“Arbitrage” star Tim Roth is set to play Monaco’s Prince Rainier III opposite Nicole Kidman’s Grace Kelly in Olivier Dahan’s “Grace of Monaco,” which is also adding Frank Langella to its cast.
Pierre-Ange Le Pogam is producing with financier Uday Chopra of YRF Entertainment and scribe Arash Amel.
Story finds Kelly as a former Oscar winner and mother of two who had already spent six years as the monarch of a European nation. The retired starlet was called upon to save Monaco from an escalating situation regarding its standing as a tax haven, with French leader Charles de Gaulle giving her husband, Monaco’s Prince Rainier III, six months to reform its tax laws.
Roth will play the ambitious and strong-headed Prince Rainier III, who was forced to run the country at a young age and broke from tradition to marry Kelly. While he initially lets his emotions get in the way of his work and marriage, he eventually lets Kelly guide him in decision-making.
Langella is in negotiations to play Father Tucker, the priest who set up Kelly with Prince Rainier and dispenses advice to ensure they can survive any trouble that threatens to disrupt their marriage.
Spanish thesp Paz Vega is set to-costar as renowned opera singer Maria Callas, who as Aristotle Onassis’ girlfriend, became one of Kelly’s closest confidantes. Production is skedded to start this fall in France.
Roth, who starred in Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” received an Oscar nomination for his supporting perf in 1995’s “Rob Roy.” Brit thesp recently starred in the Fox series “Lie to Me” and wrapped Eric Rochant’s “Mobius,” which also stars Jean Dujardin.
Langella, who received an Oscar nomination for “Frost/Nixon,” next stars in “Robot & Frank” and Stephen Frears’ HBO telepic “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight.”
Roth is repped by CAA, Markham, Froggatt and Irwin and attorney Geoffry Oblath. ICM Partners reps Langella.
