As director Olivier Dahan's Grace of Monaco gets prepared for this year's Academy Award race, set to be released by The Weinstein Company on December 27th, it's working with a bit of a handicap. Back in January, when the film was still in production, Price Albert of Monaco and the royal family denounced the project, saying that the story has been "pointlessly glamorized and contains important historical inaccuracies as well as scenes of pure fiction." Given how some Oscar voters are sticklers for accuracy in historical dramas, at the very least the new stills from the movie suggest that it will be a strong competitor in the cinematography category.
The Hollywood Reporter has gotten their hands on three new stills from Dahan's film, each one featuring star Nicole Kidman as famous Hollywood actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly. Kidman has a solid supporting cast behind her, including names like Tim Roth, Prker Posey, Paz Vega, Frank Langella and Milo Ventimiglia, but there's not question whose movie this really is. You can see all of the images in their largest size over on THR.
Scripted by Arash Amel, the film is based on the true story of how Grace Kelly played an important role in settling an escalating conflict brewing between Monaco's Prince Rainier III (Roth) and France's Charles De Gaulle (André Penvern) over the principality's existence as a tax haven. Amel's first produced title, the action film Erased, starring Aaron Eckhart, is set to hit theaters this weekend. He has also been tasked with writing the upcoming I Am Legend 2.
