Ana de Armas hasn’t done much in the way of Oscar-campaigning. She’s nominated for Best Actress for her role as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde, an unequivocally terrible movie. Ana tried to give an okay performance, but they really turned Joyce Carol Oates’ book into a torture-p0rn mess in which fetuses were repeatedly “talking” to Marilyn. In any case, Ana hasn’t been campaigning because she’s currently working on Ballerina, a John Wick-spinoff action film. She did make time to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue, and she did this mini-interview with Vanity Fair:

Relating to Marilyn: “There was a lot there that I could relate to. If you put Marilyn Monroe “the movie star” aside, she’s just an actress trying to navigate life and this system, which is so hard to navigate for anybody. On top of that, you add this point of view of Andrew’s, which was to see that through her trauma. I truly thought it was going to do justice to a more dimensional human being, because I wouldn’t want to be remembered just for one thing. I am more than just an actress on the cover of a magazine.

Does Hollywood still produce movie stars like Marilyn? “I feel like the new generations don’t have that concept, because of social media. There is so much information out there and oversharing. The concept of a movie star is someone untouchable you only see onscreen. That mystery is gone. For the most part, we’ve done that to ourselves—nobody’s keeping anything from anyone anymore.

Blonde’s portrayal of the entertainment business: “The sad part for me—and the most challenging—is to see not only what happened in the ’40s and ’50s and ’60s but to see patterns continue to happen. It’s definitely made me more protective of myself and set boundaries and know my limits for how much I’m willing to give—and how much I want to keep to myself. But at the same time, it clearly is a place where incredible opportunities happen. I’m very grateful to be working in the industry.

She only has Instagram now: “Yeah, at this point I only have Instagram, and I barely use it because I just feel like things are always wrong on social media. If it was up to me, I would delete Instagram right now, but I can’t. I understand that I’m not just an actress. I have other brands that I’m working with and I have other commitments. It’s been good for Blonde and for films that I want to talk about. It’s tricky because you feel the pressure to share some personal insight, or something about your private life, to keep people interested in you. You have to find a balance somehow, which I find very difficult.

Facing scrutiny when she was dating Ben Affleck: “The pandemic was horrible for everyone. In any other city, people were just hanging out with their families or bored at home or walking their dogs. The problem in LA is that, I guess, they were so bored that all they had to do was scrutinize someone else’s daily life. It was kind of frustrating that my work wasn’t coming out—Bond got delayed three times and then Blonde wasn’t coming out either. But also, I was working nonstop, literally one thing after the other, and that was good.

[From Vanity Fair]

I’ve seen people criticize her for the comments about social media and actors not having mystery anymore… but I don’t know, I think she’s halfway correct. People do overshare, actors included, and a lot of actors aren’t banking on “mystery” anymore. There are exceptions, notably in this year’s class of Oscar nominees: Michelle Yeoh isn’t telling us everything about her life, neither is Cate Blanchett. Colin Farrell has kept his private life buttoned up for years. And on and on. Plus, the business model of Hollywood has changed and there aren’t as many “movie stars” in general. “Accessibility” is seen as more important than “mystery” too, at least in this current era.

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Covers & IG courtesy of Vanity Fair.

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