Exclusive

Nicole Kidman's Grace of Monaco Controversy: Co-Star Defends Embattled Movie

Paz Vega calls the film a "beautiful fairy tale"

By Marc Malkin May 16, 2014 4:17 PMTags
Nicole Kidman, Grace of MonacoThe Weinstein Company

It's no secret that Nicole Kidman's new drama Grace of Monaco has been drowning in, well, drama.

First, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier's children publicly slammed the film. Then studio head Harvey Weinstein battled over the final cut with its director Olivier Dehan.

And the reviews since Grace opened at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday have been brutal.

But Paz Vega, who plays opera great Maria Callas in the film, hopes the royal couple's offspring will give it a chance.

"It's really beautiful," she told me today at an Art of Elysium luncheon in her honor. "It's honoring her. At the end of the day, it's a beautiful fairy tale. It doesn't try to be something controversial."

The Weinstein Company

Vega defended the movie's portrayal of Grace Kelly as someone who could feel lonely even after marrying Prince Rainier.

"Probably sometimes she felt alone because, why not?" Vega said. "I feel alone sometimes, but I'm super-happy and married…It's beautiful in the way they connect as a couple again."

During a press conference earlier this week, Kidman said she felt "sad" over the family's protest.

"I think that the film has no malice toward the family or in particular toward Grace or Rainier," Kidman said, according to Hitfix. "It's fictionalized. It's not a biopic. There is an essence of truth, but with a lot of these things you take dramatic license at times. I understand also because they are their mother and father, and I understand the protection of the privacy of their mother and father. It's awkward is what it is, but I still have respect and I want them to know the performance is done with love. And if they ever did see it they would see there was an enormous amount of love for the love of their parents."

ascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Prince Albert, Princess Stephanie and Princess Caroline of Monaco slammed the movie in March.

'The Prince's Palace would like to reiterate that this feature film cannot under any circumstances be classified as a biopic," they said in a statement. "The trailer appears to be a farce and confirms the totally fictional nature of this film. It reinforces the certainty, left after reading the script, that this production, a page of the Principality's history, is based on erroneous and dubious historical references."

Problems aside, Vega also told me that playing Callas wasn't as simple as just lip-syncing to her singing.

"I took some lessons form an opera singer to learn the techniques, the look, how to breath, the little details," she said. "It was lovely. I found myself singing in the shower just to enjoy my voice on another level."