Marylin Munroe's story is a tragic Hollywood tale and has been retold several times since her untimely passing but with Blonde director Andrew Dominik's latest outing, he and star Ana de Armas felt the fallen star all around them.

　　Variety reported that Dominik told the Italian Lido press corps he sensed Munroe while making the movie. "We were kind of chasing her ghost around," he said. "Her dust is everywhere in Los Angeles."

　　The movie, once stuck in development limbo, is based on Joyce Carol Oates' 2000 novel of the same name. It blends both truth and fiction to reimagine the life of Marilyn/Norma Jeane Baker and explores the split between Monroe's public life and Baker's private self. That is shown by alternating from black and white to color during the movie.

　　"I truly believe that she was very close to us, she was with us," said De Armas. "She was all I thought about, she was all I dreamed about, she was all I could talk about. She was with me and it was beautiful. I think she was happy…being in the same places that she was, filming in her house, it was a very strong sensation there was something in the air and I think she was approving of what we were doing."

　　Netflix's upcoming adaptation is the second one from Oates' novel. The first being in 2001 with a made-for-television movie with Australian actress Poppy Montgomery in the lead role. Dominik had begun developing his project as early as 2010, eventually trying to get De Armas cast as Munroe/Baker after seeing her in 2015's Knock, Knock. Naomi Watts was originally attached back in 2011 when production went underway.

　　Blonde hits Netflix on September 28, with a limited US theatrical release on September 16. It will be Netflix's first NC-17 movie.