Last week, the first trailer for Grace of Monaco was released. And the reception was not all that great. In fact, most of the professional (and amateur!) awards-watchers quietly crossed Nicole off of their “Best Actress” lists. It’s not that Nicole’s performance as Princess Grace looked bad or whatever (although Grace didn’t have a face full of Botox and lip fillers) – it was that the movie as a whole looked terrible. It looked like Naomi Watts’ Princess Diana movie or Lindsay Lohan’s Liz & Dick. It looked more like a budget Lifetime movie rather than a serious awards contender. So, not so surprisingly, Harvey Weinstein has decided to push the film’s release back so that when this mess bombs, no one will even say that it could have been an awards contender.
The Weinstein Co. no longer plans to release Grace of Monaco, a drama in which Oscar winner Nicole Kidman portrays actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly, in time to qualify for this year’s Oscar race. A limited release originally had been set for Nov. 27, and Kidman, by virtue of her past awards success, has been mentioned as a possible contender. But The Hollywood Reporter has learned that TWC has decided the film needs more time to be completed, and, according to sources, will be released during spring 2014, positioned more as a commercial entry than an awards play. TWC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
TWC co-chief Harvey Weinstein seemed particularly jazzed about the film — which was written by Arash Amel, directed by La Vie En Rose’s Olivier Dahan and also stars Tim Roth, Paz Vega, Parker Posey, Frank Langella and Derek Jacobi — when he previewed his fall slate for a room full of press and buyers at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17. Kidman, who was serving on the festival jury, even stopped by to take a bow.
“Weinstein lavished special attention on Grace, noting it was the seventh movie he’s made with Kidman,” THR reported at the time.
TWC still will have a jam-packed awards slate this fall. It already has released Fruitvale Station, Lee Daniels’ The Butler and The Grandmaster and the documentaries 20 Feet from Stardom and Salinger. And it will soon release Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Philomena, August: Osage County and One Chance, all of which played at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month.
Next year looks just as busy for the mini-major. TWC also is pushing James Gray’s The Immigrant, which stars Marion Cotillard and premiered at May’s Cannes Film Festival, from 2013 to 2014. And it acquired three other films at Toronto that also will factor into the 2014 race: John Carney’s Can a Song Save Your Life?, which stars Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Adam Levine; Ned Benson’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her, with James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain; and The Railway Man, in which Kidman also stars, opposite Colin Firth.
I can see how this was an easy decision for Harvey to make – why waste time and money on a film that you already know is going to be a critical and financial flop? Why waste time and energy trying to convince people that Nicole could be worthy of any awards nominations when you have Meryl Streep as a hands-down contender? And beyond that – I really hope Harvey puts some money behind a campaign for Fruitvale Station. That was a wonderful film full of wonderful performances, and I hope Harvey spreads around enough money to ensure that Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer both get nominations. Oh, and Harvey has to get Oprah a nomination too. And Idris Elba. So, he’s busy. He doesn’t have time for Nicole’s Botoxy nonsense.
Photos of Nicole arriving at LAX yesterday, courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Seriously though, I hate trailers that don’t tell you anything about the movie. All we got was two minutes of listening to how beautiful she is, how graceful she is–all the while barely showing her.
Of course, maybe the movie is awful. That’s what they did with ‘Liz and Dick’–I think they fully showed Lindsey for about three seconds–and she sounded awful.
I think the trailer tells a lot – They purposely didn’t show Nicole’s acting because she failed to embody Grace. I hate that they cast her in this role.
Me too. She’s so over rated in everything she does, but this is awful
The plot is apparently about Princesa Grace worked behind the scenes to avert some sort of international crisis. I don’t understand how this movie was even made… Just the synopsis makes me want to yawn. And then casting Kidman? Yeesh.
It makes be depressed that award season is all about money money money! I read it cost $100,000 to $250,000 to campaign for an Emmy nomination. That’s crazy! It should be as simple as who delivered a outstanding performance? Who had the most well written script? Stuff like that. Not who has the most money and connections. It’s discouraging.
Admittedly it doesn’t look good, it will be nothing more than a light, fluffy, dull but very pretty film. However I think the Diana and Liz & Dick comparisons are OTT. Both those films were completely atrocious, every single scene was literally painful to watch. None of the buzz suggests Grace of Monaco is on that level, it’s just not award-worthy.
It seems as though it should have been a made for TV movie as well. Then perhaps the quality would have appeared better comparatively.
