Monte Carlo (2011 film)
Encyclopedia
Monte Carlo is a 2011 American
romantic comedy film
directed by Thomas Bezucha
. Nicole Kidman
, Denise Di Novi
, Arnon Milchan
and Alison Greenspan produced the film for Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises
. It began production in Budapest, Hungary
on May 5, 2010.
Monte Carlo stars Selena Gomez
, Leighton Meester
and Katie Cassidy
as three friends posing as wealthy socialites in Monte Carlo, Monaco
. The film was released on July 1, 2011. It features the song "Who Says
" by Selena Gomez & the Scene
.
. The novel tells the story of four young Texas women who pretend to be wealthy heiresses while searching for rich potential husbands in Monte Carlo. There, they meet four gigolo
s posing as wealthy playboys. Fox bought the film rights to the novel in 1999, three years prior to the novel's publication. In 2005, Hollywood trade magazine Variety
announced that siblings Jez and John Henry Butterworth would be writing the script. It also reported that actress Nicole Kidman
had signed on to play the lead as well as produce the film with Rick Schwartz
.
The Butterworths were later fired and Tom Bezucha was hired to direct and co-write Monte Carlo. Bezucha and Maria Maggenti
turned in a draft of the screenplay by July 2007; it starred Kidman as "one of three Midwestern schoolteachers who decide to ditch a disappointing no-frills holiday in Paris and pose as wealthy women vacationing in Monaco". However, in 2010, executives had the film rewritten again after deciding that the film should be made more youthful. The updated script was co-written by Bezucha and April Blair, and changed the three school teachers to two college students and a recent high-school graduate. Monte Carlo was shot in Budapest, Hungary, Paris, France
, and Monte Carlo, Monaco. It began filming in Budapest on May 5, 2010, and wrapped on July 7, 2010. It is the first film to use the film studio, Raleigh Studios Budapest.
, and practicing how to fake an English accent. Leighton Meester also negotiated a deal to one of the leads in March, and Katie Cassidy was cast as Emma in April. French
actor
Pierre Boulanger is making his English-speaking feature debut.
reports that 37% of 89 reviews were postive, as well as a 43 metascore at Metacritic
. Ben Sachs of Chicago Reader claimed that "the movie hits a surprising range of emotional grace notes, including several moments of genuine regret, and concludes with an understated moral lesson about the value of self-respect over social status." Sandie Chen of Common Sense Media said the film was "silly but sweet".
Monte Carlo opened to $15.8 million on its' debut Friday, ranking at #1 for the day. It would go on to gross $7.5 million for the three-day weekend and $30 million for the 4-day 4 July holiday, ranking sixth.
and Blu-ray Disc
on October 18, 2011. The DVD extras will include deleted scenes, a feature titled "Ding Dang Delicious: The Boys of Monte Carlo", a "Backstage Pass" and a theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray Disc will feature all the DVD features plus the addition of "Monte Carlo Couture", "Jet Setter's Dream", "Gossip With the Girls" and a digital copy
of the film.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
romantic comedy film
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
directed by Thomas Bezucha
Thomas Bezucha
Thomas Gordon Bezucha is an American screenwriter and director.He wrote and directed Big Eden and The Family Stone . He is a graduate of Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts. He will next direct Monte Carlo, which he co-wrote with April Blair.Bezucha is openly gay.-External...
. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Denise Di Novi
Denise Di Novi
Denise Di Novi is an American film producer.-Personal life:When she was three years old, Denise and her family moved to Los Angeles from New York, where her father Gene Di Novi - a musician - made music for the TV shows of Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith. Prior to that, Gene worked...
, Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan is a film producer, Israeli intelligence agent, and arms dealer. Milchan produced many films such as The War of the Roses, Once Upon a Time in America, Pretty Woman, Natural Born Killers, Under Siege, The Devil's Advocate, The Fountain, Unfaithful, L.A. Confidential and many others...
and Alison Greenspan produced the film for Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises is a Los Angeles-based film and television production company formed by Arnon Milchan and Joseph P. Grace. It was founded in 1982 as Embassy International Pictures, but the company name changed to avoid confusion with Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures . Its most successful film is...
