The meteoric rise of Ana de Armas is one that caught many off-guard. In six short years, the Cuban actress practically appeared from thin air and went from starring alongside Keanu Reeves in Eli Rothโs B-grade psychological thriller Knock Knock to landing roles in blockbusters like Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out, as well as No Time To Die. Whatโs even more impressive about the mainstream introduction of Ana de Armas is that up until recently, she didnโt even really speak English.
During those early days of breaking into the US, Ana de Armas struggled to communicate with her agents and manager, let alone memorise scripts penned in a language other than her native tongue. As youโd expect, those early auditions were rough.
โOf course, you can imagine how those were,โ Ana de Armas dryly recalled during an interview with Magazine C.
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In one such exchange, a casting director told her, โWeโll talk again in a couple of years.โ Translation: come back when you can speak better English.
โIn two months, I was already auditioning for great movies.โ
Although her mastery of the English language wasnโt exactly perfect after four months of full-time education, it was enough to get the ball rolling. Or rather, it was enough for her to fake it until she made it.
For her roles in Eli Rothโs Knock Knock and Todd Phillipsโ War Dogs supporting Miles Teller and Jonah Hill, Ana de Armas apparently learned her lines phonetically.
โI wasnโt really sure what I was saying,โ she admitted to The Hollywood Reporter.
The fact she โcouldnโt sustain a conversation,โ however, led to some minor friction on set. When Todd Phillips decided to change a single line of dialogue, de Armas noted โit was a disaster.โ Phillips would eventually relent and tell her to, โForget itโฆ just say what you had.โ
โEvery person in the room was like, โShe has no clue what sheโs saying right now.โ But the thing is, I knew exactly what was happening in the scene. It was a crazy combination of โShe has no clueโ and โSheโs doing it.'โ
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Someone with even slightly less conviction would have surely caved sooner. But Ana de Armas refused to compromise on her vision.
โI said, โI donโt want to audition for Maria, Juana, and Lola and all these things. I want to audition for the same parts that everybody is auditioning for.โโ
โI wasnโt getting bored, but I wanted something new and differentโฆ When I have that in my head, thereโs nothing that can stop me. But I never thought I was going to work this much.โ
Safe to say, Ana de Armas also never expected to take on the role of Marilyn Monroe (real name: Norma Jeane Mortenson) for Netflixโs upcoming R-rated biopic Blonde, either, given how the latter pretty much exemplifies the English-speaking caucasian woman. Although letโs just come right out and say what literally everyoneโs thinking โ theyโre both bombshells on equal terms.
โIt only took me nine months of dialect coaching, and practising, and some [additional dialogue recording] sessions. It was a big torture, so exhausting. My brain was fried,โ de Armas revealed of nailing Ms Monroeโs American accent.
โI had a responsibility to portray her and her life in the best possible way. Everything about it was stressful, and everything about it was exciting and inspiring and terrifying.โ
At this stage, with the major hurdles in the rear-view mirror, thereโs simply no stopping her. Ana de Armas has well and truly conquered Hollywood in record time.
