Ana de Armas' Accent On 'Blonde' Netflix, Was Marilyn Monroe Latina?

The 2022 American biographical film, Blonde, is about the wonderful and illustrious actress Marilyn Monroe.

The movie is based on a 2000 novel by esteemed American author Joyce Carol Oates, while Andrew Dominik directs the movie.

Ana de Armas' inclusion in the movie, especially the fact that she would be portraying the titular role of Marilyn Monroe, stirred a minor controversy due to her ethnicity as a Latina woman.

People were also worried about her accent as Armas has a somewhat strong Latin accent.

The accent was very notable in the teaser released for the movie, but due to the backlash the teaser garnered, Armas stated that she worked with a vocal coach for over nine months.

The accent is not as noticeable in the final draft of the movie that audiences got to see.

Many fans and critics lauded Armas' performance in the movie, and other industry icons like Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred alongside Ana de Armas in 2019's Knives Out and is the daughter of Tony Curtis, who starred alongside Marilyn Monore in Some Like It Hot also loved the movie.

The original author, Joyce Carol Oates, had nothing but good words for the movie and Armas' performance.

The Controversy Surrounding Netflix's Blonde

Despite Ana de Armas's stunning performance, the reception surrounding the movie, Blonde was middling at best and scathing at worst.

The movie was controversial amongst critics and audiences alike due to what seemed to focus more on the controversies surrounding Marilyn Monroe's life than anything else.

The movie, and more specifically, the director Andrew Dominik was criticized for being exploitative, dehumanizing, sexist, and anti-abortion propaganda.

Critics saw the graphic depictions of abuse as exploitative rather than artistic, and many thought the movie seemed to glean a lot of pleasure from Monroe's abuse.

Among the audiences, the movie hasn't fared better either, with the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes showing Blonde holding a rating of 42% based on 246 reviews.

The average rating on the site for the movie is 5.5/10, and the website's critics' consensus states that Armas' performance is stunning, making it hard to look away, but the movie is hard to watch as it rides the line between commentating on exploitation and contributing to it.

Another review aggregator website, Metacritic, states that the film scores 49 out of 100 based on fifty-five critics, meaning it has mostly mixed or average reviews.

The online consensus hasn't fared any better, with people on Twitter and other social media apps claiming that the movie is sexist and exploitative of Marilyn Monroe's legacy.

Monroe's life was much more than her being an object of lust, but the movie fails to treat her as any different.

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The actress Marilyn Monroe is popular for being the quintessential blonde bombshell.

One of the reasons why Ana de Armas faced so much backlash for being cast as Monroe was because of Armas' Latin heritage.

However, a little digging reveals that Monroe had her Latin roots too. Well, not her but her mother.

Monroe was born to Gladys Pearl Baker, nee Monroe, born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.

Sadly, Monroe's Latin roots stop here because, although Gladys was born in Mexico, her mother, Della Mae Monroe, and her father, Otis Elmer Monroe, was from America.

The mother was from Arkansas, and the father was from Indianapolis, and the family soon migrated to Los Angeles County.

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Born in Havana, Cuba, Ana de Armas was raised in Santa Cruz del Norte, a small city.

Her heritage is from Spain as her maternal grandparents were migrants from a European country to Cuba.

Her father, Ramón, worked various jobs, including bank manager, teacher, school principal, and town's deputy mayor.

Ramon previously studied philosophy at a Soviet university, while her mother, Ana, worked in the Ministry of Education in the human resources section.

Armas has one older brother named Javier, a New York-based photographer.

In 2020, Javier was questioned by the Cuban police due to his critical stance on Decree 349 alongside his links to artists under government surveillance.

Little Armas grew up through various struggles as she had to face fuel shortages, food rationing, and electricity blackouts during Cuba's Special Period.

However, she has described her childhood as happy.

Armas had no internet access as a teenager and had limited knowledge of popular culture beyond Cuba.

As a child, Armas could only watch 20 minutes of cartoons on Saturday and the Sunday movie matinee.

Her family did not own a DVD player, which led to her watching Hollywood movies in her neighbor's apartment.

Armas has stated that she memorized and practiced monologues in front of the mirror, and her childhood passion led to her deciding to become an actress when she was only 12.

In 2002, aged 14, Armas successfully auditioned to join the National Theatre of Cuba in Havana.

Due to her poverty, she sometimes had to hitchhike to attend rigorous courses. At the same time, only a student, the future actress, filmed three movies.

Armas had to leave the four-year drama course only months before presenting her final thesis due to a clause stating that Cuban graduates were forbidden from leaving the country without completing three years of mandatory service to the community.

She moved to Madrid to pursue an acting career, at age 18, with Spanish citizenship through her maternal grandparents.

Ana De Armas' Early Career

As stated above, Ana de Armas had a starring role in Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón's romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006) opposite Álex González while only a teenager.

After meeting Armas while attending a birthday party with his daughters, Cuban actor Jorge Perugorría suggested that the director consider the actress for the role. Due to the suggestion, Aragon visited Armas's drama school to see her talents. He was so impressed by her that he interrupted the sixteen-year-old during her audition to inform her that the role was hers.

After getting the role, she traveled to Spain to take part in a promotional tour for the film.

While in Spain, Armas was introduced to her future Spanish agent, Juan Lanja.

She started her Spanish career by starring in the 2007 movie El edén Perdido and complemented that with a supporting role in Fernando Pérez's Madrigal in the same year.

Armas filmed at night without the permission of her drama school tutors.

Armas moved to Madrid at age 18, and within two weeks of arriving, the Cuban actress met with Luis San Narciso, a casting director, who wanted to meet with her after having seen her in Una rosa de Francia.

Two months later, Narciso cast Armas as Carolina in the teen drama El Internado.

As stated above, she starred in the teen drama for six seasons from 2007 to 2010. The television show was set in a boarding school and became popular with viewers making Armas a celebrity figure in Spain. Towards the end of El Internado, during a break from filming, she starred in the successful 2009 coming-of-age comedy Mentiras y Gordas.

Despite El Internado's popularity, Armas felt like she was typecast due to being mainly offered teenage roles.

She soon asked to be written out of the show in its second to last season.

She spent a few months living in New York City after her departure to learn English.

However, Armas was persuaded to return to Spain to star in seventeen episodes of the 2010 historical drama Hispania.

She continued her time in Spanish cinema by starring in Antonio Trashorras's horror films 2011's El callejón and 2015's Anabel, and in the 2014 drama Por un puñado de Besos.

Feeling a lack of momentum in her career, Armas left her Spanish career, moved to America, and is among the most recognized actresses in the world.

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