Development The script, written by
Arash Amel, was listed in the 2011
Hollywood Black List of the most liked screenplays written in that year and sold to French-based producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam in a competitive bid.
Filming Principal photography began in September 2012 in
Paris and
Menton. In October 2012, the production moved to
Italy, first to Grimaldi, the village near
Ventimiglia, which bears the name of the royal house of Monaco, then in Mortola, near Ventimiglia at
Villa Hanbury. The production was granted permission to close Monaco's main square for 24 hours between October 29–30, 2012, and during this time the cast were seen filming outside and around the
Monte Carlo Casino. In November 2012 and, again, in January 2013, the production was in
Genoa, Italy, on the housed set in the
Royal Palace in Via Balbi, where the Hall of Mirrors replicates the residence of the royal court of Monaco. Interiors were shot in Belgium (Belgian parliament in Brussels, the city of Ghent and television studios in Lint.)
Grimaldi family's response On January 16, 2013, shortly after filming ended,
Prince Albert II,
Princess Caroline and
Princess Stéphanie (Kelly's children) criticized the subject matter of the approved script, describing it as "needlessly glamorized and historically inaccurate," and said that "numerous requests for changes" had been ignored, which "had caused much astonishment." The statement continued, "Therefore, the
Royal Family wishes to stress that this film in no way constitutes a
biopic. It recounts one rewritten, needlessly glamorized page in the
history of Monaco and its family with both major historical inaccuracies and a series of purely fictional scenes." In response to these criticisms, Melvyn Stokes from University College London said, "[T]he fact that their statement was issued before the film was even edited, let alone released, suggests that they may be opposed to
any film about their mother". According to biographer
Jeffrey Robinson, Princess Caroline was shown a script before filming, thought it was meant to be a comedy, then realized it was simply fiction. She went through the script with a red pen to correct things that were blatantly wrong, but Dahan was no longer interested and refused to make any changes. Reviewing the film for
History Extra, the official website of
BBC History Magazine, Stokes said the film contains a number of historical inaccuracies, such as the suggestion that Grace's speech to the Red Cross Ball in Monaco on October 9, 1962, "defused the [tax] crisis". In reality, he points out, "its removal was the result of a compromise tax deal signed between France and Monaco that made French citizens who had lived in Monaco for less than five years, or companies doing more than a quarter of their business outside the principality, subject to French taxation." Stokes awarded the film one star for historical accuracy. The production had previously asserted that the film does not purport to cover Grace Kelly's life, but a specific moment in her existence, and was filmed in Monaco with the support of the principality. On January 19, 2013, director
Olivier Dahan responded to the royal press release by stating, "I am not a journalist or historian. I am an artist. I have not made a biopic. I hate biopics in general. I have done, in any subjectivity, a human portrait of a modern woman who wants to reconcile her family, her husband, her career. But who will give up her career and invent another role. And it will be painful." He also stated, "I understand their point of view. After all, it is their mother. I do not want to provoke anyone. Only to say that it's cinema."
Final cut Dahan has been vocal on the final cut disagreements he has with the film's US distributor
Harvey Weinstein. He told
Libération, "It's right to struggle, but when you confront an American distributor like Weinstein, not to name names, there is not much you can do. Either you say, 'Go figure it out with your pile of shit' or you brace yourself so the blackmail isn't as violent … If I don't sign, that's where the out-and-out blackmail starts, but I could go that far. There are two versions of the film for now: mine and his … which I find catastrophic." In April 2014, only two weeks before its opening night premiere at Cannes,
Variety reported that Weinstein was considering dropping the film for US distribution. It was reported several weeks later that Weinstein had decided to keep the film. Weinstein said that the cut shown at Cannes was missing a key scene that would address the 'legitimate concerns' raised by the royal family over the depiction in Dahan's movie. Though Amel never publicly took a side in the long-running feud over final cut, he refused to attend the film's official photo call and press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for the director's cut being screened. According to Amel, the version that aired on Lifetime was a third edit.
Cannes controversy At the
2014 Cannes Film Festival, notable absences at the press conference and official photo-call were Weinstein and the film's screenwriter Amel. Weinstein cited
charitable work in
Syria as the reason for his absence, while Amel told
The Hollywood Reporter that "he doesn't want his 'big first Cannes moment' undermined by the controversy surrounding the dueling cuts." ==Release==