Nicole Kidman portrays Grace Kelly Split - H 2012
Getty ImagesNicole Kidman is in negotiations to portray Hollywood icon Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco, the indie project centering on the actress-turned-princess from producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.
Le Pogam is the Europacorp co-founder who recently launched his Stone Angel production and financing company. He surprised many last fall when he beat out several other bidders to pick up Grace of Monaco as a spec script by Arash Amel.
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Olivier Dahan, who directed Marion Cotillard to an Oscar for the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en rose, is helming the period movie. Kidman is in the process of attaching herself to what is being envisioned as a $30 million production and is being compared in tone to The King’s Speech.
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Monaco isn’t a biopic and instead focuses on a six-month period in 1962 when the city-state got into a heated dispute with France, which grew tired of the petite principality being a tax haven. Kelly, still relatively new in her role as princess, maneuvered behind the scenes to save Monaco from a coup.
Le Pogam is producing and financing the picture. CAA is handling domestic rights and Wild Bunch is selling international.
Monaco is the second high-profile project in the works featuring midcentury Hollywood stars. Fox Searchlight is weeks away from Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho; the movie sees Anthony Hopkins playing the filmmaker, who incidentally directed Kelly in To Catch a Thief and Rear Window, and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh.
Kelly was an actress who broke through playing opposite Gary Cooper in 1952’s High Noon and quickly became Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite blond with a trio of classic films. She married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1955 and soon retired from acting. Her death in 1982, after suffering a stroke and losing control of her car while driving the twisty streets of Monaco, shocked the world. Nearly 100 million people watched her funeral on TV.
E-mail: Borys.Kit@thr.com
Twitter: @Borys_Kit
