Nicole Kidman in talks to play Princess Grace

Grace Kelly remains a legendary figure in Hollywood history

Actress Nicole Kidman is in talks to play Grace Kelly - securing what is currently one of Hollywood's most coveted roles,reports Variety.

Grace of Monaco featured on 2011's "Black List" - which features the pick of Hollywood's favourite scripts to emerge in any given year.

It follows the actress-turned-princess and how she worked to save her adopted homeland, Monaco, in the early 1960s.

The film will be directed by Olivier Dahan, best known for La Vie en Rose.

The Edith Piaf biopic won a best actress Oscar for Marion Cotillard in 2008.

According to Variety, there has been fierce competition among Hollywood's top actresses to play the legendary Grace Kelly.

The High Society actress gave up a successful film career when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, at the age of 26.

The film - written by Arash Amel - is set between December 1961 and November 1962 when the then mother of two "was called upon to save Monaco from an escalating situation regarding its standing as a tax haven".

Kidman won the best actress Oscar in 2003 playing Virginia Woolf in The Hours, and was nominated for a third time in 2011, for Rabbit Hole.

The 44-year-old will next be seen on the big screen in thriller The Paperboy, opposite Zac Efron and John Cusack.