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”.
