the film with the biggest buzz going into the venice film festival a dark new portrait of marilyn monroe starring cuban actress ana de armas finally gets its world premiere on thursday blonde is a longawaited biopic produced by netflix that promises to delve deep into the childhood trauma and sexual violence that lay behind the highly sexualised image of the 20th century icon the choice of armas for the lead role has not been without controversy with online trolls slamming her slight cuban accent when the trailer was released this summer but monroes estate although not involved in the film has supported her performance saying armas captures marilyns glamour humanity and vulnerability there have also been rumours of an extended standoff between netflix and australian director andrew dominik over the film which was completed in 2019 dominik reportedly refused to shorten its threehour running time or tone down some of the more graphic scenes and netflix has taken the rare step of giving it an adultsonly nc17 rating ahead of its release on the streamer on september 28 dominik ever modest has declared the finished product a masterpiece and rejected any doubts about his stars vocal skills i had concerns until i saw her act then i forgot what i was supposed to be concerned about he told the la times armas has called the decision to use a latina actress groundbreaking another supporter is brad pitt who won best actor at venice in 2007 for his role in dominiks the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford and serves as producer on blonde she is phenomenal in it he told entertainment tonight thats a tough dress to fill awards race the 11day venice film festival draws to a close with its awards night on saturday netflix had a strong presence going into the festival with four films in the competition for the top prize the golden lion but there were mixed reviews for us satire white noise starring adam driver and bardo a fantastical semiautobiographical film from oscarwinning mexican director alejandro gonzalez inarritu the streamers other entry was french film athena about inner city riots that won praise for its technical wizardry but may have less international clout critics have been more impressed by the oddball irish drama the banshees of inisherin starring colin farrell and argentina 1985 the true story of the lawyers who prosecuted the military generals accused of the disappearance of tens of thousands of their citizens there was a huge standing ovation on monday for brendan fraser the 1990s actioncomedy star who has made the most unlikely return from the hollywood wilderness his turn as a 600pound 250kilo english professor in the whale has led to talk of oscar nominations and a brendanaissance even if the overall film was less universally loved cate blanchett is also a frontrunner for awards for her complex and challenging role as a classical music conductor in tar which takes a nuanced look at cancel culture