Los Angeles:Netflix’s biopic “Blonde” based on the life of iconic actress Marilyn Monroe has been given an NC-17 rating by Motion Picture Association. This rating is normally reserved for extremely violent and sexualized films. Citing the reason for “some sexual content”, it remains to be seen how graphic that sexual content will be, but it apparently was enough to warrant a higher rating than R. Director Andrew Dominik previously predicted the film, which is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, would get an NC-17, defiantly telling Screen Daily in February: “It’s a demanding movie. If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the f*** audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office. It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe, it’s kind of what you want, right? I want to go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story.” It was also recently reported that “Blonde” wouldn’t be making its debut at the Cannes Film Festival with Andrew Dominik being aware that his movie would be receiving an NC-17 cut and bristled against that last year. He called that would-be status for the film “a bunch of horses**t… That’s just the ratings board being political,” he told Screen Daily earlier this year. “If I look at an episode of [HBO show] Euphoria, it’s far more graphic than anything going on in Blonde.” Well, either way, now it’s official. The director also thought it was “hilarious” that some believe an untrue rumor that “Blonde” will include a scene featuring bloody menstrual cunnilingus. However, Dominik did confirm a rape scene, taken from the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates book that the film is based on. Of course, her film career is also expected to be explored by showing behind-the-scenes production of her string of hits. Hopefully, that wait for “Blonde” won’t be too long, but if it’s skipping Cannes, the Venice Film Festival in September seems like a sure bet as Netflix has saved many of their high-profile films for that event in recent years. Netflix has previously streamed NC-17 movies produced by other studios (such as 2013’s Blue is the Warmest Color), but ‘Blonde’ seemingly marks the first movie produced by Netflix to receive the hard-core rating. Dominik has expressed appreciation for Netflix’s support, noting, “It’s much easier to support stuff when you like it. It’s much harder when you don’t. I have nothing but gratitude for Netflix.” Dominik talked to Collider back in 2016 about the project, saying: “It’s a film about the human condition. It tells the story of how a childhood trauma shapes an adult who’s split between a public and a private self. It’s basically the story of every human being, but it’s using a certain sense of association that we have with something very familiar, just through media exposure. It takes all of those things and turns the meanings of them inside out, according to how she feels, which is basically how we live. It’s how we all operate in the world. It just seems to me to be very resonant. I think the project has got a lot of really exciting possibilities, in terms of what can be done, cinematically.” Given all that we know so far with its subject matter and with now the official NC-17 rating, it would appear that “Blonde” would be far more rawer and darker look into the life of the iconic Hollywood actress whose life has been the subject of much debate itself. The film stars Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, and co stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne Nicholson. Netflix has not announced an official release date. UNI ANV RN