How Accurate is The Casting?

Andrew Dominik’s Blonde is a reimagining of the true story of Marilyn Monroe’s (Ana de Armas) rise to fame in Hollywood during the 1950s and ’60s. Throughout the film, Dominik explores the split between the late Hollywood legend’s public and private lives.

The movie touches on various aspects of the icon’s life, including her childhood as Norma Jeane Baker and her rise to stardom after adopting the stage name of “Marilyn Monroe.” In the midst of climbing her way to the top of Hollywood, Blonde also shows Monroe’s struggles with her love life, exploitation, abuse of power and drug addiction.

The debut trailer for Blonde shows de Armas’ Monroe struggling to continue the façade of the Hollywood starlet she created. “I’ve played Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe,” de Armas is heard saying over the montage that shows her character struggling with the effects of her public image. “I can’t face doing another scene with Marilyn Monroe.”

As the trailer continues, de Armas insists that she is not the Hollywood starlet and is instead Norma Jeane. “Marilyn doesn’t exist,” de Armas insists. “When I come out of my dressing room, I’m Norma Jeane. I’m still here when the camera is rolling. Marilyn Monroe only exists on the screen.”

In addition to directing, Dominik also wrote the film’s screenplay based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 biographical fiction novel of the same name..

Many of the characters in the film are based on real people, which gave the cast plenty of inspiration for crafting the project.

De Armas leads the cast that’s also made up of Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Caspar Phillipson, Toby Huss, David Warshofsky, Evan Williams and Michael Masini.

Blonde was produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon and Scott Robertson.

The film, which is rated NC-17, is expected to show Monroe’s life in an intimate and vulnerable way. “I think if I’m given the choice, I’d rather go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story. Because we know that her life was on the edge, clearly, from the way it ended,” Doiminik told Vulture about the movie’s rating.

The biographical drama premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 8 — earning a 14-minute standing ovation — before it becomes available to stream on Netflix on Sept. 28. (Read The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the film here.)

Read on to find out who is playing whom in the film and how the cast prepared to play their real-life counterparts.

• Marilyn Monroe, portrayed by Ana de Armas

  De Armas portrays a fictional version of Monroe. The film chronicles her journey from Norma Jeane Baker, an abused daughter of a single mother, to becoming one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood.

  The Knives Out actress noted that Dominik’s take on Monroe’s story is why she wanted to be part of the film. “Andrew’s ambitions were very clear from the start — to present a version of Marilyn Monroe’s life through her lens,” she told Netflix Queue. “He wanted the world to experience what it actually felt like to not only be Marilyn, but also Norma Jeane. I found that to be the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on her story that I had ever seen.” 

  De Armas made sure she did proper research to prepare for the role and read Oates’ novel several times. “We worked on this film for hours, every single day for almost a year,” she said. “I read Joyce’s novel, studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, films — anything I could get my hands on.”

  “Every scene is inspired by an existing photograph. We’d pore over every detail in the photo and debate what was happening in it,” she continued. “The first question was always, ‘What was Norma Jeane feeling here?’ We wanted to tell the human side of her story. Fame is what made Marilyn the most visible person in the world, but it also made Norma the most invisible.”

• Arthur Miller, portrayed by Adrien Brody

  Brody co-stars in Blonde as well-known playwright Arthur Miller, who was Monroe’s third husband. They were married from 1956 until their divorce was finalized in 1961.

  Miller and Monroe’s romantic relationship began when he was married to Mary Slattery. He eventually left Slattery in 1956 and married Monroe soon after.

  While their marriage appeared to be a happy one in the public eye, her struggle to carry his child left a strain on their romance. Their relationship reached its breaking point while they were working together on the 1961 film The Misfits, which she starred in and he wrote.

• Joe DiMaggio, portrayed by Bobby Cannavale

  Joe DiMaggio, portrayed by Cannavale, was Monroe’s second husband. They tied the knot in 1954 when she was solidifying herself as a Hollywood starlet.

  Monroe was filming The Seven Year Itch at the time and famously posed for the “subway grate scene,” which saw her holding down her dress as wind blew it up from the ground. DiMaggio, who dealt with jealousy and control issues throughout the marriage, was infuriated by the now-famous photo. The pair divorced after one year of marriage in 1955.

