Kristen Stewart cast as Princess Diana in upcoming movie, ‘Spencer’

"Such a powerful icon..."

Kristen Stewart has been cast as Princess Diana in the upcoming movie, Spencer.  The Twilight and Into The Wild actor will play the iconic royal figure in the the new drama, directed by Pablo Larraín. The film will focus on a crucial three day period in Diana's life as she realises that her marriage to Prince Charles isn't working. The movie takes places over a weekend in the '90s during one of the princess's final Christmas holidays in the House of Windsor at Sandringham estate. Larraín told Deadline that he cast Stewart in the role as she is "one of the great actors around today." “To do this well, you need something very important in film, which is mystery," he said. "Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile an ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need. The combination of those elements made me think of her. "The way she responded to the script and how she is approaching the character, it’s very beautiful to see. I think she’s going to do something stunning and intriguing at the same time. She is this force of nature." The director added that he has always been "fascinated" by the royal family and the sheer level of celebrity and fame they have garnered over the years. “Diana is such a powerful icon, where millions and millions of people, not just women, but many people around the world felt empathy toward her in her life," he said. "We decided to get into a story about identity, and around how a woman decides somehow, not to be the queen. 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." Production on Spencer is expected to begin in early 2021.