Ana de Armas channels Marilyn Monroe with Brad Pitt at Blonde premiere during Venice Film Festival

Ana de Armas exuded Marilyn Monroe glamour as she attended the Venice Film Festival premiere of her film, Blonde, based on the iconic star’s life.

The Spanish actress, 34, looked incredible in a plunging pink dress as she joined a very suave Brad Pitt, as they led the stars on the red carpet on Thursday. 

She wowed the crowds with her stunning vintage look with her brunette locks styled in sculpted 50s-inspired waves.

Marking her first lead role, the drama is a fictionalised take on the icon’s life, written and directed by Andrew Dominik and adapted from the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates.

When the streaming giant dropped the trailer on July 28, Twitter users blasted Ana’s accent as ‘awful’ with some saying she ‘looks nothing like Marilyn Monroe.’ 

Responding to the backlash Ana, who only learned English in 2015, admitted that she ‘didn’t grow up knowing Marilyn or her movies’.

‘I am proud to have Andrew’s trust and the chance to pull it off. I feel like whether you’re a Cuban or an American actress, anyone should feel the pressure.’

‘My job wasn’t to imitate her,’ defended Ana, who spent nine months working with dialect coach Jessica Drake.

‘I was interested in her feelings, her journey, her insecurities, and her voice, in the sense that she didn’t really have one.’

While Blonde is not fully authorised by the Marilyn Monroe Estate, Ana’s performance has had plenty of early plaudits.

The rep for Monroe’s estate Marc Rosen told Variety on August 1: ‘Ana was a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn’s glamour, humanity, and vulnerability.’

The casting was also defended by two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt, who’s one of Blonde’s six credited producers.

‘She is phenomenal in it. That’s a tough dress to fill,’ the Plan B Entertainment co-founder told ET on August 1.

‘It was 10 years in the making. It wasn’t until we found Ana that we could get it across the finish line.’

Blonde author Joyce Carol Oates and Jamie Lee Curtis – whose father Tony Curtis (played by Michael Masini) co-starred with Monroe in Some Like It Hot – have both seen the film and fully approve.

Curtis, who co-starred with Ana in Knives Out, said she saw an early cut of the movie and ‘dropped to the floor. I couldn’t believe it. Ana was completely gone. She was Marilyn.’

Back in February, Blonde director Andrew Dominik said early backlash was ‘the f***ing audience’s problem’ and assured ‘the one thing nobody’s going to complain about is Ana’s performance.’

‘It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe, it’s kind of what you want, right?’ the 54-year-old Kiwi director told Screen International.

‘I want to go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story.’