind of weird because she’s dead. The movie doesn’t make any difference to her one way or the other,” he said.

What they really mean is that the movie exploited their memory of her or their image of her, which is fair enough. That’s the whole point of the movie, it’s trying to take the icons of her life and put them in the service of something else. It’s trying to take things that are familiar to you and turn their meaning inside out. “.