While we’re still unclear about which war Grace Kelly ended, producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam is moving ahead with a “The King’s Speech”-esque “not-a-biopic” biopic about the Oscar-winning actress-turned-Princess of Monaco. The movie will focus on the six-month period in 1962 when the city-state of Monaco got into a heated dispute with France, which had grown tired of the small principality being a tax haven. Kelly maneuvered behind the scenes to save Monaco from a coup.
In light of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, this may not be the best time to mount a “rich people avoiding taxes” movie. Then again, people love Grace Kelly, and the upcoming Oscar march of “The Artist” reminds us how much affection audiences have for the Hollywood of yesteryear, of which Kelly was a huge part, acting in the Alfred Hitchcock classics “Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” and “To Catch a Thief,” as well as the Western/blacklisting allegory “High Noon,” a film that John Wayne—the Duke himself—called “the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” a comment that might give Kelly some Occupy Wall Street-cred after all.
Pierre-Ange Le Pogam beat various competitors to win the script, and interested filmmakers are already circling the project. Le Pogam’s previous producing credits range from “Tell No One” to “Columbiana,” so it will be interesting to see where this film will fall in his oeuvre.
Even less encouraging are the credits of the film’s screenwriter, Arash Amel, who also wrote “The Expatriate,” a thriller starring Aaron Eckhart and Olga Kurylenko that comes out in 2012, and an untitled action thriller, which he recently sold to Summit. This is a potential Oscar-bait picture, but Amel seems more Akiva Goldsman than Steve Zaillian. Certainly, though, Goldsman has that “A Beautiful Mind” Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar to help keep him warm at night and (try to) silence the haters.
We’re apprehensive about the dramatic tension of “Grace Kelly as diplomatic H&R Block employee,” but like always, it will come down to the quality of the script, and what director and actress attach themselves to the project. We’re certainly curious to see the casting speculation on the Kelly role begin. Just get Michelle Williams, right?
Take a listen to Piebald’s “Grace Kelly With Wings”—which we’re assuming will be featured in the film’s first trailer—below. [THR] —Ryan Sartor