Ana de Armas, The Latina Playing Iconic American Star Marilyn Monroe: The Controversy

Netflix’s anticipated movie, Blonde is coming on September 28th! As a Latina myself, I’m thrilled that a Latina got cast to play Marilyn Monroe, one of the most prominent American icons.

But in an era where a Spanish person playing a Cuban has many people outraged, would a Cuban playing the most iconic American actress be a cause for controversy? Or do we even care?

As a person who roots for diversity, I love this casting choice and will support this movie, but I’m a bit worried about the backlash. While Ana de Armas is totally white passing and I couldn’t think of anyone better to portray her, she does have an accent. Would Americans be able to get past that to fully enjoy the experience or would the whole accent/nationality situation jeopardize the movie?

Blonde. Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. Cr. Netflix © 2022

I believe if the acting is good and it hits all the emotional points, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, I loved Gladiator and neither Russell Crowe or Joaquin Phoenix are Roman. Nor is Mel Gibson Scottish, and he played a damn good Sir William Wallace in Braveheart. We’ve seen it a million times, the privileged class playing anything they want; however, when it is a minority playing something outside their race or culture, people have a problem – and that is not fair.

Remember when Netflix’s hot show Narcos had a Brazilian playing Pablo Escobar? The American audiences loved the show, but for the Spanish-speaking ones, we couldn’t get past his accent. And I was guilty of that. But I have to say, once I made the decision not to care about how Wagner Moura sounded, but how he acted, I got into the story and, suddenly, it was all good!

So my point here is that we shouldn’t try to be “reality police.” Cinema is fiction, and as such, we shouldn’t be that judgy. So I invite all of you to give Ana de Armas the benefit of the doubt and go and watch Blonde with an open heart and mind.

Here’s the trailer!