Audience : What was the most difficult to interpret, the glamorous and ultra visible Marilyn or the discreet Norma Jeane?
Ana de Armas : They are inseparable because it is the same person. Norma Jean is much more present in this film, in my opinion, than the sex symbol she was to become. We all know the star of Some like it hot. But before, there was Norma, this girl of modest origins who would one day turn into the object of all desires! I wanted to find the emotional truth in these two women who were only one! As if Norma had freed herself from Marilyn and vice versa. But this tragic August 4, 1962, they are both dead! This drama has, in a way, reunited them for eternity!
“You can be a Cuban actress and not play a prostitute”
How did you approach this role?
I knew that I had to expose a sensitivity and a fragility that is in me, but that I had not had the opportunity to show before. I very quickly understood what Marilyn might have felt. In his time, actresses were instrumentalized, eroticized, discriminated against. Their life was controlled by the studios which signed them contracts for many years and which they had to respect to the letter! They were all powerful! They told you what to shoot, who to shoot with, who to hang out with. Woe to those who disobey! Today, it is not the most majors who dictate your existence. These are social networks and the media. They don’t forgive you anything! And even if you make a mistake and even if you admit it, it’s engraved forever! You can’t fix anything!
Admit that it is not trivial a Cuban brunette who embodies an American blonde icon…
The symbolism is strong, I agree, but I want to demonstrate that you can be a Cuban actress and play something other than prostitutes, cleaning women or the sexy wives of drug barons or the mafia! I am against stereotypes and I see that for some time now the film industry and television have been shattering all this. Finally ! That said, wanting to play Marilyn – who was a fake blonde, by the way – is one thing, making her believable is another. We’ve all seen her movies, millions of pictures of her, but we don’t really know who she was in private.
What was your biggest challenge on this shoot?
To speak English without rolling the “r” because of my Latin origins. During the press conferences and interviews I gave in 2017 for Blade Runner, I had trouble understanding all the questions I was asked! Sometimes I had to answer completely off the mark. There, I had no choice, my English should be impeccable. For a year, every evening after my shooting days, I followed up with two hours on Skype with a coach. I was exhausted.
“My English was terrible”
Living for a while in contact with Ben Affleck must have been a plus to improve your English?
Heeeeu, it’s obvious! (Laughs.)
Do you feel like your dream has come true?
Who would have thought that one day, coming from a small Cuban town, I would find myself at the same parties as Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts? Stars I’ve admired since my childhood! Hollywood was a distant, inaccessible planet. I dreamed about it and this dream came true.
What were your strengths for success?
My determination. I knew I had the potential and that’s why I left Cuba to settle, first, in Madrid. I was 18 and 200 euros. I very quickly turned in several Spanish TV shows, but I stagnated and I was bored. I wanted to change the jar! So I decided to fly to Los Angeles.
It is said that it was your mother who pushed you to live your dream!
My mother is a very shy person, but it’s true that she has always been very supportive of me. It was very hard for her to see her daughter, so young, leave the family home. I miss her a lot. Just like Cuba. But she is so proud of my journey! It took me a lot of hard work and also leaving some very dear friends behind. What would have been unbearable was for me to decide to drop everything and ultimately not succeed! For the time being, I continue my trajectory at the cost of immense sacrifices.
What did you learn by doing this immersion in the character of Marilyn Monroe?
I learned that it was necessary to show more empathy and respect for the actors and actresses who experience such media pressure. The damage that this pressure can cause is likely to be devastating. As a result, this pushed me to protect myself better too and to do everything possible to avoid finding myself in certain situations!
Do you think about the over-mediatization of your story with Ben?
It was hell! There was no escape! That’s why I fled Los Angeles.
April 30, 1988 : Birth in Havana (Cuba), of a bank manager and teacher father and a civil servant mother.
2020 : She meets Ben Affleck on the set of the film Deep Waters. Their story will last a year.
2021 : She plays Paloma in the last James Bond with Daniel Craig, Dying can wait
2022 : The actress becomes Marilyn Monroe in Blonde, a film distributed by Netflix which revisits the life of the famous American star.
Interview by Frank Rousseau
We want to say thanks to the writer of this short article for this amazing content
1 hour interview with… Ana de Armas: “I went through hell during my story with Ben Affleck”