You might remember “Grace of Monaco.” A Grace Kelly biopic directed by Olivier Dahan (“La Vie en Rose”) with Nicole Kidman in the lead and Tim Roth as her Prince Rainier, the film was picked up for distribution by The Weinstein Company and landed an opening night slot at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It seemed like a perfect combination of material and talent, and a possible awards player. But it ended up panned on the Croisette and destined for a premiere on the Lifetime television channel here in the US.
Earlier this week, the film's screenwriter, Arash Amel, took to Twitter to live-Tweet the Lifetime airing and, well, he had a lot to say. “The purpose of this live Tweet is to correct the record, an explanation, an apology and most of all a bit of lighthearted fun,” he wrote, tagging each of his Tweets with the #GOMFacts hashtag.
If anyone didn't grasp the “lighthearted fun” element, it had to have been Dahan, whose creative vision of the project was apparently at drastic odds with Amel's. It seems Dahan was after something approaching Alfred Hitchcock's “Vertigo” (which, Amel notes, did not feature Kelly). But ultimately he ended up with something that falls off that thin line into the gaudy.
In one Tweet, Amels claims that after he saw the finished film, he complained to Harvey Weinstein about this direction. “He heard me,” Amel wrote, “but under French law, director say is final…I fought the good fight. But the law is the law. Sometimes you get Truffaut. Sometimes you get this.”
Ouch.
If there's any news to be gleaned from all of this, it might be that the version that aired on Lifetime was in fact a third edit of the movie, according to Amel. There was the French edit, the unfinished Weinstein Company edit and this one. Amel seemed to think it was better, perhaps because it was mercifully swift in pace, clocking in somewhere around 75 minutes plus commercial breaks.
I've pulled a few choice Tweets below for you to sample this unique dissection. And a dissection it is. After all, Amel wanted the live-Tweet session to be “a valuable lesson in how a script becomes a film. Coppola made 'Heart of Darkness.' I lived it.”
To be clear, Amel experienced nothing like what Mr. Coppola did filming “Apocalypse Now' in the wilds of the Philippines (watch the documentary “Hearts of Darkness” for a taste of that madness), but his story is his own “filmmaking Vietnam,” and everything is relative after all. This is valuable reading for anyone interested in a screenwriting career, to say the least, so enjoy…if that's the word.
To clear up some inaccuracies. TWC was never a producer on the movie. Bought US rights after the film was shot and in edit. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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The movie was creatively produced solely by Stone Angels in France, and the vision is all the director's and French producer's. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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French cut was 103min, TWC cut (never finished) was 92 min. @Lifetimetv are showing in a 90min TV slot, I'm presuming with ads #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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I wrote a Peter-Morgan-type biopic that became a Douglas Sirk melodrama. That's your lot as a writer. All your dreams, right there #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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This was never meant to be a thriller. It was meant to be real. We cut this whole boat and argument sequence from the US cut. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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They were also not meant to be shouting at each other. It was meant to play under the surface. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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This movie has had more edits than I've had films made. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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This is actually better than the version that played Cannes. If you can believe that. It's tighter, better edited. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
ok now, so if ads run every 20mins, we're looking at Lifetime delivering a 75min cut. That's almost 30 mins off the French cut #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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Lesson for film grads: this is how you wash away what was actually a great performance in this scene with unnecessary music. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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An English guy and a French guy. (I had Abel Korzeniowski as my first choice and we were ready to go) https://t.co/7PSspf55mW
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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That scene in Grace's office was shot in one take in one day. Imagine my horror. #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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Director boycotted collaboration. I got called in by Harvey as a producer to restore the movie as a 'writer's cut'. https://t.co/zwEosYILat
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015
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One day the world will see the US Writer's Cut. I'm planning on being here a while … #GOMFacts
– Arash Amel (@arashamel) May 26, 2015