Her break-out role as AI hologram Joi was alongside Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Ana received copious acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the Agatha Christiesque mystery film, Knives Out (2019) alongside Daniel Craig.
She stole the show in James Bond misfire, No Time To Die (2021),
despite appearing on screen for just 12 minutes as the sexy, intrepid, and unconventional agent Paloma.
In her forthcoming film called Blonde (2022), Ana portrays screen icon, Marilyn Monroe. Ana's performance has generated a considerable
amount of curiosity among all.
Blonde is an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's novel of the same name which is a fictionalized interpretation of Monroe's life.
The
first trailer of the film was released a few days ago and fans were left perplexed because
Ana as Marilyn seems to have retained her original Spanish-Cuban-sounding
accent.
De
Armas's revealed
in an interview prior to the making of the movie that she had undergone “nine
months of dialect coaching".
However, De Armas seems to have captured Marilyn's essence in her appearance and body language.
She looks almost identical to Marilyn as she recreates
iconic moments from Niagara
(1953), Gentlemen
Prefer Blonde (1953), and the very overpraised Some Like it Hot (1959).
It is not just the look, Ana also captures the body language and facial expressions.
Marilyn’s signature
breathy mellifluous speaking voice was among the standout traits of her iconic
on-screen persona. If that is altered it seems inauthentic.
Perhaps this is a way to remind audiences that the premise of the film is rooted in artifice.
In
recent times Hollywood seems to have been opting for ‘color blind casting’ i.e.
casting with no consideration for a character’s racial
ethnicity.
British-Indian actor Dev Patel, played King Arthur's nephew, Sir Gawain in The Green Knight 2021. Patel also portrayed David Copperfield in The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) an adaptation of Charles Dicken’s famous novel.
Black actress Jodie Turner-Smith portrayed Anne
Boleyn, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, in a three-part mini-series. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s highly acclaimed musical Hamilton about the United States founding father Alexander Hamilton also has ‘colorblind’ casting.
Is this Hollywood’s way of righting the wrong of the past?
In the past, Laurence Olivier played Othello for
which he blackened his face. Olivier also darkened his face and adopted
a strange accent for Muhammad Ahmed, the Mahdi in Khartoum
Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of a Japanese landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) was considered to be a caricature.
Back to Ana de Armas doing a Cuban accent while portraying Marilyn Monroe. Is Hollywood going to call it 'accent deaf casting'?
Will they call all those who have critiqued her inaccurate accent be called bigoted and racist?
Will the producers of Blonde use it during their Oscar campaign for the film?
Will the issue of ‘racist’ reaction pertaining to Ana’s accent compel
Oscar voters to vote for her, just to be among the “good ones"?
Anything’s
possible.
But when portraying a historical figure in a serious drama even if
it is fictional, it is essential that the actor sounds and looks similar if not
identical. This isn’t an impression or a caricature but an interpretation. If it was merely doing an impression, celebrity impersonators would have been cast.
Ben Kingsley’s performance as Gandhi is among the best onscreen portrayals of a real character. Kingsley looked somewhat like Gandhi but not very much, and neither did he sounds like Gandhi. Yet Kinglsey embodied the spirit of Gandhi in every way.
Will Ana De Armas manages to make us forget her accent
through the power of her performance?
We shall soon know.
Comments
Post a Comment