During interviews at the Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of Blonde, actress Ana de Armas and director Andrew Dominik implied that they felt the presence of icon Marilyn Monroe while making their upcoming biopic on the Hollywood movie star.
“I truly believe that she was very close to us, she was with us,” de Armas said. “She was all I thought about, she was all I dreamed about, she was all I could talk about. She was with me, and it was beautiful. I think she was happy. Being in the same places that she was, filming in her house, it was a very strong sensation there was something in the air and I think she was approving of what we were doing.”
Dominik added: “We were kind of chasing her ghost around. Her dust is everywhere in Los Angeles.”
Having a “very strong sensation” and “chasing her ghost” around aren’t quite the same thing as believing Monroe’s ghost was on set, but it is an interesting quote that people have latched onto to say that maybe Monroe’s ghost was, in fact, lingering around the Blonde set.
Most social media users, however, found the supernatural angle a bit much. If anything, maybe it was a way to kickstart awards chatter. “That was quick. First day of press and the ghost has already showed up,” one person tweeted. “The Oscar campaign has started.”
Others said that if Monroe was really haunting the set, she had good reason to do it. “Disgusting!! Did the ghost tell them to stop exploiting her name?! People exploited Marilyn Monroe while she was alive and these terrible people – director, cast, Netflix – can’t let her RIP now!!”
Mostly, people just thought the “ghost” talk was sensationalized fluff that might get a few more people to hit play when the film premieres on Netflix on September 28.
Ana De Armas is also starring in an upcoming rom-com called Ghosted alongside Chris Evans, so maybe that has something to do with feeling “something in the air.” The Ghosted plot is still secret, and no one knows if the movie actually has any ghosts in it. Either way, we can’t wait for Blonde when it hits Netflix on September 28th.