Andrew Dominik Says Brad Pitt Is the Reason He Gets Out of ‘Director Jail'
Andrew Dominik Says Brad Pitt Is the Reason He Gets Out of ‘Director Jail,’ Not Wanting to Make ‘Bedtime Stories’ https://t.co/qxeBjHYg17
- Variety (@Variety) December 5, 2022
Andrew Dominik attended the Red Sea Film Festival where he spoke for about an hour on Brad Pitt, the 'Blonde' backlash, and why Michelle Williams and Mira Sorvino aren't Marilyn Monroe.
- On why he doesn't direct often: "I spend a lot of time in director jail, then my friend Brad Pitt comes down and talks to the parole board and convinces them to let me out. Then I just go out and re-offend again, I’m incorrigible."
He added that the only reason 'Blonde' got made was bc he walked into Netflix with Pitt.
- The backlash: “I was expecting critical success and that no one would see the film. That’s what I’m kind of used to, films having a positive critical reaction and people not seeing them. ‘Blonde’ was the opposite, at least in America. They hated the movie, they were angry about it. But a lot of people saw the film, I was kind of surprised by it.”
- On Marilyn's empowerment: “We’re living in a time where it’s important to present women as empowered and they want to reinvent Marilyn Monroe as an empowered woman. That’s what they want to see, and if you’re not showing them that, it upsets them. Americans don’t like when you monkey with their myths too much, they very often jump to the solution without actually looking at any of the trauma.”
- His thoughts on if he exploited her: “She’s dead, the movie doesn’t make any difference to her one way or another. What they mean is that the film exploited their memory of her, the image of her, which is fair enough - it does. That’s the whole idea of the movie. That’s the whole problem with Marilyn Monroe, that she inspires the desire to rescue. Everybody feels that they know her and what’s best for her.”
He was actually “really pleased” that Blonde had “outraged so many people.”
- On Ana de Armas being the only choice: “There have been many movies about Marilyn Monroe and the problem is that I don’t believe it’s Marilyn. I’m looking at Michelle Williams, Mira Sorvino, it’s not her,” he said.
- Society is becoming more conservative on both sides: “Cinema is getting more and more conservative, you’re making bedtime stories. Do you know when you’re reading a kid a bedtime story and they know every word of the story? It’s kind of what American movies have turned into, where they know every word of the story and it brings them comfort. I don’t want to make bedtime stories.”
Andrew Dominik Blames ‘Blonde’ Backlash on Americans Wanting Marilyn Monroe Portrayed as “Empowered Woman” https://t.co/OsM8oFKY1e
- The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 4, 2022
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