Kristen Stewart has been one of Charlie’s Angels, she’s been a vampire, an Iraq War soldier, and much more. But she’s never been royalty, and that’s about to change in Spencer, the new film from Chilean director Pablo Larrain (Jackie) about Princess Diana.
Deadline reports Stewart will play the late Princess Diana in Spencer, the title a reference to her full name, Diana Frances Spencer. The film, written by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Locke), “covers a critical weekend in the early ‘90s, when Diana decided her marriage to Prince Charles wasn’t working, and that she needed to veer from a path that put her in line to one day be queen. The drama takes place over three days, in one of her final Christmas holidays in the House of Windsor in their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.”
Diana was beloved by the people for her celebrity and activism, but her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981 made her personal life the subject of public scrutiny and embarrassment. The royal couple separated in 1992 and divorced four years later. Diana would die a year later in an automobile accident alongside her lover, Dodi Fayed.
This could very well be the most high-profile role of Stewart’s career, and that’s really saying something. But playing a beloved figure like Diana is sure to catch a lot of attention. Add to that direction by Larrain, and you’ve got the makings of a project worth keeping a close eye on. Larrain has tackled a “royal” figure before, most-recently in 2016’s Jackie, a film that earned Natalie Portman a Best Actress nomination. Could Stewart be next?
