Andrew Dominik, while perhaps not a name you’re familiar with, is a well-known filmmaker. Dominik, the 54-year-old Australian best known for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, has only directed three feature films since the turn of the century: the 2000 Australian film Chopper, the aforementioned Jesse James project, and 2012’s Killing Them Softly, which starred Brad Pitt as a calm, cool, and collected hitman. Apart from a few Mindhunter episodes and the Nick Cave documentary One More Time with Feeling, that is the extent of Dominik’s filmography.
With all of this in mind, it’s perhaps surprising that he recently directed Blonde, a Marilyn Monroe biopic for Netflix starring Ana de Armas.The last time we reported on Blonde was earlier this summer, when we told you that the anticipated award-season contender — which was originally scheduled to release later this year — had been pushed back into 2022 due to rumours of Netflix’s “absolutely horrified” reaction to the film’s explicit nature. While Netflix never confirmed or denied the rumours, no official reason for the delay was ever provided.
Fast forward about a quarter-year, and rumours have completely flipped, claiming that Netflix has approved Dominik’s cut of the film, which will most likely carry an NC-17 rating, and is submitting it to the Berlin International Film Festival, which will take place in February. These are, once again, rumours, not official reports.
Nonetheless, WARNING: BONK ALERT! While Netflix likes to think of itself as a prestige studio that competes for Oscars year after year — and to their credit, they do — they’re really a company that thrives on popularity and growth. Just look at what’s happening with Squid Game and how it’s outperforming other massive hits like The Mandalorian. At the end of the day, Netflix wants virality, and I’d argue that having one of the world’s rising A-list actresses play one of the most famous American women of all time in a risque biopic is one of the surest ways to get it.
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