A New Interview With ‘Blonde’ Director Andrew Dominik (And One Cringe-y Outtake) Has People Red-Faced Mad

For weeks, Don’t Worry Darling improbably held the trophy for most controversial movie of early awards season. But now that it’s out, it’s Blonde’s turn to shine. Ana de Armas is getting rave reviews for playing the lead in a heavily fictionalized take on screen icon Marilyn Monroe. (It’s based on a novel, by Joyce Carol Oates, not a biography.) The film itself, though, has proven extremely divisive, and not just because of its NC-17-rated button-pushing. And now its director has poured a tub of gasoline on what was a relatively tiny fire.

— Christina Newland (@christinalefou) September 27, 2022

Film critic Christina Newland, who admitted she “detested” the film, did an interview for Sight and Sound with filmmaker Andrew Dominik, of the acclaimed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, as well as the very good Chopper (which introduced America to Eric Bana) and the very tough neo-noir Killing Them Softly. Throughout their chat, Newland is diplomatic but at times forceful, even occasionally handing Dominik rope with which to hang himself — which he repeatedly does.

On one hand, Dominik explains that he saw the novel — if not Monroe’s actual life — as being “about how childhood drama shapes an adult’s perception of the world.” He also says he did an “enormous amount of research” on her, and that he “read everything there is to read about Marilyn Monroe.”

At the same time, people felt Dominik seemed weirdly uninterested in Monroe, as either an actress or a person, beyond someone who could have been “saved” from her demons and from the abuse she’s shown facing. Many felt that ultimately resulted in a lack of empathy on his part.

— camzissou (@ornggblossom) September 27, 2022

This is a brilliant piece of interviewing which hands Dominik the rope. He comes over as a man who not only gives no shits about Marilyn Monroe but also one who doesn’t particularly like women at all. https://t.co/OgkwfqG7fO

— Mic Wright (@brokenbottleboy) September 27, 2022

Wow really sounds like a guy who wants to get at the emotional truth of this woman’s life https://t.co/jCD0MfSMOt pic.twitter.com/sKBWzV8sT7

— xh (@hxxxxxhhh) September 27, 2022

At one point, Newland brings up how the movie ignores many of her accomplishments: starting her own production company, challenging HUAC, fighting for civil rights. But Dominik brushes that off, saying that’s “not really what the film is about” and that making a film about a powerful woman was “not so interesting to me.”

— Eloise Hendy (@EloiseHendy) September 27, 2022

such a thoughtful question from Christina and such a callous answer from AD https://t.co/b1V7tIAiG0 pic.twitter.com/tqsWbCphwa