Jose here. After its fall from grace (pardon the pun, no, really do) less than a day ago, Grace of Monaco is back with a punch, having just been selected as the film that will open the 67th annual Cannes Film Festival in May. Just yesterday, it was announced that the movie had been pulled from its March 14 release date, leading people to assume that the film was in trouble. The Hollywood Reporter speculated that director Olivier Dahan hadn't delivered a final cut to The Weinstein Company, adding fuel to a fire started last year when the outspoken director accused Harvey Weinstein of cutting a "catastrophic" version of his film.
More on Grace of Monaco, Nicole Kidman and Cannes openers after the jump!
After its conspicuous push from last year's awards season (Nicole vs. Cate!) and an even more suspicious spring release date which was never meant to stick (especially after Weinstein witnessed how his two major summer contenders last year received zero Oscar attention) the film now joins the ranks of other recent prestigious Cannes openers like The Great Gatsby, Moonrise Kingdom and Midnight in Paris all of which went to garner Oscar nominations.
Kidman herself is no stranger to films with shifting release dates; in the year 2000 her new musical Moulin Rouge! was moved from the fall, to Christmas, to summer 2001, leading people to believe it was a doomed production. Eventually the film opened the Cannes Film Festival and won Nicole her first Oscar nomination the following year (not to mention a Golden Globe and more importantly, our eternal devotion). Also, in case you forgot (which shame on you) just last year, Nicole was jury member extraordinaire at the Cannes Film Festival, so it seems she can't get enough of the Riviera.
An official US release date for the film should follow soon, but for now, from the Cannes Film Festival's official release:
Grace of Monaco will be released on the opening day of the Festival, Wednesday 14 May, in France and in several cities around the world. The opening ceremony will be broadcast to participating cinemas, with the kind cooperation of Canal+.
How excited are you about Grace of Monaco? Do you think Cannes will go with Dahan's or Weinstein's version? Will Nicole and jury president Jane Campion get together and decide to rule over the world? Share your thoughts in the comments!