Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix's ' Blonde'© Netflix

Ana De Armas breaks silence on ‘Blonde’ getting NC-17 rating: ‘It is important to show’

“It’s not like depictions of happy sexuality. It’s depictions of situations that are ambiguous,“ the director previously said.


Daniel Neira - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
AUGUST 31, 2022 2:12 PM EDT

Ana De Armas is breaking her silence about the rating given to her upcoming Netflix film ‘Blonde,’ in which she portrays the iconic Marilyn Monroe. The 34-year-old actress says that the biopic doesn’t deserve to have a NC-17 rating.

“I didn’t understand why that happened. I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than Blonde,” the Cuban-Spanish star told L’Officel during a recent interview.

© Ana de Armas

Based on the 2000 novel ‘Blonde’ by Jayce Carol Oates, the rating is higher than rated R, and Ana says the graphic content is not as explicit as current productions, however she wants viewers to watch, even as there can be some “uncomfortable” scenes.

“But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did,” De Armas revealed. “It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”

The film was given NC-17 rating detailing “some sexual content,” and director Andrew Dominik previously said that receiving the rating was not surprising to him at first, however he then explained that he didn’t understand the reason for it.

© Ana de Armas

“It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe. It’s kind of what you want, right? I want to go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story,” the director said.

“It’s not like depictions of happy sexuality. It’s depictions of situations that are ambiguous. And Americans are really strange when it comes to sexual behavior, don’t you think? I don’t know why,” he declared.