. It began production in Budapest, Hungary
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
on May 5, 2010.
Monte Carlo stars Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...
, Leighton Meester
Leighton Meester
Leighton Marissa Meester is an American actress and singer. Meester first garnered attention for playing Blair Waldorf in the CW television series Gossip Girl...
and Katie Cassidy
Katie Cassidy
Katherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy is an American actress who has performed in The CW TV series Melrose Place, Supernatural, Harper's Island, and Gossip Girl, and on the films When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Monte Carlo, and has roles in the upcoming...
as three friends posing as wealthy socialites in Monte Carlo, Monaco
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
. The film was released on July 1, 2011. It features the song "Who Says
Who Says (Selena Gomez & the Scene song)
"Who Says" is a song performed by American band Selena Gomez & the Scene. It was written by Priscilla Renea and Emanuel Kiriakou, with the latter also producing the track. The song was released on March 14, 2011, as the lead single from the band's third album, When the Sun Goes Down...
" by Selena Gomez & the Scene
Selena Gomez & the Scene
Selena Gomez & the Scene is an American pop band formed in Hollywood, California in 2009. Along with lead singer and founder Selena Gomez, the band consists of bassist Joey Clement, guitarist Ethan Roberts, drummist Greg Garman and keyboardist Dane Forrest. Selena Gomez & the Scene have released...
.
Plot
A young teenager named Grace (Selena Gomez), her uptight stepsister, and her best friend use their savings for a long-anticipated dream trip to Paris, which turns out to be a big disappointment. When the tour bus leaves them behind they duck into the lobby of a luxury hotel and one of them is mistaken for a cruel and controversial British heiress. Before they get the chance to reveal their true identities, they are wrapped up in misadventures during a vacation to Monte Carlo instead.Cast
- Selena GomezSelena GomezSelena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...
as Grace Ann Bennett/ Cordelia Winthrop-Scott - Leighton MeesterLeighton MeesterLeighton Marissa Meester is an American actress and singer. Meester first garnered attention for playing Blair Waldorf in the CW television series Gossip Girl...
as Margaret "Meg" Kelly Bennett - Katie CassidyKatie CassidyKatherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy is an American actress who has performed in The CW TV series Melrose Place, Supernatural, Harper's Island, and Gossip Girl, and on the films When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Monte Carlo, and has roles in the upcoming...
as Emma Danielle Perkins - Pierre BoulangerPierre BoulangerPierre Boulanger is a French actor. He is known for 2003's film Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran, where he played a young Jewish boy, Moises "Momo" Schmidt. And also 2008's film Nos 18 ans where he played Richard. The young actor was then reported to be concentrating on his studies, thus...
as Theo Marchand - Catherine TateCatherine TateCatherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...
as Aunt Alicia - Luke BraceyLuke BraceyLuke Bracey is an Australian actor, best known for his role on Home and Away as Trey Palmer. He has also appeared in Dance Academy. He also appeared in Monte Carlo and Crimson Tear ....
as Riley - Cory MonteithCory MonteithCory Allan Monteith is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his role of Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee.-Early life:...
as Owen - Andie MacDowellAndie MacDowellRosalie Anderson "Andie" MacDowell is an American model and actress. She has received the Golden Camera and an Honorary César.-Early life:...
as Pamela Bennett - Brett CullenBrett CullenPeter Brett Cullen is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs. Early in 2007, he was cast as the role of an estranged father to one of the American football players, Tim Riggins , in the NBC drama series Friday Night Lights.Cullen was born in Houston,...
as Robert Bennett - Grace Holland as Selena Gomez's body doubleBody doubleA body double is a general term for someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character in any recorded visual medium, in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined,...
