Nicole Kidman was once supposed to be in the running for an Oscar nomination for playing Oscar winner Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco. That was a long time ago. Now, she will actually be trying to get an Emmy because the movie is going straight to Lifetime.
The cable network announced today that Olivier Dahan’s film will air on Monday, May 25 at 8 p.m. It will not be released in theaters in the U.S. at all now.
Grace of Monaco was notorious for delays and Harvey Weinstein’s clash with the La vie en rose filmmaker over the final cut. It was initially supposed to come out in the fall of 2013, giving Kidman a shot at this year’s Oscars. But the film was delayed until Spring 2014 and that release never happened. After the film was shown at the film was shown at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, it was hit hard by critics, effectively souring Weinstein on the film’s prospects. The Weinstein Company wasn't even mentioned in Lifetime's announcement.
While a movie about the love story between Kelly and Prince Rainier (Tim Roth in the film) sounds like the prospects for a good romantic drama, Dahan oddly chose to focus on the political crisis Monaco found itself in during the early 1960s. Prince Albert II and the Monaco royal family continuously slammed the film during its production.
In addition to Roth and Kidman, the film’s cast includes Frank Langella, Parker Posey and Paz Vega.
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