Kristen Stewart cast as Princess Diana in 'Spencer'
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Kristen Stewart is going from playing one of Charlie’s Angels to portraying the angelic Lady Di in Spencer, a new biopic from Pablo Larraín (Jackie).
According to Deadline, Stewart, 30, will play the Princess of Wales in a film that “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.”
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Kristen Stewart cast as Princess Diana in 'Spencer' Back to video
The Steven Knight-scripted film will go before cameras next year and takes place over three days “in one of her final Christmas holidays in the House of Windsor in their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.”
The film will not deal with the tragic events in the aftermath of Diana’s death in 1997 at age 36, but instead examine the “the fraying of the relationship with her husband, and her ferocious love for her sons Prince William and Prince Harry.”
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Stewart, who became a worldwide movie star over a decade ago thanks to her role as Bella Swan in the Twilight film series, has some experience with having her every public move intensely scrutinized. So she’ll likely be able to relate to Diana’s desire to carve out a space to find some personal happiness for herself.
In an interview with the Sun earlier this year, Stewart spoke about her desire to take on unpredictable roles after her time as Swan ended in 2012 with Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
“I never tried to steer my career,” she said. “I just really sort of instinctively navigated my interests and followed those. Also, I’ve taken risks on people that were unproven. And I’ve been lucky because I’ve really known who I should be around.”
Stewart also credited her post-Twilight success to projects she’s chosen.
“I’ve been lucky in terms of the types of people and artists and conversations I’ve been attracted to,” Stewart said. “I’m super not precious about it, either. I understand the precious approach a director or writer might take, but as someone who is acting in movies and trying to realize my dreams through other people, you need to be a little haphazard.”
Reaction to the casting news was mixed, with one fan commenting, “Hasn’t Princess Diana suffered enough?” while another remarked, “Plenty of British actresses who would have been better for this role, Princess Diana was classy, Kristen is not. They don’t even look alike.”
Larraín told Deadline he chose Stewart to play Diana because “she can be many things.”
“She can be very mysterious and very fragile and ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need. The combination of those elements made me think of her.”
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The film, Larraín adds, will be about a woman coming into her own.
“It’s about finding herself, about understanding that possibly the most important thing for her is to be well, and to be with herself and by herself … She’s a woman who, in the journey of the movie, decides and realizes that she wants to be the woman she was before she met Charles.”
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