Kristen Stewart to play Princess Diana in new
film Spencer
Jackie film-maker Pablo Larraín to direct drama that
takes place over weekend when Diana decided marriage was not working
Benjamin
Lee
Published
onWed 17 Jun 2020 17.28 BST
Kristen
Stewart is set to star as Diana, Princess of Wales, in a new drama from Pablo
Larraín, the acclaimed Chilean director of Jackie.
The film,
called Spencer, will follow Diana over one weekend when she decided her
marriage to Prince Charles wasn’t working. The film is scripted by Steven
Knight, whose credits range from Peaky Blinders to Eastern Promises. Spencer
will be shopped to buyers at this year’s virtual Cannes market with production
set to begin in early 2021.
“We all
grew up, at least I did in my generation, reading and understanding what a
fairy tale is,” Larraín said to Deadline. “Usually, the prince comes and finds
the princess, invites her to become his wife and eventually she becomes queen.
That is the fairy tale. When someone decides not to be the queen, and says, I’d
rather go and be myself, it’s a big big decision, a fairy tale upside down …
that is the heart of the movie.”
Larraín,
whose films also include Neruda and The Club, has said that Stewart is a
perfect choice because of her mixture of mystery and fragility. “I think she’s
going to do something stunning and intriguing at the same time,” he added. “She
is this force of nature.”
Jackie, Larraín’s
unconventional biopic of Jackie Onassis, met with positive reviews in 2016 and
an Oscar nomination for its star, Natalie Portman.
Since
graduating from the Twilight franchise, Stewart has garnered acclaim for
smaller films such as Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria while
experiencing box office disappointments with bigger projects such as Charlie’s
Angels and Underwater. She will be seen next in the queer Christmas comedy
Happiest Season.
The story
of Diana was previously brought to the screen by the Downfall director Oliver
Hirschbiegel in 2013 with Naomi Watts in the lead role. The Guardian’s Peter
Bradshaw called it “car crash cinema” while the Mirror’s David Edwards wrote
that “Wesley Snipes in a blonde wig would be more convincing”.
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