Headline: Kristen Stewart plays princess Diana in ‘Spencer’

Author: Stephanie Logue

sz1414@psu.edu

Kristen Stewart transforms into Princess Diana for the new movie “Spencer”

Kristen Stewart’s viral photo of a striking resemblance to the honorable princess Diana has been all over social media. “Spencer” takes place around December of 1991 where it is known that Princess Diana spent Christmas with the Sandringham Estate royal family and agreed to abandon Prince Charles.

“The film is a dive into an emotional imagination of who Diana was in her life at a crucial turning point. It’s a physical assertion of the sum of her pieces, beginning with her surname: ‘Spencer,’” Stewart said in an emailed statement. “It is a harrowing effort for her to return to herself, as Diana strives to hold onto what the name Spencer means to her.” The publication of “Spencer” is scheduled in the fall of 2021, before the 25th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana in 2022.

“In Netflix’s extravagant retelling of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, “The Crown,” Princess Diana also makes an appearance and is portrayed by Emma Corin, which led to the popularity of the series in Season 4. Emma Corrin played Diana, who, like Stewart, has a close similarity to the former princess of Wales as well.

Soon after their 1981 wedding, owing in part to their age gaps and incompatibility, Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ marriage began to break down. She claimed that the Prince of Wales had returned to Camilla Parker Bowles, his former mistress (and now his wife), and that she had embarked on affairs with other friends.

The BBC news magazine Panorama broadcast Martin Bashir’s interview with Diana at Kensington Palace in November 1995, which had been arranged and held in secret. She gave her most famous quote during the conversation with her soon-to-be ex-husband and his lifelong love, Camilla Parker Bowles, about the love triangle: “Well, there were three of us in the marriage so it was a bit crowded.”

By the end of 1995, the queen forced the pair to separate after both of them had carried out TV interviews that stunned the country and humiliated the monarchy. It was always a step that Diana said she didn’t want to take, but in July 1996, the pair divorced. In August 1996, the terms of the royal divorce were finalized the next year. In addition to obtaining permission to continue staying in their Kensington Palace flat, Diana is granted a lump-sum settlement of $22.5 million in cash, as well as around $600,000 a year, earmarked to manage her private office. She decided to drop any potential claim to be a monarch. She was, however, deprived of the title of Her Royal Highness and was henceforth referred to as Diana, Princess of Wales, seen on the side of the palace as a slight pass. Diana was killed in a car crash in a Paris traffic tunnel a little over a year later, in August 1997.

“Spencer” will be filmed in the United Kingdom and Germany. When the casting of the actress as Diana was first revealed last year, just ahead of Neon nabbing distribution rights to the film in a transaction worth of $4 million, the producer talked about Stewart.

“Larraín said to Deadline, “Kristen is one of the great actors around today. You need something really interesting in the film, which is a mystery, to do this well. There are many things that Kristen can be, and she can be very elusive, very delicate, and ultimately very powerful, which is what we need. The mixture of those components made me think of her. It’s really beautiful to see the way she listens to the script and how she plays the character. Around the same time, she’s trying to do something beautiful and fascinating. She is this force of nature.” Last fall, Stewart told InStyle that she worked hard to nail the accent of Diana and that it was an ongoing challenge.” As all hell, the accent is frightening because people know the voice, and it is so, so distinct and precise,” said Stewart.” “Now I’m working on it and I have my dialect coach already.” The world is excited about this.

Sources:

Ali, R. (2021, January 27). Kristen Stewart transforms into Princess Diana: See photos in first look for new film ‘Spencer’. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/01/27/princess-diana-kristen-stewart-transforms-spencer-film-photo/4276044001/

Sharf, Z. (2021, January 27). ‘Spencer’ First Look: Kristen Stewart’s Princess Diana Movie Gets New Image, Synopsis, and More. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/spencer-first-look-kristen-stewart-princess-diana-1234612134/