Sunrise commentator slams Blonde director and accuses him of pushing his own agenda

American broadcaster Cooper Lawrence has offered her brutal verdict on Netflix‘s new Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde. 

Directed by Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik and starring starring Ana De Armas, Blonde is based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name detailing Marilyn’s turbulent career and love life until her death at 36 in 1962.

The film also paints a mortifying picture of Marilyn being forced to have two abortions, even though there is no evidence this actually happened. 

American broadcaster Cooper Lawrence offered her brutal verdict on Netflix’s new Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde during Tuesday’s episode of Sunrise. (Pictured left is Ms Lawrence on Sunrise, and right is Ana De Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde) 

Ms Lawrence slammed Dominik on Australian breakfast TV show Sunrise on Thursday, accusing the director of misusing Marilyn’s story to push his own ‘agenda’. 

Ms Lawrence warned Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch not to see the film, claiming it will leave him ‘triggered all of the place’.  

‘He has a very clear agenda and he’s using a character that looks like Marilyn Monroe but it isn’t Marilyn Monroe in many ways. It’s not anything to do with her story, it’s a facsimile of herm and he clearly has his own agenda,’ Ms Lawrence said. 

Ms Lawrence slammed director Andrew Dominik (right, with Ana De Armas), accusing the director of misusing Marilyn’s story to push his own ‘agenda’

‘He has a very clear agenda and he’s using a character that looks like Marilyn Monroe but it isn’t Marilyn Monroe  in many ways. It’s not anything to do with her story, it’s a facsimile of herm and he clearly has his own agenda,’ Ms Lawrence said. (Pictured right with Sunrise host)

The film paints a mortifying picture of Marilyn being forced to have two abortions, even though there is no evidence this actually happened 

‘It strikes me, and a lot of people on social media, as a very anti-abortion message, and every single scene leads into that message,’ she continued. 

Ms Lawrence pointed to a particular example of this in the film where Marilyn asks, ‘I killed my baby for this?’ at the height of her showbiz career. 

‘And it’s like, “OK, none of that happened”.

Ms Lawrence pointed to a particular example of this in the film where Marilyn asks, ‘I killed my baby for this?’ at the height of her showbiz career 

She went on to take aim at director Dominik, accusing him of misrepresenting the female icon.

‘I think people were expecting a movie about Marilyn Monroe, and then he goes and does interviews where he says things like, “I’ve never seen a Marilyn Monroe film. Who cares about her?” And calls her and her cast-members, ‘glamorous w**res’,’ she fumed. 

She went on to take aim at director Dominik, accusing him of misrepresenting the female icon (Pictured is Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe and Adrien Brody as The Playwright in Blonde) 

Ms Cooper was likely referring to Dominik’s recent interview with the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine, in which he acknowledged skipping over many of Marilyn’s achievements. 

These included her award-winning movies and her activism for women’s rights in Hollywood, forming her own production company and boosting the career of singer Ella Fitzgerald. 

Dominik’s fictionalised story instead tells the parable of a beautiful woman who ‘kills herself’ despite appearing to have it all. 

‘I think people were expecting a movie about Marilyn Monroe, and then he goes and does interviews where he says things like, ‘I’ve never seen a Marilyn Monroe film. Who cares about her?’ And calls her and her cast-members, ‘glamorous w**res’,’ she fumed 

The New Zealand-based filmmaker said he chose to depict how he felt about Marilyn’s life, rather than portray a historical account. 

‘If you look at Marilyn Monroe, she’s got everything that society tells us is desirable. She’s famous. She’s beautiful. She’s rich. If you look at the Instagram version of her life, she’s got it all. And she killed herself,’ he said. 

‘Now, to me, that’s the most important thing. It’s not the rest. It’s not the moments of strength.’ 

Ms Cooper was likely referring to Dominik’s recent interview with the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine , in which he acknowledged skipping over many of Marilyn’s achievements

It comes after American model Emily Ratajkowski (pictured) lambasted the Blonde for ‘fetishising female pain, even in death’  

At one point in the interview, Dominik bluntly refers to the female characters in Marilyn’s iconic film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as ‘well-dressed w**res’.

This part of the interview was removed from the final published version, so interviewer Christina Newland chose to post it on her Twitter feed instead.

It comes after American model Emily Ratajkowski lambasted the Blonde for ‘fetishising female pain, even in death.’

‘I’ve been hearing a lot about this Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde, which I haven’t seen yet, but I’m not surprised to hear that it’s yet another movie fetishizing female pain, even in death,’ she said in a TikTok video 

She posted a TikTok video denouncing the Netflix film- while admitting she has yet to actually watch it.

The 31-year-old, who recently left her allegedly unfaithful husband, argued that ‘anger’ is more difficult to ‘fetishise’ and thus declared herself to be in her ‘B**** Era.’

‘So I’ve hearing a lot about this Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde, which I haven’t seen yet, but I’m not surprised to hear that it’s yet another movie fetishising female pain, even in death,’ Emily began her TikTok monologue.

Her perspective appears to have been coloured by the bad reviews of Blonde, which has sharply polarised the critics to the tune of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes.

‘So I’ve hearing a lot about this Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde, which I haven’t seen yet, but I’m not surprised to hear that it’s yet another movie fetishising female pain, even in death,’ Emily began her TikTok monologue 

The Wall Street Journal called the film ‘one long slog into sadness and more-than-predictable tragedy,’ the New York Times accused it of ‘exploiting Marilyn Monroe for old times’ sake’ and the New Yorker slammed it as ‘ridiculously vulgar – the story of Monroe as if it were channeled through Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.’

Emily, having evidently read the press around the film, said: ‘We love to fetishise female pain. Look at Amy Winehouse, look at Britney Spears, look at the way we obsess over Diana’s death, the way we obsess over dead girls and serial killers. Watch any CSI episode and it’s like this crazy fetishisation of female pain and death.’ 

In a more reflective mode, she remarked that ‘as women, I mean I can say for myself for sure that I’ve learned how to fetishize my own pain and my own hurt in life, so that it feels like something that can be tended to, that’s kinda sexy, and like, you know: ‘I’m like this, oh, f***ed up girl, whatever.”

Emily, having evidently read the press around the film, said: ‘We love to fetishise female pain. Look at Amy Winehouse, look at Britney Spears, look at the way we obsess over Diana’s death, the way we obsess over dead girls and serial killers. Watch any CSI episode and it’s like this crazy fetishisation of female pain and death’  

Emily, who wrote a book of essays called My Body exploring themes like her own sexualization including while in the public eye, said: ‘And I think we do that in many, many different ways, but I want that to change.’

She went on: ‘But I was thinking about it and you know what’s kinda hard to fetishize? Anger. Anger is hard to fetishise. So I have a proposal. I think we all need to be a little more p***ed off. I’m gonna be in my B**** Era – 2022, baby, is my b**** era. This is, I think we should all be in our B**** Era.’

The supermodel concluded: ‘So I’m gonna be p***ed off when I see this movie, I already know it, but it’s nothing new and yeah, I’m just gonna get angry.’

Meanwhile the Netflix movie set tongues wagging earlier this year when it was revealed it was so explicit it had garnered an NC-17 rating.

Bond girl Ana De Armas has won praise for her performance as Marilyn even from some critics who expressed their distaste for the overall movie.

Bond girl Ana De Armas has won praise for her performance as Marilyn even from some critics who expressed their distaste for the overall movie