Ana de Armas: Despite my Oscar nomination for Blonde, I still feel I have to prove myself

According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, Ana de Armas says that despite receiving an Academy Award nomination for Blonde, she still feels she needs to “prove” her abilities. The Cuban actress, speaking at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, recalled working with Australian director Andrew Dominik on Blonde and portraying Marilyn Monroe, saying: “I won’t name names, but not everyone supported the decision to cast me.”

She continued: “I understand. A Cuban playing Marilyn Monroe is very strange. One week of training alone, and an accent that was terrible. In short, we managed to convince the producers that I was the right choice. Andrew spent ten years searching for an actress and refused to make the film with anyone else. It’s the scariest project he’s ever done. It was a beautiful, pleasant torture.”

De Armas says her Oscar nomination didn’t have much impact on the roles offered to her: “Some people think it was an unlikely stroke of luck, and that I got it for reasons they can’t explain. I still feel like I have to prove myself again.” She adds that acting in films like Ballerina has been “fun,” but “that’s not all I have to offer.”

The 37-year-old actress says other members of the Blonde team, including director Andrew Dominik and the makeup designer, also deserved recognition during awards season: “I was happy, but I felt like I was alone at those ceremonies—like I was the only one representing the film, dealing with all the controversy, all the questions, all the difficult discussions. And at the same time, will it ever happen again? Maybe that was the one time I’ll be in that space, so I enjoyed that little campaign.”

De Armas recalls that two days after wrapping Blonde, she began shooting No Time to Die: “Blonde ended on a Friday, and I started Bond on Monday. In the first scene, I was speaking like Marilyn. I had forty-eight hours to say goodbye to that enormous character and begin the next role. If you look at Paloma, you’ll see a little bit of Marilyn in her.”

She adds that she has received support from people in Cuba: “They were very proud and kind. Every time I go back, it’s overwhelming. People do ask for selfies, of course, but I’ve never once had someone fail to thank me—and that’s something incredibly special.”