Aussie beauty Nicole Kidman has signed to star in and co-produce Monte Carlo, a romantic comedy in which she plays a Midwestern schoolteacher who decides to ditch her low-budget vacation in Paris by posing as a wealthy socialite on holiday in Monaco.
It will be directed by Thomas Bezucha (The Family Stone), who cowrote it with Maria Maggenti (The Love Letter).
Bezucha will also be directing Orbit, a drama about a civilian who wakes up to find himself alone and adrift in space after the entire crew of the space shuttle on which he has won a trip has died. Orbit was adapted by Sheldon Turner (The Longest Yard) from a novel by John Nance.
In other news, Universal has acquired the rights to Gone Like the Wind, a movie based on the story of Barbaro, the horse that broke its leg out coming out of the gate at the Preakness after handily winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby.
It will be directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights).
Source: Variety.com.