How Ana de Armas transformed into Marilyn Monroe for ‘Blonde’
nypost.com2000 best seller of the same title by Joyce Carol Oates, is being rolled out on big and small screens by Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B. “Blonde,” rated NC-17, opened in select theaters Friday.
It’s slated for national release on Sept. 23, and will stream globally via Netflix on Sept. 28. The screenwriter’s picture binder was given its hallowed nickname by the team charged with making over de Armas — hair stylist Jaime Leigh McIntosh, makeup artist Tina Roesler Kerwin and costume designer Jennifer Johnson — while shooting in Los Angeles in 2019. “[The Bible] was incredibly massive, but helpful because it narrowed down the looks he wanted us to re-create,” McIntosh told The Post. “The more I looked at those images of Marilyn, the more I realized I needed a few different shades of blonde to [re-create her hair].”For the trio of experts, turning the Cuba-born de Armas, 34 — star of 2019’s “Knives Out” and 2021 James Bond flick “No Time to Die,” both opposite Daniel Craig — into the 1950s bombshell was a daily, three-hour task. (De Armas’ casting initially sparked backlash owing to her ethnicity and accent; however, Monroe’s estate publicly defended her portrayal.) But McIntosh looked to the “good book” for guidance as she styled the five customized, human-hair wigs used to duplicate Monroe’s lush locks.
Two darker blonde wigs were used to portray a young Marilyn, while three “true blonde wigs” were used to portray the starlet in her heyday until her death from a barbiturate overdose on Aug.
4, 1962, at age 36.The units, each constructed with a lace base and costing around $9,000 apiece, were all specifically structured to resemble Monroe’s widow’s peaked-hairline and to properly fit de Armas’ head.
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