Marilyn Monroe Estate Supports Ana de Armas Amidst ‘Blonde’ Backlash: “She Captures Marilyn’s Glamour”

Ana de Armas has the support of Marilyn Monroe‘s Estate as she embodies the late blonde bombshell in Netflix‘s upcoming biopic, Blonde. After the streamer released the latest trailer for the Andrew Dominik film, viewers were quick to pick apart de Armas’ accent — but Monroe’s estate quickly swooped in to defend the actress, Variety reports.

In response to critiques that de Armas was not accurately matching Monroe’s speaking voice in the July 28 trailer, Marc Rosen, Authentic Brands Group President of Entertainment (owners of the Marilyn Monroe Estate), shared a statement standing by de Armas.

“Marilyn Monroe is a singular Hollywood and pop culture icon that transcends generations and history,” Rosen said, per Variety. “Any actor that steps into that role knows they have big shoes to fill. Based on the trailer alone, it looks like Ana was a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn’s glamour, humanity and vulnerability. We can’t wait to see the film in its entirety!”

Rosen’s words came after Twitter critics ripped apart de Armas online after seeing the trailer. One user wrote that de Armas sounded “bad” as Monroe with her “heavy accent,” while another said the actress “literally doesn’t” sound like Monroe because you can “still hear her accent.”

Some even claimed de Armas never underwent dialect coaching, but while speaking with U.K. outlet The Times last year, the actress detailed her process of getting into character as Monroe, which she said included nine months of accent work.

“It took me nine months of dialect coaching, and practicing and some ADR sessions,” she explained. “It was a big torture, so exhausting. My brain was fried.”

De Armas’ accent is the latest controversy to swirl around Blonde, which has garnered plenty of attention for its NC-17 rating and content that Dominik promised will “offend everyone” who sees it.

Blonde premieres on Netflix Sept. 23.