Being a a man who commands your attention and respect, Tim Roth has suddenly made Grace of Monaco feel legitimate. Variety reports he’ll play Prince Rainier III, the Monaco king whose marriage to Grace Kelly, as posited by the film, ended up saving the collective skin of his entire people. That’s already a done deal, and another in-talks scenario should tie the two leads together rather nicely.

As it were, Variety also tells us Frank Langella is being eyed for his own big role: Father Francis Tucker, a real-life American priest who both introduced Kelly to the Prince and gave counsel “to ensure they can survive any trouble that threatens to disrupt their marriage.” Some of those troubles include the public attention cast upon Rainier III’s regime when a movie star became his wife, an issue which only started to patch up when he let the actress “guide him in decision-making.”

This becomes the backbone of Monaco, as Olivier Dahan‘s film, scripted by Arash Amel, mostly centers on Kelly’s behind-the-scenes moves to prevent war between France and Monaco. Not by combat or espionage, but through a series of discussions which convinced their President, Charles de Gaulle, six months to let tax reforms be worked out.

We should only expect Roth to have a pretty healthy part for himself, then. I’d certainly say that’s good news, possibly even the first that’s given me a strong reason to care about Grace of Monaco in any real way. (Langella doesn’t hurt matters, either.) I can only hope it starts to shape up in the coming months, seeing as the fall shoot is much closer than you’d really think. Just let the guy do his thing, and you’ll be good.

Do Roth and Langella lend something special to Grace of Monaco?