If you would have told me 10 years ago that Bella Swan’s real-life counterpart Kristen Stewart would be the face of Princess Diana, I would have sooner believed in Twilight’s sparkling vampires. Nearly 15 years later, here we are with Stewart portraying The Princess of Wales in the biopic Spencer. And I’m mildly convinced that casting directors are wizards, because Stewart’s transformation into the Princess is actually stunning. The Happiest Season actress has spoken out about how she prepared for the intimidating role of Princess Diana in the upcoming Spencer.
Playing the role of such a beloved historical figure would be a challenge alone, and when you add in the tragedy that was Princess Diana’s death it becomes a whole new ball game. What’s even more is that in an interview with ET Kristen Stewart explains that Spencer will be a very different telling of the Princess’ story. Apparently we can expect a more internalized version of Diana’s story, which means in order to portray her Stewart had to attempt to get inside Diana’s head. Here it is in Stewart’s own words:
This is a really kind of poetic, really internalized imagining of maybe the heaviest three days’ time before she does something as gnarly as leaving the royal family. I'm just sort of reading everything that I can and then forgetting it, because it's kind of a really internalized story.
This, of course, is no easy feat for any character, let alone one who has been dead for over 20 years and whose death is full of speculation by many. In fact, in the same interview, Kristen Stewart says that the project is a “really meditative” one because of all the different theories surrounding the late Princess, all of which she had to consider when preparing for the role. In the actress’ own words:
It's a really meditative project. There are so many perspectives of her and of her story... it's just not a black and white thing and it's a very slippery, really emotionally-packed story for a lot of people.
When it came out that Kristen Stewart would be playing the iconic Princess Diana in a biopic, people really weren’t too sure what to make of the Twilight star taking on the role and doing it justice. The actress has an edgy persona about her that causes a lot of moviegoers to associate her with certain roles, and the late Princess of Wales wouldn't naturally be one of them. But once we saw how Stewart looked in the upcoming biopic Spencer, tides were shifted as Stewart has the soft beauty people remember of the well-loved Princess Diana. It’s even more promising to hear how reflective Stewart has been in taking on the role.
Although Spencer started filming this year, we can most likely expect to see Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of Princess Diana in all her glory later this year, hopefully in the Fall. That is just ahead of the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death, which is still felt by many. Hopefully the biopic will bring some peace to those who still have a lot of love in their hearts for Princess Diana, who was a light to many.
