Nicole: Too Old To Play Princess Grace?
Oscar loves biopics, so this may also be fodder for next year: Michael Fleming reports that The Weinstein Co. will soon acquire domestic rights to “Grace Of Monaco,” in which Nicole Kidman plays actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly under director Olivier Dahan (“La Vie en Rose”). Tim Roth will play Monaco’s Prince Rainier III. Jeffrey Wells objects: ‘I’m sorry but I see a roadblock right away in the casting of Kidman and Roth. Fleming writes that the film will focus on a period in the early ’60s (specifically ’62 to ’64) when Princess Grace helped her husband settle a dispute between Monaco and Franch president Charles De Gaulle over tax laws. Kelly, born on 11.12.29, was between 32 and 34 when the story occurs, and Kidman, who will turn 46 in June, is, all due respect, too old to play someone in her early 30s. She can pretend to be that age and we can pretend along with her, of course, but it won’t feel right. The beautiful and well-tended Kidman has delivered fine performances under the right directors, but you can’t fake youth. She would have been a perfect choice to play Princess Grace about ten years ago. She’s a lot closer right now to the 52 year-old Grace who died in a car crash in September 1982.’