Had Kidman ever even done TV? For some reason I can’t imagine it…
@Esmom, she did the Hemingway & Gellman movie for HBO, co-starring with Clive Owen, released in the beginnning of the year. That’s as close as she’s gotten to doing TV.
@Jayna, Oh yeah, that’s right, thanks. Although I agree that HBO isn’t exactly TV in the traditional sense. Kidman seems like one of the few film stars who’s not wanted to or ever had to cross into regular TV.
@Esmom – I know, I can’t either see her doing (traditional) TV. I don’t think she has been cold in the interviews I’ve seen, not at all, but yet she seems too distant persona for TV…Weird.
HBO is still technically TV. You don’t go to the cinema to watch their films, for the most part.
@Kiddo, of course. But many people, like me, don’t get (pay for) HBO so there’s a big TV audience that doesn’t see it. if I want to watch an HBO thing I get the DVD from the library or watch online, like I do with movies. I think it has the perception of being “above” regular TV.
Only reason to watch this movie is Tim Roth anyway.
Could someone please tell me Nicole’s BEST films? Despite her reputation I have never seen her act well. She does a lot of movies, but a lot of them bomb. So what is GOOD about her??
The Hours was fantastic. I never thought she could act until I saw that. She doesn’t play Nicole Kidman in that film, she jsut truly disappears into the character.
The Others is one of my all time favorites. To Die For was another great one. I even enjoyed her in The Stepford Wives, loved her breakdown scene. Rabbit Hole was another good one. I don’t think she is a horrible actress by any means.
She disappeared in her fake nose. Didn’t like that movie at all.
My favorites are THE HOURS, THE OTHERS, TO DIE FOR and upon second viewing, MOULIN ROUGE.
It’s easy to blame the stars for a film’s quality but it takes more than a star to make a film bad. Blame the writers, the producers, etc. Actors have very little control over the end product. Sure she shouldn’t have taken the role and it sounds like a bad idea from the start but if it sucks, I doubt it will be solely Kidman’s fault even though she’ll get the blame.
I loved her in Cold Mountain with Jude Law and Renee Zellweger.
She is positively brilliant in Moulin Rouge bridging farce, drama, comedy, romance and singing all in one movie as far as acting and pulling it off beautifully.
She’s wonderful in The Rabbit Hole as a mother who lost her child tragically and the aftermath as she and her husband (Aaron Eckhart) try to go on, never overacting or becoming too melodramatic.
I thought her acting in The Human Stain (with Anthony Hopkins) was amazing. The movie was uneven, but their performances were great.
The Others, 2001, is a must-see movie. She is one of the few actresses that can really pull off a period piece with her acting (many modern-day young actresses can’t) and classic beauty which is timeless, and what a truly great psychological horror/supernatural film.
And, of course, The Hours.
I forgot about THE HUMAN STAIN. It’s not a great film but she has some awesome moments. I still remember a scene of her in the attic breaking down.
Another mediocre film with a great Kidman performance is BIRTHDAY GIRL.
Dead Calm and Bangkok Hilton, a mini-series for tv she did years ago.
Man, I forgot Dead Calm. What a fantastic thriller. I’ve seen it about three times. She was really young, too, wasn’t she? Like 19 or 20. She was great in it, but it was just a great movie anyway, an edge of your seat movie. Billy Zane was terrific.
I think she was great in Hemingway & Gellman also, the HBO movie.
@Caz
YES! Dead Calm.. That is when I first noticed Nicole. Loved that Movie. Also, To Die For.
Now, I can barely look at her face. I hate her lips/smile/fried hair. She was such a natural beauty back then.
It’s beyond me why she starting messing with her looks in the first place and at a young age. l really believe Tom C did a number on her self-esteem.
It’s worth noting a lot of her films are small arthouse productions that were never expected to rake in the big bucks. She’s been in some high profile flops (Australia, The Golden Compass, Stepford Wives and I’m guessing soon Grace of Monaco will be added to the list) but for every sucky blockbuster there’s been two really bold, risky critical darlings.
To Die For, Dogville, Rabbit Hole, Stoker, Birth, Fur and Margot at the Wedding are my favourite Nicole performances. I was lucky enough to see her in The Blue Room and she was absolutely electric.
She’s one of the rare A-list female actors who doesn’t shy away from very dark, controversial work. She’s done some really interesting stuff, the kind of stuff none of her peers, besides Tilda Swinton, would go near. No one seems to talk about her best work, I guess because not many people have seen her most interesting films. But for me, she’s the most exciting mainstream actress by a long shot.
