Ever since becoming a global superstar in the Twilight franchise, Kristen Stewart has been making interesting acting choices. Her work in indie dramas like Personal Shopper has been balanced with box office fare like Charlie's Angels, showing that she is one of America’s bravest young actresses. Now, she’s taking another intriguing leap: she will play Princess Diana.
Last year, Deadline reported that Kristen would star in Spencer, a drama directed by Chilean Pablo Larraín. It is set across three days in the Nineties, and will follow Diana as she spends Christmas at Sandringham and realises that her supposed fairytale marriage to Prince Charles has failed to make her happy. Production has now started, and a first look photo was released in January.
Yep, that's Kristen. No Diana. Not Emma Corrin. Amazing, right? It's even more uncanny in the latest image, released today:
The new official blurb to the film reads: 'The Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage has long since grown cold. Though rumours of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at Sandringham Estate. There's eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game. This year, things will be a whole lot different.' Tantalising, right?
‘We all grew up, at least I did in my generation, reading and understanding what a fairy tale is,’ Larraín explained 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. I’ve always been very surprised by that and thought it must have been very hard to do. That is the heart of the movie.’
‘She died years after where our story is set and so we don’t deal with that,' Larraín said. 'It’s only three days of her life and in that very small amount of time, you’re able to get into a wider, bigger perspective of who she was. We all know her fate, what happened to her, and we don’t need to go there. We’ll stay in this more intimate space where she could express where she wants to go and who she wants to be.’
The film could feasibly be ready for award contention by 2022. The Academy does, after all, love to hand out Oscars for depictions of royals. Then again, the depiction of the princess by Naomi Watts in the derided film, Diana, was not well received.
Kristen, we hope you worked on that English accent…
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