A new version of an old story. Princess Diana‘s life is coming to the big screen with the biopic Spencer, in which Kristen Stewart plays the Princess of Wales.
The 2021 film was a challenge for the Twilight actress. “I haven’t been this excited about playing a part, by the way, in so long,” she told InStyle in October 2020.
Stewart knows that audiences have high expectations. Born Lady Diana Spencer, the royal is a worldwide icon regarded as an overwhelmingly kind philanthropist. The saintly reputation isn’t the only part that’s daunting for the California native.
“The accent is intimidating as all hell because people know that voice, and it’s so, so distinct and particular,” Stewart added at the time. “I’m working on it now and already have my dialect coach.”
The star listened to recordings of the late princess’ voice as she went to sleep every night in the months leading up to filming.
Stewart also did her research before playing the part, reading several biographies and expressing a desire to really get to know the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry as well as she could.
“It’s one of the saddest stories to exist ever, and I don’t want to just play Diana — I want to know her implicitly. I haven’t been this excited about playing a part, by the way, in so long,” she explained to the magazine.
Research was key since the actress, who was born in April 1990, said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in November 2020 that she didn’t remember a lot from when Princess Diana was alive. Stewart was 7 when a 1997 car crash in Paris resulted in the Princess of Wales’ death at the young age of 36.
“I was really young, didn’t know what was going on, but now, it’s hard not to feel protective over her,” the Happiest Season actress explained. “She was so young. … Everyone’s perspective is different, and there’s no way to get everything right. Because what is fact in relation to personal experience?”
She revealed that rather than taking audiences through Diana’s entire life, Spencer will instead hone in on a very brief but intense period.
“My movie takes place over three days and it’s this really poetic, internal imagining of what that might have felt like rather than giving new information,” the Charlie’s Angel star explained. “So, we kind of don’t have a mark to hit. We just also love her.”
Those three days will be around Christmas 1991, one year before Diana and then-husband Prince Charles announced their separation. Expect the movie to have plenty of tension between the pair as their marriage starts falling apart while they spend the holidays with the royal family at Sandringham Estate.
Scroll down to learn everything we know about Spencer:
Spencer will debut in theaters on November 5, 2021.
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Stewart will be joined by Poldark star Jack Farthing, who will play Prince Charles. Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) will round out the cast.
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British screenwriter Steven Knight, who created Peaky Blinders, wrote the movie, and Pablo Larraín directed the biopic. Larraín previously directed 2016’s Jackie, which followed Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy.
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The promotional image released in August 2021 doesn't show Diana's face, but it instead shows her hunched over in despair, drowning in her massive white ballgown.
Courtesy NEON
"All fairy tales end," the poster reads.
Courtesy NEON
“The marriage of Princess Diana and Prince Charles has long since grown cold. Though rumors of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate," the production company, Neon, shared in the film's official description. "There’s eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game. But this year, things will be profoundly different.” Reginald Davis/Shutterstock
In August 2021, fans saw the first glimpse of the stunning footage — and finally heart Stewart's take on Diana's voice, which the actress previously called "so distinct and particular." She told InStyle in October 2020, "The accent is intimidating as all hell."
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“I didn’t realize she’d completely immerse herself into this role, leaving zero trace of her lip-biting Twilight teen past,” Us Weekly’s film critic Mara Reinstein wrote after watching the film’s September premiere at Telluride Film Festival. “By using her real-life shyness to her advantage, Stewart plays Diana as a soft-spoken yet self-reliant modern woman who daydreams of the rambunctious girl she used to be. In her heart, the People’s Princess can still dance with exuberance and sing with abandon and eat all the fast food she desires. It’s a joy, not to mention a revelation, watching the star pull this all off.”
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"I felt some spooky, spiritual feelings making this movie. Even if I was just fantasizing," Stewart told The Los Angeles Times in an interview published on September 7. "I felt like there were moments where I kind of got the sign-off. It’s scary to tell a story about someone who’s not alive anymore and who already felt so invaded. I never wanted to feel like we were invading anything, just that we were kind of adding to the multiplicity of a beautiful thing."
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In a stunning two-minute trailer, which was released in September 2021, the drama between Diana (Stewart) and Charles (Farthing) comes to a head as the princess yearns for "change." The future king reminds his then-wife, "You have to be able to do things you hate. There has to be two of you. There's the real one and the one they take pictures of."
The teaser also shows the royal couple's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, played by Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry, respectively.
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“Spencer is going to be a big deal when it comes out. It has been so well received,” Timothy Spall, who plays Equerry Major Gregory, told Variety in September 2021.
He added: "Britain doesn’t have a constitution and if there is one thing that can really represent this poetic, mystical Britishness, it’s the royal family. That’s why everyone is so obsessed with them, including people from other countries. My character understands that. He says: ‘I was prepared to die for this. It’s bigger than my life and it’s bigger than your marriage.’”
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One month before the theatrical release, the movie gave fans some more insight into the supporting cast with dramatic posters. Hawkins' character was revealed to be royal dresser Maggie, while Harris portrays royal head chef Darren McGrady.
Courtesy NEON
Stewart admitted in October 2021 that her performance might not be "a perfect impression" of Diana, but there wasn't much she could do about her hair. "If it wasn't a wig, we would have had so much less time to shoot," she told Entertainment Weekly. "And we were f--king sprinting. This was not padded or luxe in any way. We were balls to the wall, gunning through it. Which you can feel in the movie 10 or 15 minutes in — once it gets up and starts going, it doesn't stop, it barrels. It felt that way to make it too."
Courtesy NEON
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly in October 2021, Stewart admitted that she could see herself in parts of the late princess. "I have experienced people kind of wanting to come in, but there is no comparison to this particular woman, in terms of that fervent desire to have her and know her," the actress noted.
Though she was young when Diana's death shook the globe, Stewart knew this would be the role of a lifetime. "I knew even before I read the script," she recalled. "I was like, 'You're not going to say no to this, because who would you be in that case?' I absolutely would have felt like such a coward. Especially given that I'm such an outsider. I'm not from the U.K., I don't have any particular investment in the royal family. So I was kind of this really clean slate, and then could absorb her in a way that actually felt very instinctive, you know?"
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