Production
Monte Carlo is loosely based on the novel Headhunters by Jules BassJules Bass
Jules Bass is an American director, producer, composer, and author.- Biography :Educated at New York University, he first worked at an advertising agency in New York until the early 1960s, when he founded the film production company Videocraft International with Arthur Rankin, Jr...
. The novel tells the story of four young Texas women who pretend to be wealthy heiresses while searching for rich potential husbands in Monte Carlo. There, they meet four gigolo
Gigolo
Gigolo may refer to:* A male prostitute, escort, or dancer, who offers services to women* Gigolo , a 2006 single by Helena Paparizou* Gigolo , a 2003 single by Nick Cannon...
s posing as wealthy playboys. Fox bought the film rights to the novel in 1999, three years prior to the novel's publication. In 2005, Hollywood trade magazine Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
announced that siblings Jez and John Henry Butterworth would be writing the script. It also reported that actress Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
had signed on to play the lead as well as produce the film with Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz is an independent producer and financier whose credits include The Departed, Black Swan, Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Others....
.
The Butterworths were later fired and Tom Bezucha was hired to direct and co-write Monte Carlo. Bezucha and Maria Maggenti
Maria Maggenti
Maria Maggenti is a film director and screenwriter for film and television.She has been the script editor and has written many episodes of the American television series, Without a Trace , but is perhaps best known for her feature film, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love...
turned in a draft of the screenplay by July 2007; it starred Kidman as "one of three Midwestern schoolteachers who decide to ditch a disappointing no-frills holiday in Paris and pose as wealthy women vacationing in Monaco". However, in 2010, executives had the film rewritten again after deciding that the film should be made more youthful. The updated script was co-written by Bezucha and April Blair, and changed the three school teachers to two college students and a recent high-school graduate. Monte Carlo was shot in Budapest, Hungary, Paris, France
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and Monte Carlo, Monaco. It began filming in Budapest on May 5, 2010, and wrapped on July 7, 2010. It is the first film to use the film studio, Raleigh Studios Budapest.
Casting
In March 2010, it was announced that Selena Gomez had been cast as one of the film's leads following the script's rewrite. For the role, Gomez spent several weeks learning to play poloPolo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
, and practicing how to fake an English accent. Leighton Meester also negotiated a deal to one of the leads in March, and Katie Cassidy was cast as Emma in April. French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Pierre Boulanger is making his English-speaking feature debut.
Reception
Monte Carlo has received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 37% of 89 reviews were postive, as well as a 43 metascore at Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Ben Sachs of Chicago Reader claimed that "the movie hits a surprising range of emotional grace notes, including several moments of genuine regret, and concludes with an understated moral lesson about the value of self-respect over social status." Sandie Chen of Common Sense Media said the film was "silly but sweet".
Monte Carlo opened to $15.8 million on its' debut Friday, ranking at #1 for the day. It would go on to gross $7.5 million for the three-day weekend and $30 million for the 4-day 4 July holiday, ranking sixth.
Accolades
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 Teen Choice Awards 2011 Teen Choice Awards The 2011 Teen Choice Awards hosted by Kaley Cuoco aired live on August 7, 2011 at 8/7c on Fox. This was the first time that the ceremonies were aired live since the 2007 show... |
Choice Summer Movie | ||
| Choice Summer Movie Star – Male | Cory Monteith | ||
| Choice Summer Movie Star – Female | Selena Gomez Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place... |
Home media
Fox Home Entertainment released Monte Carlo on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on October 18, 2011. The DVD extras will include deleted scenes, a feature titled "Ding Dang Delicious: The Boys of Monte Carlo", a "Backstage Pass" and a theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray Disc will feature all the DVD features plus the addition of "Monte Carlo Couture", "Jet Setter's Dream", "Gossip With the Girls" and a digital copy
Digital copy
Digital Copy provides consumers who purchase a film on DVD or Blu-ray Disc with an additional, digital copy of the movie for devices capable of operating with a file in contrast to a DVD.-Features:...
of the film.