‘Blonde’: Watch teaser for Netflix’s controversial Marilyn Monroe movie

Netflix has released the first teaser for Blonde, the already-controversial Marilyn Monroe film starring Ana de Armas in the role of the film icon.

The movie — directed by Andrew Dominik and based on Joyce Carol Oates’ book of the same name — has already gained notoriety for its rare NC-17 rating, though the minute-long teaser focuses more on Blonde’s aesthetic accuracy than its alleged explicit moments.

“Blonde boldly reimagines the complicated life of icon Marilyn Monroe,” the streaming service said of the film. “Blurring the lines of fact and fiction, the film artfully explores the tension between her public and private life.”

“We worked on this film for hours, every single day for almost a year,” de Armas said of Blonde to Netflix Queue. “I read Joyce’s novel, studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, films — anything I could get my hands on. Every scene is inspired by an existing photograph. We’d pore over every detail in the photo and debate what was happening in it. The first question was always, ‘What was Norma Jeane [Baker, Monroe’s birth name] feeling here?’ We wanted to tell the human side of her story. Fame is what made Marilyn the most visible person in the world, but it also made Norma the most invisible.”

Blonde arrives on Netflix on September 23. In addition to de Armas, the film also stars Adrien Brody (as “The Playwright”), Bobby Cannavale (as “The Ex-Athlete”), and Julianne Nicholson as Norma Jeane’s mother. The movie also features fictionalized versions of some of Monroe’s most iconic moments, including her performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and the time Monroe stood over a subway grate, blowing her dress up.

“Andrew’s ambitions were very clear from the start — to present a version of Marilyn Monroe’s life through her lens,” de Armas added. “He wanted the world to experience what it actually felt like to not only be Marilyn, but also Norma Jeane. I found that to be the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on her story that I had ever seen.”

Blonde hits Netflix on Sept. 23. This article first appeared on RollingStone.com.