Andrew Dominik had been trying to make a movie about Marilyn Monroe for over a decade.

The film wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be a biopic, but an experiential portrait delving into the psyche of Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane. It kept falling apart, but the New Zealand native couldnB次元官网网址檛 let it go. Then he found , and, he said, the movie came alive.

B次元官网网址淚t was like love at first sight,B次元官网网址� Dominik said Thursday, before the world premiere of the film at the Venice International Film Festival. B次元官网网址淲hen the right person walks through the door, you know it.B次元官网网址�

The nearly three-hour epic is based on a work of biographical fiction by Joyce Carol Oates and examines the public and private life of the Hollywood icon from her troubled childhood as Norma Jeane to her global stardom as Marilyn Monroe and various relationships along the way, from her mother (Julianne Nicholson) to her marriages to Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody).

B次元官网网址淚 wasnB次元官网网址檛 very aware of Marilyn. I was familiar with some of her movies, but for me it was a huge discovery and learning process,B次元官网网址� de Armas said. B次元官网网址淲e wanted to honor her in the recreations where she was Marilyn, but I also had a lot of room to create the real woman underneath that character. It was about understanding and empathizing and connecting with her and her pain and her trauma.B次元官网网址�

She added: B次元官网网址淚f you put aside the movie star she is, sheB次元官网网址檚 just a woman, just like me. Same age. It was a project I knew I had to let myself open and go to places I knew were going to be uncomfortable and dark and vulnerable.B次元官网网址�

Filming began on Aug. 4, the day Monroe died in 1962 at her home in Los Angeles at age 36. It was an accident and just the result of some delays. But it also was one of many times the filmmaker and his cast felt a somewhat mystical connection to the subject of their film. Though the story takes many liberties with the facts of her life with the intent of getting to the truth of her life, the production did use real locations like the apartment she and her mother lived in when she was a child and the house she died in.

B次元官网网址淚t took on elements of being like a s茅ance,B次元官网网址� Dominik said.

De Armas agreed that B次元官网网址渢here was something in the airB次元官网网址� being in the same places Monroe had lived.

B次元官网网址淚 wasnB次元官网网址檛 in character all the time. But I felt that. I was living that. I felt that heaviness and that weight in my shoulders. And I felt that sadness,B次元官网网址� de Armas said. B次元官网网址淪he was all I thought about. She was all I dreamed about. She was all I talked aboutB次元官网网址� It was beautiful. B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淏londeB次元官网网址� has been hotly anticipated for some time: For taking on a figure like Monroe in an experimental way, for its rating, the first ever NC-17 movie that Netflix has made, a designation set by the Motion Picture Association that forbids those younger than 17 from watching the film in the theater. ThereB次元官网网址檚 also curiosity around de ArmasB次元官网网址檚 performance. The Cuba-born actor worked with a dialect coach for a year to prepare.

B次元官网网址淪torytelling that is as brave as this is essential,B次元官网网址� her co-star Brody said.

And for him, de Armas did more than just play the role. She channeled the person.

B次元官网网址淭he first day of filming, I went home with this sense of awe that I had the privilege of actually working with Marilyn Monroe,B次元官网网址� Brody said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 very rare that I can say that someone transported me to another time and place.B次元官网网址�

For de Armas, it was about the challenge.

B次元官网网址淚 did this movie to push myselfB次元官网网址� to make other people change their opinion about me,B次元官网网址� she said, through some tears. B次元官网网址淭his movie changed my life.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淏londeB次元官网网址� opens in select theaters starting Sept. 16 before becoming available on Netflix on Sept. 23. ItB次元官网网址檚 one of many Oscar hopefuls launching in Venice, where it is also among the films up for the festivalB次元官网网址檚 awards on Saturday.

B次元官网网址擫indsey Bahr, The Associated Press