Andrew Dominik’sBlonde, featuring Ana de Armas playing Marilyn Monroe, premiered in Venice last night and received a 14-minute long standing ovation and while some have questioned this year whether or not the ovations in Venice have been a little too generous, most people I’ve talked to are in agreement that Ana’s performance is outstanding.

And you know there have been doubts. Because of her accent or whatever. Right now, it looks like all those doubts have been shut down. But even if they weren’t, as I noted a couple of months agowhen the trailer forBlondecame out, Ana could be on the same path as Kristen Stewart last year when she played Princess Diana. It’s about the essence of the person and capturing that spirit. And Kristen went on to her first Oscar nomination. It's looking really good now, at this early stage, for Ana too.

Which is encouraging for those of us who want it to be an actual race. Because last week, it was all about Cate Blanchett for Best Actress after her performance in焦油premiered to a rapturous response in both Venice and Telluride. They were talking like she was going to run away with it. And now Ana’s like, not so fast. Ana also gets an early advantage, becauseBlondestarts streaming on Netflix at the end of the month, which means she’ll get a social media bump from the memes and the other visuals that will inevitably be shared on social media once people start watching.

Speaking of visuals…

This dress. THIS CHOICE!

It’s very on the nose to be playing Marilyn and then to wear a pink dress with a similar cut to Marilyn’s infamous subway dress and I f-cking love this move. Ana doesn’t usually excite me on a red carpet… but maybe she was deliberately not that exciting on her previous red carpets so as to make maximum impact on this carpet, when it counts for so much.

If that was the strategy, it’s so smart. And I wonder whether or not this style energy will continue on other carpets as we approach the release of the film. Once again, for the people in the back, fashion is part of the work.