• Charles Chaplin Jr., portrayed by Xavier Samuel

  Monroe was rumored to have had an affair with Charlie Chaplin’s son Charlie Jr. in 1947. The relationship allegedly ended when Charlie, who is portrayed by Xavier Samuel in the film, caught the actress in bed with his brother.

  Chaplin referenced the affair in his 1960 autobiography, My Father, Charlie Chaplin. Meanwhile, Anthony Summers also mentioned the relationship in his book Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe.

  Of his co-star, Samuels called de Armas is “phenomenal” while sharing the trailer via Instagram in June.

• Gladys Pearl Baker, portrayed by Julianne Nicholson

  Julianne Nicholson appears in Blonde as Monroe’s mother, Gladys Pearl Baker.

  Monroe had a complicated relationship with her mother and spent some of her childhood without her. “My mother spent many years at the hospital. Through the Los Angeles County, my guardian placed me in several foster families and I spent more than a year at the Los Angeles Orphanage,” Monroe told The Los Angeles Daily News. “I haven’t known my mother intimately, and since I’m an adult, and able to help her, I have contacted her. Now I help her and I want to keep helping her as long as she needs me.”

  Nicholson said being part of Blonde was a “special” experience for her. “Joyce Carol Oates wrote this beautiful book which is a fictionalized retelling. So it’s not all facts, but it’s taking what we know of Marilyn’s life and making the story of it,” she told the A.V. Club in Aug. 2021. “I love Andrew Dominik, the director, and Ana de Armas just plays a beautiful, heartbreaking, open Marilyn. And for me, I was a huge Marilyn Monroe fan.”

  The Mare of Easttown actress added that she grew up idolizing Monroe. “When I was in high school, I had the posters on my walls and I would watch her movies. I had like these cassettes that I think I listened until it snapped in my little tape player,” she said. “So it was pretty thrilling to sort of go back and revisit that story in this way, from this angle. And to be a part of that story felt so thrilling for my younger self.”

• John F. Kennedy, portrayed by Caspar Phillipson

  One of Monroe’s most high-profile affairs was with John F. Kennedy. In the film, Caspar Phillipson portrays the late president during his alleged relationship with Monroe.

  Rumors of their supposed romance began to swirl when Monroe performed a sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday” for the former commander in chief at his 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962. The performance took place just months before her death on August 4, 1962.

  Phillip is no stranger to playing Kennedy, as he portrayed the same character in 2016 film Jackie.
   

• Darryl F. Zanuck, portrayed by David Warshofsky

  Darryl F. Zanuck, portrayed by David Warsofsky, was an established film producer that worked with Monroe as the Fox Studio head while she was at the height of her career. He humiliated and harassed several well-known actresses of the era, including the Bus Stop star. It’s believed that Zanuck forced Monroe to play ditsy and vacant stock characters in weak scripts.

• Edward G. Robinson Jr., portrayed by Evan Williams

  Edward G. Robinson Jr., who is portrayed by Evan Williams, was a close friend of Monroe’s and they were occasionally lovers.

  The late actor was the prototype for the character Eddie G. in the 2001 TV miniseries Blonde, which is also based on Oates’ novel.

  Williams promoted the film in July 2022 by sharing the trailer on Instagram. “Thrilled to be part of this project. And thrilled for the world to see this powerful film at last,” he wrote alongside the clip.

• Tony Curtis, portrayed by Michael Masini

  Tony Curtis, portrayed by Michael Masini, worked alongside Monroe in the 1959 film Some Like It Hot.

  Curtis had less-than-kind things to say about his former scene partner. In 2008, he told The Daily Mail that Monroe was an “awful” kisser. “She nearly choked me to death by deliberately sticking her tongue down my throat into my windpipe,” he said at the time.
  The actor, who died in 2010, also said Monroe had “gone funny” while they were filming the movie. “Her mind was all over the place. She had lost confidence,” he claimed.

  While promoting the film on Instagram in Aug. 2022, Masini said he was “proud to be part of this cast.”

• Allan "Whitey" Snyder, portrayed by Toby Huss

  Allan “Whitey” Snyder, portrayed by Toby Huss in Blonde, was a Hollywood makeup artist best known for serving as the personal makeup artist for Monroe.

  He was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of best achievement in makeup during his career.

  While discussing his past acting jobs with Awards Radar, Huss said he was proud of Blonde. “There’s a movie called Blonde coming out with Ana de Armas playing Marilyn Monroe. I have a part in that. That’s going to be a great little picture,” he told the outlet.