Blonde director defends film from claims it exploited Marilyn Monroe

"They want to reinvent Marilyn Monroe as an empowered woman."

Andrew Dominik, who directed Netflix's Blonde, has defended the film from claims it exploited the memory of Marilyn Monroe.

The film, which was released earlier this year, stars Ana de Armas as the iconic actress, and as it is a fictionalised version of Marilyn's life, it was accused of being distasteful to her memory. Dominik, however, has said that he is please the film caused "outrage". According to The Hollywood Reporter, he spoke positively about the controversy the film caused during an appearance at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia this weekend. He said: "Now we're living in a time where it's important to present women as empowered, and they want to reinvent Marilyn Monroe as an empowered woman. That's what they want to see. And if you're not showing them that, it upsets them." The film director went on to say that the idea that audiences want to see an empowered version of Marilyn is "strange" as she is deceased. "The movie doesn't make any difference in one way or another. What they really mean is that the film exploited their memory of her, their image of her, which is fair enough. But that's the whole idea of the movie. It's trying to take the iconography of her life and put it into service of something else, it's trying to take things that you're familiar with, and turning the meaning inside out. But that's what they don't want to see." Among the scenes that garnered backlash was one which depicted Marilyn Monroe's unborn baby begging her not to go through with an abortion.

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