I adore Nicole and see practically everything she’s done, but I disagree on a couple with you. I did love her in To Die For, Fur, and Dogville.
But I thought she was mediocre in Birth, wooden. I didn’t like the movie anyway, but usually her acting would be worth it. Not here.
Though you didn’t mention this as a favorite, I thought she was bad in Australia, some of the worst acting she’s ever done, just phoning it in, which shocked me, and her face was distracting with those blown-up lips and frozen forehead. It broke my heart how she was destroying her beauty. Hugh Jackman saved the movie for me.
Margot at the Wedding was awful for one reason. Her plastic surgery had gotten in the way of Nicole, the actress. I had to turn it off halfway through because I couldn’t look at her face with those lips and botox and filler and bad wig. I actually mourned the Nicole I once loved on the screen.
Thank God when The Rabbit Hole came out she looked like herself again and brought me back into the fold, and just really great, understated acting. The same with Hemingway and Gellman. She looked more natural again.
I have always applauded her not always chasing the big screen commercial hits and embracing more arthouse, independent films mixed in with her bigger films.
I would list To Die For, Birth & Dogville for my favorites. I felt her character was meant to be very stuck-up (wooden?) in Birth.
You’re right that her repertoire is much wider than her image gives people to understand. For example Fur – that was a strange little film and a surprising choice. She is able to choose differently, and yet she has to get entangled in excessive botox etc. altering. (That bothers me…and Australia is a good example of the consequences)
And another one: BIRTH. I forgot that one in my original recommendations. I loved that film. Very mysterious and beautiful and Kidman gives another great committed performance. Her close-up at the symphony concert is masterful.
I f*cking loved Fur. I know it was panned but I loved it and I’m not sure why. Loved Birth and Dogville, Margot at The Wedding…
Kidman has turned out so many good performances that it’s hard for me to keep track sometimes (yeah I’m fangirling like crazy right now).
She’s one of the few actresses that I can say will compel me to see a film that may not appear interesting to me at first glance. She’s THAT good IMO.
That being said, this movie looks like crap. Not sure why my girl is messing with this junk…
She is great in Human Stain. She owned Anthony Hopkins in that. Theres also that film with Billy Zane trapped on a ship (I’m typing on my phone so googling is a major chore. She did a great job in that film though)
I dont know if anyone can objectively deny that she is talented. She is definitely up there among her generation.
Anyone seen her in The Paperboy? She played a backwater skanky chain smoking Ho like nobody’s business. I couldn’t pick my jaw up off the floor throughout. Cusak was unrecognizable.
She was awesome in that movie. That was a role that would have been a great vehicle for to an up-and-coming actress who had something tor prove, not a seasoned, established actress like Nicole. It required a lot of risk-taking and she delivered like nobody’s business.
And yeah, best performance I’ve ever seen from Cusack (and I’m a fan of his so that’s saying a lot).
I never saw that one. I will have to check it out. What is interesting is Nicole in real life looks regal, poised, never overtly sexual in presence, but in movies she can be more sexual in bed scenes than just about anyone, and she was always very casual in doing nude scenes if she felt it fit the scene. As much as Eyes Wide Shut was panned and bad, scenes with her in it were always compelling.
She has been my favorite actress for years.
Nicole Kidman has been great in a number of films. I know that this site is deeply critical of NK but I have to wonder if they have actually seen any of her films.
some recommendations are
Dead Calm, To Die For, Portrait of a Lady, Practical Magic, Moulin Rouge, Bangkok Hilton, The Others, Birthday Girl and so many more. she is actually a very capable actress. Just start at the beginning of her filmography and go from there.
Some people say she is terrible in Australia but I think her character was supposed to be that way. the character was obviously uptight, rigid, snobby etc and NK played that. Her scenes with the young boy were wonderful.
The trailer reminds me of Madonna’s W.E., really visually stunning, gorgeous cinematography, but lacking as an overall movie. The beauty of Madonna’s movie visually, as her attention to detail was impressive, made it worth catching as a home movie, plus Andrea Wiseborough’s great acting in an otherwise superficial movie, never digging deep. I suspect I will watch this as a home movie for the same reason, not because it’s a great movie.
I believe you nailed this case!
I quite enjoyed W.E. to be honest. Besides being visually stunning I loved thethe way it juxterposed those two stories. I honestly think that the critics had determined to trash it on account of Madonnas involvement.
