'Grace of Monaco' Writer's Twitter Tell-All Reveals How Nicole Kidman Ended Up in a Lifetime Bomb
This is how Academy Award Winner Nicole Kidman ended up in the most expensive Lifetime movie ever.
Grace of Monaco was helmed by French director Olivier Dahan and was once thought to be another Oscar contender for Kidman, who plays Grace Kelly in the movie. (Dahan’s La Vie en Rose earned Marion Cotillard an Oscar win for her turn as Édith Piaf.) The Weinstein Company bought the U.S. rights in 2013, and the film was supposed to be released in theaters that same year. Then the next year. Then a theatrical release was scrapped altogether.
Harvey Weinstein and Dahan clashed over editing. (Dahan has said, “They want a commercial film smelling of daisies, taking out anything...that makes it cinematic and breathe with life.”) The movie was booed when it screened at the Cannes Film Festival, was boycotted by Kelly’s children, and, last night, finally premiered on TV, on a channel famous for movies about stolen babies and girlfriends in comas. (It will also be available on Netflix June 8.)
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The screenwriter, Arash Amel, livetweeted along with the Lifetime premiere, providing an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the making of and a candid take on what went wrong. (For what it’s worth, Amel’s script made the 2011 Black List, an annual list of the most liked screenplays in Hollywood.)
To say the least, Amel didn’t appear to like the final product:
When you write a movie, and someone makes it, and you're like ... pic.twitter.com/MfapV7MeSH
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
“The purpose of this live tweet is to correct the record, an explanation, an apology and most of all a bit of light hearted fun,” Amel tweeted, noting it would “be a valuable lesson in how a script becomes a film. Coppola made Heart of Darkness, I lived it.”
In short #GraceofMonaco was my filmmaking Vietnam. I survived it, but I'll never be the same. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
I wrote a Peter-Morgan-type biopic that became a Douglas Sirk melodrama. That's your lot as a writer. All your dreams, right there #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
The whole tone of this movie was for some reason Vertigo. Which Grace Kelly was never in. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Amel only has kind things to say about working with Nicole:
Nicole was the best. Terrific to work with on every level. https://t.co/l3pNmcjWRA
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
I think Nicole looks stunning in some of these shots. She was amazing to work with and a real trooper against great odds. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
As well as the other cast, crew, and distributor Harvey Weinstein:
I love Frank Langella. He was a real gentleman and bought everybody nice presents. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
When all were losing their heads, Parker kept her cool #GOMFacts pic.twitter.com/MSSCww8jE0
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
@MiloVentimiglia He kept me sane throughout. Also, backed me up when one of the French producers tried to fight me. pic.twitter.com/ADatt1SwAO
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
OK so a few shout-outs. Gigi Lepage for her amazing costumes. Dan Weil for his amazing production design. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Harvey was a gent all the way through. He gave me editors and tried to save the catastrophe. https://t.co/SwoWDqQxvE
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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On the, er, mixed reaction Grace of Monaco has received so far:
My views on French cut are well documented. But it did get standing ovation in the main screening. The press had booed it earlier. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
This movie was huge in Japan. Huge. Ran for weeks. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
On the Monaco Royal Family boycotting the film and calling it “needlessly glamorized and historically inaccurate”:
So this was the controversial scene with the Grimaldi family. The word "Divorce". #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Monaco royal family signed off on script after we removed reference to divorce (true) & rainier's temper (true) #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Royal family then attacked the movie in the press before seeing it. Then the French contingent put it all back in #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
On what sounds like a complete nightmare of a film shoot:
Btw, our Unit Production Manager vanished in week 3 or 4. Never seen again. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Nobody knew what they were doing on this day #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
The whole walking down the steps sequence was lost by the lab. We had to reshoot it. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Kept it tame tonight. I'll keep people storming off set, 3-hour shooting days and missing sets for my memoirs. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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And some miscellaneous bits and bobs from the livetweet, including the film’s hefty price tag, the infamous controversy over editing, and at least one cry for help:
This boat cost $250k a day. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
There was $20m worth of Cartier floating about in this final scene. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
French cut was 103min, TWC cut (never finished) was 92 min. @Lifetimetv are showing in a 90min TV slot, I'm presuming with ads #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
This is actually better than the version that played Cannes. If you can believe that. It's tighter, better edited. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
The over-the-top and stilted set-ups is purely intentional direction. The text was written as free-flowing and naturalistic. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
This was never meant to be a thriller. It was meant to be real. We cut this whole boat and argument sequence from the US cut. #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
Somebody help me #GOMFacts
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
In the end, here’s what Amel said he learned from the process:
I learned fame and infamy are interchangeable. Only crime in Hollywood is to be anonymous. Also the script had fans. https://t.co/vv1wRkrJnG
— Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
You can read more of Amel’s reactions and insight on his Twitter here.
Now, hear what Nicole Kidman herself told ET about the film’s controversy:
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