Fans of The Crown might want to listen up. It’s just been announced that Kristen Stewart is set to star as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s new film about the late royal, entitled Spencer.
The plot will tell the story of the breakup between The People’s Princess and Prince Charles, based around one particular weekend at Sandringham.
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Intrigued? Let’s face it, Kristen isn’t exactly an obvious choice to fill the boots of a much-depicted British royal but Larraín, the acclaimed Chilean director of Jackie, is pretty confident of his leading lady. Nevertheless, The Crown Season 4 is set to introduce Diana’s character on our screens later this year so will we be ready for another drama portraying the couple’s doomed relationship? We’ll have to wait and see.
Here’s everything we know about Spencer so far…
Who is starring in Spencer?
Kristen Stewart is the only cast member so far confirmed to star in Spencer. The American actress, best-known for her role in the Twilight Saga, caught the eye of director Larrain. “To do this well, you need something very important in film, which is mystery, Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile and ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need,” Larrain told entertainment news site Deadline.
The film’s director also spoke about Stewart’s qualities on camera. “As a filmmaker, when you have someone who can hold such a weight, dramatic and narrative weight just with her eyes, then you have the strong lead who can deliver what we are looking for.”
What about the production team?
Director Pablo Larraín is no stranger to creating flicks with strong female protagonists. He’s directed seven feature films and co-directed one television series, including the Academy Award-nominated films No and Jackie, the latter starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
According to his interview with Deadline, the filmmaker said he’s long been interested in Diana’s story. “I’ve always been intrigued and fascinated by the Royal Family and how things are in that culture, which we don’t have where I come from,” Larraín said. “Diana is such a powerful icon, where millions and millions of people, not just women, but many people around the world felt empathy toward her in her life.”
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Joining Larraín is British screenwriter Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders as well as writing the screenplays for The Hundred-Foot Journey and Seventh Son.
What plot will Spencer follow?
Spencer is concentrating on a very small part of Diana’s life and the plot centres on three turbulent days in the early 1990s. So far, reports suggest the film will cover the Christmas of 1992 where Diana and her family are staying at Sandringham, a well-known royal tradition. Over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, Diana realises that her marriage is breaking down and that she doesn’t want to be the future Queen.
Larraín revealed, “We decided to get into a story about identity, and around how a woman decides somehow, not to be the queen. She’s a woman who, in the journey of the movie, decides and realises that she wants to be the woman she was before she met Charles,”
“The key is how she discovers during the process of the movie that what she really needs to do is be who she wants to be,” Larraín added. “And by that, it doesn’t mean she needs to be next to anyone, to be part of anything, but herself and her own children.”
When is Spencer set to be released?
Spencer is set to begin production in early 2021 so we’re unlikely to see it hitting our screens until 2022.