A strange smile comes over Uday Chopra’s face when asked about his experience of co-producing his first international film, the Nicole Kidman-starrer Grace of Monaco , directed by Olivier Dahan. “I wish it would have been better,” he says wistfully. “Actually, the experience was great. It was also very important for me as I joined in only in the last leg as a financier producer, not a creative one. But I could’ve done without the bad publicity,” he says candidly.
Despite the scathing feedback at the Cannes Film Festival (which the film opened), the poor performance at the U.K. box office (released last week) and star draw Nicole Kidman’s absence at the Indian premiere, YashRaj has put its best foot forward for the India release (June 13) of the American-French biography film. Grace of Monaco released in 74 screens in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Noida, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and Kolkata. “We are co-producers. For YashRaj, it was a matter of prestige. We had to give it that sort of credibility by releasing it here. We have gone ahead with over 70 screens, which means double the exposure that a niche film like this would usually get. I call it niche because Indian audiences never really go for a biography; they prefer the superheroes and the Oscar-nominated variety.”
Grace of Monaco opened this year’s festival at Cannes following an invitation from Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux, who had even congratulated the cast and crew for the standing ovation the film received, reveals Uday. “I think our film wasn’t designed for Cannes, as they usually have the slow, art house, melancholy types. Ours is more in the fairytale space, a full-on commercial film. The fit wasn’t right,” rues Uday, adding that the negative reviews have certainly surprised him. “We got a particularly bad review from a gentleman who ought to have been in the middle of the first-ever press screening at the Cannes when the review hit online!” says Uday, adding, “I can’t speculate about that, especially since any more negative stuff will further harm my film,” when asked about any deliberate attempts to run down the film.
The film’s French director Olivier Dahan, known for the award-winning La Vie En Rose (2007), and U.S. distributor Harvey Weinstein also reportedly had a tussle over the final cut of the film. “That’s not true really. The thing was that the two had never met and we had to actually put them together in a room and get them to speak. Every distributor in the world tells the director about the version he wants for his region. Olivier had no problem about it. Harvey is now getting the U.S. cut and hence it will take about three to four months for the U.S. release. Possibly the film will do better, who knows?” explains Uday.
The film had another share of controversy when Grace Kelly’s children publicly rejected the film. “I am appalled. We shot at the palace, we had all their permissions. They were aware of everything. Now we are going to edit some portions and secure permissions again,” he shrugs.
The actor-producer says his next films, which are his independent productions unlike this one, should give him more reason to cheer. Besides Seducing Ingrid Bergman (scripting stage) and The Longest Week (ready for release), he has one more on hand. “It’s a female-based action thriller that we will shoot in India with an international cast and a U.S.-Indian crew. We have zeroed in on a few big names and will disclose the cast in a few weeks,” says Uday. The film will go on the floors in January 2015.
