Netflix has reportedly approved an NC-17 cut of “Blonde.”
The highly-anticipated movie stars Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, and it was previously rumored that the film was pushed to 2022 because the original cut has a horrifying amount of sexually graphic content. (REVIEW: ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Ends With The Possible Deaths Of Multiple Characters)
Well, it now sounds like Netflix has decided to just roll with it.
According to industry insiders, Netflix was “absolutely horrified” by the sexually graphic final cut of BLONDE submitted by director Andrew Dominik. They want a new version, Dominik doesn’t — explains the delayed release of the film. pic.twitter.com/RpKfhBxk39
— Ana de Armas Updates (@ArmasUpdates) August 3, 2021
According to WorldOfReel.com, the film with Armas has been approved with an NC-17 rating. That means the film almost certainly contains very graphic sexual content.
In order for a film to earn an NC-17 rating, it has to be substantially worse than what you can see on a regular basis in an R-rated film.
Avoiding spoilers but the imagery in the film is truly graphic. Consensus will be mixed.
— Ana de Armas Updates (@ArmasUpdates) August 3, 2021
As I previous pointed out, Joyce Carol Oates, who wrote the book the film is based on, tweeted in 2020 that the movie is “startling, brilliant, very disturbing & [perhaps most surprisingly] an utterly ‘feminist’ interpretation” of the story.
That would certainly seem to indicate fans can expect a rough ride.
(just a parenthetical aside–I have seen the rough cut of Andrew Dominick’s adaptation & it is startling, brilliant, very disturbing & [perhaps most surprisingly] an utterly “feminist” interpretation… not sure that any male director has ever achieved anything this.) https://t.co/zUubjH5yqV
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) August 10, 2020
If Netflix really does release an NC-17 version of the film with Armas, it’ll mark one of the few films with the rating to have a superstar in it.
That will generate a ton of buzz, but will people watch a movie that might be very graphic? My guess is the answer will be yes, but you never know.
We’ll see how it all shakes out in 2022, but it sounds like this film might get wild before it’s all said and done.