Kristen Stewart is feeing the weight of portraying one of the most iconic figures of our time: the late Princess Diana.
The Twilight actor will take on the role of the former Lady Diana Spencer in the upcoming biopic Spencer, which is due to start production in January 2021.
The film takes place over a three-day period in which the Princess of Wales realises that her marriage to Prince Charles isn’t working, according to Deadline.
Spencer is set at the Sandringham Estate, which is where the royal family spends their Christmas holiday.
Kristen finds elements of the role particularly intimidating, she told InStyle magazine, for which she is the November 2020 cover star.
“The accent is intimidating as all hell because people know that voice, and it’s so, so distinct and particular,” she revealed.
“I’m working on it now and already have my dialect coach.”
Kristen added: “In terms of research, I’ve gotten through two and a half biographies, and I’m finishing all the material before I actually go make the movie,” most likely referencing Tina Brown’s 2007 biography, The Diana Chronicles, and Andrew Morton’s 1992 tome, Diana: Her True Story.
Morton revealed after Diana’s 1997 death that the princess was one of the main sources for the book.
All in all, Kristen said that she wants to know the late princess “implicitly” and to do her story justice.
“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,” she said. “I haven’t been this excited about playing a part, by the way, in so long.”
Spencer director Pablo Larraín is equally excited for Kristen to take on the role. He told Deadline in June he considers Kristen “one of the great actors around today” and that she “can be very mysterious and very fragile [and] ultimately very strong as well”.
“The way she responded to the script and how she is approaching the character, it’s very beautiful to see,” Pablo added. “I think she’s going to do something stunning and intriguing at the same time. She is this force of nature.”
Princess Diana is also one of the new characters in the upcoming fourth series of The Crown, where she’ll be played by British actor Emma Corrin.