Royals

Monaco’s royalty to boycott Grace Kelly biopic

Prince Albert and his sisters are said to be incensed about the “inaccuracies” in the film about their mother.
Princess Charlene and Prince Albert.

It’s no secret that the Grace of Monaco filmmakers have clashed with the European monarchy over the project. Prince Albert is said to be not only furious about the film’s portrayal of his mother but also, of his father, Prince Rainier.

The movie stars Kidman as Kelly and Tim Roth as Rainier. Set in 1962, the film explores the life former Hollywood star, Grace Kelly and her personal crisis of having to choose between returning to her life as a celebrated film star or embracing her new role as a royal in the world’s second smallest country.

According to reports, Albert is worried that the film vilifies his father and unfairly paints him as a controlling husband.

Grace Kelly and Nicole Kidman do have some striking similarities.

Kidman has spoken out in defence of the film and insists that it is only inspired by the Princess and is not intended to be a biographical account.

“This is not a biopic or a fictionalised documentary of Grace Kelly,” she said. “But only a small part of her life where she reveals her great humanity as well as her fears and weaknesses.”

In January 2013 – apparently after being shown a copy of the script – Grace Kelly’s children, Albert, Caroline and Stephanie, released a statement distancing themselves from the movie.

“We have had absolutely no association with this project which is claims to be about the lives of our parents,” the statement read.

“For us, this film does not constitute a biographical work, but portrays only a part of her life and has been pointlessly glamorised, and contains important historical inaccuracies as well as scenes of pure fiction.”

There are also clashes between the film’s director, Olivier Dahan and the film’s US distributors, The Weinstein Company.

Dahan claims Harvey Weinstein had pressured him to agree to a separate edit for the US market. Dahan has reportedly lashed out saying: “there are two versions of the film . . . mine and his, which I find catastrophic.”

Grace was one of the world’s most famous movie stars before she turned her back on Hollywood to marry Monaco’s Prince Rainier III in 1956. She died in 1982 from a car accident after suffering a stroke while driving.

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