Kristen Stewart will play the People’s Princess in the upcoming film Spencer
By Stephanie Petit PEOPLE
Kristen Stewart is making her debut as Princess Diana.
To celebrate the start of principal photography on Pablo Larraín’s film Spencer, NEON has released the first look of their star in full costume. Stewart, 30, bears a strong resemblance to the late royal in a red coat, blonde locks and a black hat with delicate netting over her face as she looks off to the side.
«Spencer is a dive inside an emotional imagining of who Diana was at a pivotal turning point in her life,» said Stewart. «It is a physical assertion of the sum of her parts, which starts with her given name; Spencer. It is a harrowing effort for her to return to herself, as Diana strives to hold onto what the name Spencer means to her.»
Filming will take place in Germany and the U.K., with the movie eyeing a fall 2021 release.
| CREDIT: KIMBERLY WHITE/GETTY IMAGES; TIM GRAHAM PHOTO LIBRARY VIA GETTY IMAGES
The film is set over the course of a weekend in December 1991, when Princess Diana joins the royal family for Christmas as the Sandringham Estate — and decides to leave her fractured marriage to Prince Charles.
During a November appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Stewart recalled the flowers laid in Princess Diana’s honor at Buckingham Palace after she died in 1997.
«I was really young, [I] didn’t know what was going on,» the Twilight actress said. «It’s hard not to feel protective of her. She was so young.»
«I mean, everyone’s perspective is different and there’s no way to get anything right because what is fact in relation to personal experience,» she continued.
«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,» Stewart said. «We kind of don’t have a mark to hit, we just also love her.»
The actress also opened up about preparing for her highly anticipated portrayal of the late royal, particularly how she plans to nail the «intimidating» accent.
«We don’t start shooting until mid-January. The accent is intimidating as all hell because people know that voice, and it’s so, so distinct and particular,» Stewart told InStyle in an interview released in October. «I’m working on it now and already have my dialect coach.»