I think it was a good movie, not a really good movie or great movie. I actually like the two stories intertwined also, even though the critics say this was a fail. I disagree. And Abby Cornish did a really good job. But many scenes seemed very contrived, and the movie felt superficial in never delving deep enough into the characters of Wallis and Edward regarding his adoration of her and why. I never really saw or felt why he was so obssessed with her. Still, I enjoyed it. And, yes, it did get unfairly slammed, because it is far from a bad movie.
I think calling it awful is premature. This could just mean it’s a good movie not a great one. Or it could mean that the finished product has a more commercial tone than an awards bait tone.
A spring release is nothing to sneeze at. It’s not the Oscar release everyone was expecting but it’s not where they drop the bombs they just want to disappear quickly either.
I’m not arguing that the trailer wasn’t crappy or more like a perfume ad than a movie trailer but I think we can chill on the hyperbole about how awful it and Nicole are. And in no way do I believe Nicole Kidman and Harvey Weinstein would deliver anything as awful as the Diana movie or Liz & Dick. There would be reshoots from now until the end of time before that would happen.
I absolutely agree. Harvey would never put out a Liz & Dick budget crapfest, nor would Nicole be involved in such a low-budget feature as far as writing and quality of the movie.
+1000
This trailer looks and sounds like a perfume commercial about a fragrance called “Grace”.
I think she’s brilliant actress, but I can’t think of anyone more wrong for this role. If this was going to be just one long perfume commercial, they should’ve just cast January Jones who can do Grace drag in her sleep. Or Diane Kruger even!
She might be botoxed but she’s a phenomenal actress! Why the shade? Yes, I’m a Nicole K stan.
Because Nicole Kidman is Satan for using Botox like every other actress. LOL.
Hahaha. Like she was the only one, yeah right. It’s just that in some films you can see how clearly it affects her ability to move her face. She’s an actress after all, and her face is her tool.
I am too. It isn’t just botox. She was doing too much botox, too much filler, and her lips had become a joke at some point. Add all those together and it stripped away everything adorable about her face, the movement and expressions in her face. And she used to have the prettiest smile, and for a while I was so distracted by her fake lips that she seemed to blow up bigger and bigger as time went on. I called it lipdysmorphia. She has backed off, thank God, from overuse of all three.
there is only one good thing in this trailer: Maria Callas! La Divina!
The movie is just a glamourous melodram. It´s botoxed Kidman with bloodshot eyes in expensive dresses.
The big guy seems to be Hitchcock, the Kidman-Grace suffers and he is the only one who understands her. He wants her in his next movie, but she has to say no because her new country needs her dearly and her boring Statesman/Prince-husband doesn´t understand her and her dreams… so she suffers in glamourous gowns while pepole praise her beauty.
I love watching her.. She’s a terrific actress. They all pick the wrong venue from time to time, she’s no exception. She’s a beautiful woman & so happy in her life, I doubt she cares.
I knew the film would be moved after that lame teaser trailer. Kidman is a good actress but she’s too cold and mannered on screen for me to be a fan of. I don’t dislike her but I will never be a fan, especially after she butchered her face.
watch Practical magic, she isn’t cold and mannered in that. Or Moulin Rouge or the scenes in Australia with the young boy (I seriously am blanking on the character name and actor name)
I find it hilarious that both of Harvey’s princess movies are bombing with audiences and critics,lol. Maybe we are just more cynical these days. As for the awards, I still think Cate Blachette is the favorite followed very closely by Meryl. It’s going to be a knockout fight this award season between the two of them.
I want some receipts. Which critics did Nicole Kidman’s movie bomb with?
well she looks pretty in the preview, but besides the star status of the actors involved how is that different then a lifetime movie?
I really loved some of Nicole Kidman’s older work. She’s done a lot of interesting things, and she’s at least very, very professional. But her face. She has utterly ruined it, and it’s very, very hard to watch her, especially when you know what she *should* look like. She’s far from being the only person to have done this, but I would actually say that she’s one of the most talented, and I think that’s what makes it so egregious.
It is obvious Kidman’s PR department has infiltrated this site and is busy rewriting history. Don’t bother. This is just another humiliating chapter in the career of Hollywood’s Queen of Box Office Poison.
A big fan Of Nicole here, but I have to agree that “Grace of Monaco” looks boring, especially after watching “The Paperboy” last night, gosh , she was just fearless in that movie. No wonder she got nommed by SAG members last year. What an actor.
Loved Fur, and I was obsessed with Dogville when it came out. And no I don’t work for Nicole’s PR department. *pass the checks*