Nicole Kidman is set to play screen icon and princess, Grace Kelly in a new movie ‘Grace of Monaco’.
The Australian actress is in advanced negotiations to play the iconic new film in Olivier Dahan’s planned US$ 16 million (£10 million) production, according to industry bible Variety.
According to Variety, it is hailed as one of the most sought after roles in Hollywood with a coterie of stars clamoring for the part.
Miss Kidman has yet to sign the deal but is expected to in the next few weeks.
Princess Grace was a screen icon in the 1950s, who won acclaim for her work with Alfred Hitchcock.
Her film hits included ‘Dial M for Murder’, ‘To Catch a Thief’ and ‘Rear Window’, as well as ‘High Society’.
Famed as much for her glamor and beauty as her acting skills, in 1956 she married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, with whom she had three children, Caroline, Stephanie and Albert.
‘Grace of Monaco’ is set between December 1961 and November 1962 and shows Kelly living as a mother-of-two and wife to the monarch of Monaco.
It will show the former Oscar-winning actress six years into her role as Princess Grace and tackles the part she played in saving the principality from a bitter battle with France.
At the time French leader Charles de Gaulle gave her husband, Monaco’s Prince Rainier III, six months to reform its tax laws, because of issues over its status as a tax haven.
She died aged 52 after suffering a stroke when she lost control of her car and crashed.
Her daughter, Princess Stéphanie, was in the car with her, but survived the accident.
Kidman clearly has the looks required for the role with her fair complexion and hair.
Over the years Kidman has been everything from a peroxide blonde to a fiery red head.
She won an Academy Award for her last film biopic ‘The Hours’, which dramatized the life of author Virginia Woolf.
The film is already drawing comparisons to 2011 hit movie ‘The King’s Speech’, which focused on George VI’s struggle to overcome a speech impediment against the backdrop of the abdication crisis.
Director Dahan made his name with Oscar-winning Edith Piaf biopic ‘La Vie En Rose’.
Acclaimed producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam and screenwriter Arash Amel are also working on the film.
