‘Blonde’ | Ana de Armas and the stars who lived true Hollywood ICONS on screen

The controversy is real! After its controversial debut at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, Blonde was released on the Netflix platform less than a month ago on September 28 – having previously performed in a limited way on the big screen in some countries around the world, such as its Christmas territory, the United States. Blonde, of course, is the fervent biography of one of Hollywood’s greatest legends: Marilyn Monroe. Very trumpeted as a possible candidate for the 2023 Oscar in certain categories, the film was quickly swept away by its explosive content, leaving fans and critics stuck without being able to go beyond the naked and raw story, which offers an unveiling of the abuse suffered by the star. behind the scenes, both physical (like rape) and psychological. The film, however, is based on the book by Joyce Carol Oates. Critics didn’t die in love with the result, quite the contrary – which may have undermined the film’s aspirations at awards time, but one thing everyone seems to agree on is the performance of the Cuban Ana de Armas overall. role – yes, we may remember it, who knows, even for the Oscars.

With this in mind, we decided to remind you of other movie stars who have already personified colleagues from the past on the screens – who are true legends of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Check it out below.

The young Ana de Armas gradually climbed new positions in her stardom, becoming one of the most promising names in Hollywood. And if we think that the actress is Cuban, the thing becomes even more incredible, considering the fierce competition that is the Hollywood market, even for the Americans themselves. To have a Cuban conquering this space is very commendable. With Blonde, she takes her biggest step, in a film that is totally hers, and in which she has a breathtaking performance in a difficult and very complex character. So much so that even the outcome of the movie itself wasn’t enough to erase Armas’ brilliance as the insecure and abused Marilyn Monroe.

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Eleven years before Ana de Armas played the legendary Marilyn in the controversial Blonde, another Hollywood star brought the same character to life in a film that was, shall we say, much more appealing to the general public. Michelle Williams has no less than 4 Oscar nominations, and it’s high time she left with the statuette. We return here precisely to his third nomination, acquired by the faithful portrait of a more shy and reserved Marilyn Monroe in the drama Seven Days with Marilyn (2011). The aim here was to look not only at the star’s insecurities and psychological problems, but also at the friendship she formed with one of the production employees of Prince Charming (1957), a feature film that he toured England alongside Laurence Olivier.

Died in 2004 and mother of Jamie Lee Curtis in real life, star Janet Leigh would forever be immortalized as Marion Crane, the “protagonist” who is also the first victim in the all-time classic Psycho (1960). And it is precisely this production that is the subject of Hitchcock (2012), an amusing biography of the master of suspense which gives the title to the feature film, played by Anthony Hopkins. The film focuses on the period when the British director was betting all his chips on an avowed horror film – when everyone around him saw the project as inferior to his talent. Psycho ended up becoming his biggest hit and most popular film. In this context, of course, you had to have a Janet Leigh, the star of Psycho. And the task falls to muse Scarlett Johansson, who plays Leigh in the best of ways, even recreating the famous shower scene.

Hollywood has many unforgettable stars in its constellation. But how many of them can say they were real princesses? That’s the reality when it comes to the legendary Grace Kelly, also known as the Princess of Monaco. Famous in Hollywood for her partnerships with Alfred Hitchcock – in three of his most emblematic films: Dial M to Kill, Rear Window and Thief in a Coat – one of the most beautiful actresses to have crossed this world, Grace Kelly has everything even earned the honor of an Oscar for the drama Loving Is Suffering (1954), with a golden statuette decorating her home. Kelly quit acting when she agreed to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco. This was all portrayed in the drama Grace of Monaco (2014), which starred hulking muse Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly. A wise choice.

Of all the stars on the list so far, Sharon Tate is perhaps the least well-known and the one with the fewest screen marks in Hollywood. The truth is that Tate’s star was beginning to shine, we’re talking about the 1960s here. But the actress was taken from this world too quickly and violently. Wife of Polish director Roman Polanski, the actress was brutally murdered by maniacs from the psychopath Charles Manson’s ‘family’ while pregnant – sadly part of one of the greatest tragedies ever seen in history of Hollywood. This was all portrayed in Quentin Tarantino’s excellent Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where Tate was played by the stunning Margot Robbie. And when I say that everything has been depicted, it is better to say almost everything, since Tarantino takes his poetic liberties, altering the fate of the young girl at the end of the film, in one of those “endings that we would have liked to see” .

Another famous actress who had a very eventful personal life, the American Jean Seberg achieved international success thanks to the cult Acossado (1960), a French film by Jean-Luc Godard. Because of this, and because she left the United States to go live in France, many might consider her a French actress. This is not the case. So having American Kristen Stewart playing her in the biography Seberg Against All (2019) doesn’t seem like such a big deal of nonsense. Even more so when you take into account that Stewart was nominated for an Oscar shortly after for portraying the very British Princess Diana in the dramatic biography Spencer (2021). In Seberg’s film, the focus is on her involvement in social causes, most notably the relationship developed with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal in the 1960s, which made her the target of an investigation by the FBI – and drove her down a descent of paranoia to her eventual suspicious death.

If there’s a record to break in Hollywood, that record is that of Katharine Hepburn, a movie star who is the only performer (including males) to receive four Oscar statuettes as a lead actress. No supporting role here. So to bring Katharine (not to be confused with Audrey Hepburn) to life on screen, who was known for her tomboyish ways, nothing better than a classy, ​​high-profile star, owner of a powerful voice and of greatness. Thus enters the Australian Cate Blanchett, who played Hepburn in The Aviator (2004), a biography of Howard Hughes, with whom she had an affair, directed by Martin Scorsese. Blanchett got her first Oscar win for the role, however, with a supporting statuette.

“She got Bette Davis eyes…”, went the song by Kim Carnes released in 1981. Davis was one of the most iconic Hollywood stars of her golden age, having started her career in the 1930s. The star has classics such as All About Me (1950) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). However, one of the facts that caught the most attention in Bette’s trajectory was her irrevocable rivalry with another legendary star, Joan Crawford, who was burning behind the scenes at the cinema at the time. This was all portrayed in the miniseries Feud (2017), in which Bette Davis was brilliantly played by Oscar-winning veteran Susan Sarandon.

Speaking of the unforgettable rivalry between the two legendary stars, here’s Bette Davis’ counterpoint. The two took part in What Will Happened to Baby Jane?, with a chaotic backstage, as expected. Joan Crawford didn’t have a song made about her, but she did get a “damn” biography called Mommy Dearest (1981), in which she was played by Faye Dunaway. The film is considered one of the worst cinematic works of all time, as it depicts the cruel side of the actress in relation to her daughter without mercy – in constant sessions of physical and psychological torture. As a character, Crawford would redeem herself by being played by Jessica Lange in Feud, in a duel… this time with performances between great performers.

Besides being a star, the now veteran Nicole Kidman has become one of the most versatile actresses of her generation. Undoubtedly one of the hardest workers, taking on all kinds of challenges. One of the most interesting in her recent repertoire was the role of another truly iconic actress from Hollywood’s other era. After muse Grace Kelly, the actress also gave life to comedian Lucille Ball, better known as Lucy, from the 1950s series I Love Lucy. This demonstrates Kidman’s reach as a performer, managing to go from eight to eighty in question. performance range. And the icing on the cake, for her role in Amazon Prime Video’s Introducing the Richards (2021), a portrayal of Lucy’s life alongside her husband Desi Arnaz, Nicole Kidman received another Oscar nomination.

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