Isabella Rossellini Joins Joan Collins In New Movie About Wallis Simpson's Final Years

Isabella Rossellini will follow her Oscar-nominated performance in Conclave with a role in a new historical drama.

On Wednesday afternoon, it was revealed that the Italian actor will join Dame Joan Collins in The Bitter End, an upcoming film about the final years of Wallis Simpson.

Dame Joan told The Guardian in 2023 that the movie would tell “the true story of the last years of the Duchess of Windsor after the Duke dies”, claiming that Simpson “was abused by this woman who took her over and took away her objects, her money, and left her practically destitute”.

In the film, the Dynasty legend will play Wallis Simpson, while Isabella will portray Suzanne Blum, described in a press release as “the formidable French lawyer and confidante of Wallis Simpson, who at the hands of Blum found herself ensnared in a menacing grip of obsession and coercive control”.

Wallis Simpson married King Edward VIII 1937, after he abdicated from the throne so they could tie the knot.

After the pair visited Germany that same year without the proper approval, they were accused of being Nazi sympathisers, and Simpson spent much of the rest of her life in exile, particularly after the former monarch’s death in 1972.

Simpson’s final years were marred by several health issues, and she eventually died in 1986 at the age of 89.

Dame Joan previously said of the movie: “First of all [Simpson is] full of pep and she’s got her young acolytes around her, then bit by bit she is destroyed by circumstances.

“It’s a very good script and it’s a great part for me. I’ve always been fascinated by Wallis, because I think she was unfairly treated.”

Wallis Simpson has recently been played by Lia Williams in The Crown and Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough in Madonna’s film about the couple, W.E.