Kristen Stewart filmed Spencer earlier this year. That’s the film where she plays Princess Diana in 1991, with the film showing one particular weekend at Sandringham when Diana figured out that she no longer wanted to be married to Prince Charles. In the first photos released of Kristen-as-Diana, I did think there was a likeness. And then yesterday, they released the poster. Diana, wearing a gorgeous gown, slumped over, looking almost defeated and/or being bulimic. It’s a remarkable, striking image.
We’ve talked before about whether this film will actually have any kind of historical accuracy, or whether the aim is to merely get the broad strokes right. I still don’t know! Since the director is Pablo Larraín and he did Jackie, I suspect it will be a lot like that film. Natalie Portman didn’t really look like Jackie Kennedy and she wasn’t aiming for the strictest of historical accuracy, but Portman really captured something. I wonder if Kristen has done the same with Diana. Broad strokes rather than impersonation, getting most of it right rather than focusing on this quibble or that.
Spencer doesn’t come out until November 5th, although the film is due to have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, and then the Toronto Film Festival after that. September will absolutely be full of K-Stew promotion and early festival reviews. I’m very curious what the critics will say about it. I hope they release the trailer soon too – critics have already gotten a look at some scenes and it sounds like it’s going to be another painful autumn for Prince Charles (lol). First The Crown and now K-Stew!!!
Poster & photos courtesy of Neon Films/ ‘Spencer’.
That movie poster looks amazing! And the first reactions about her performance in the movie are super positive.
Always be wary of critics coming from a film that has not yet been released, because production studios pay press associations to have good critical feedback to encourage interest in the project. In the case of Kristin Stewart she is very love by movie critics, despite the fact that most of the general public think of her as a monotonous one-note actress.
I am waiting to see the film for myself, Jackie with Natalie Portman was successful in directing, script, set, costumes and acting performance but Portman is by far a better actress than Stewart.
I was about to write the same. For some reason KStew is popular with the critics. I’ve fallen for that a couple of times, thinking that maybe she grew up and evolved as an actress, but every time I gave her well-reviewed movie a chance, she was still the same bored-looking one-note KStew, so I no longer believe the critics when they praise her.
The dress is beautiful, the hair looks perfect, and KS being casted in this is still the most random thing to me.
Sooooo random!
It’s a gorgeous poster, but my first reaction was “did diana ever wear a dress like that” lol. (I honestly don’t know if she did.)
I’m intrigued for this movie, I like the idea of showing history through small bits of time, like you don’t need to show the whole marriage, show us one weekend at the end.
I had that same question – it’s not a dress I remember seeing.
Ditto
There is a white and gold dress she wore that Kate cosplayed. But no, it didn’t look quite like this.
@Maria I am laughing so hard at your comment for some reason. Of course Kate cosplayed it. Of course she did.
🤣🤣
I was thinking that I have seen this dress but no images of Diana could be found. Guess it was Kate………………
I just saw pictures of her on IG today, wearing this kind of dress. Two, but both with “bolero” Jackets over it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COBP1-qHbUp/?utm_medium=copy_link
Talia/Becks1: That’s the dress I was thinking of, that one or something similar that she wore for the Mario Testino photo session for Vogue. Not an exact likeness–none of KW’s Diana’s outfits are exact–but similar in tone & style.
Even with prosthetics she doesn’t look like Diana.
Doesn’t matter that she doesn’t look like her. But very relevant that she doesn’t ACT like her. She has none of Diana’s softness, coyness, warmth, nor enormous presence.
This looks like JLaw’s Oscar dress and fall.
That was my first thought too.
it does. that’s such an amazing image.
I don’t think she really looks like Diana but her resemblance to Theresa Palmer is striking.
I have always thought that too.
In Warm Bodies I was constantly thinking that Teresa Palmer not only looked like Kristin Stewart, but that the studio sort of stunt casted her and Nicholas Hoult to create their own “twilight-y” pairing, except zombies.
In the picture with Kristin leaning on her hand she is giving me “Kristin Stewart as Naomi Watts as Princess Diana” vibes.
No one beats Emma Corrin’s rendition of Diana. I thought she nailed her essence in the crown.
It’ll be very interesting to watch Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal of Diana in Season 5 of The Crown.
Beautiful poster, I can’t wait for the movie.
They got “the ring” wrong. How do you get the ring wrong? The diamonds should be bigger, and the shank is a single band of white gold, not 3 bands of diamonds. There are SOOOOOO many Princess Diana costume rings out there and have been for 40 years, and they couldn’t find one?
And in the poster, my eye is immediately drawn to the crumpling of the fabric over her butt. I don’t think that’s supposed to be my focus.
This bugged me too, lol. It’s one of the most famous engagement rings in the world!
Yeah that one is way uglier than the real one, lol.
First thing I noticed. The real ring would not be difficult to duplicate. This one looks like someone picked it out at TJ Maxx over their lunch hour, thinking no one would notice the difference. Unbelievable.
Maybe that is the broad stroke (the ring) but the rest s all true. But yes, that ring is not difficult to get right. I can find copies on Amazon.
My eyes went immediately to the butt bunching on the gown.
Hollywood needs to let Diana go. Between this film and the crown so much Diana content. And it’s always the most tragic part of her life she was so much more than what Charles and Camilla put her through.
I disagree. Now is the perfect time to revisit exactly what they did to her because Charles et al have spent two decades erasing it and creating another image of who she was, gaslighting her from beyond the grave. In the light of the Sussexes leaving, too – also because Harry is showing who Diana was outside of her marriage.
@Maria I’m with you.
@Woke: I agree. There are so many other famous women with interesting stories that they can talk about as well.
@woke I agree that they often focus on the tragic parts but those are also what draws huge crowds unfortunately
I do wish they did more to highlight all she did in her community but that’s a entirely different type of movie
I think Diana is too hard to play. There’s so much footage of her that we know too much of how she carried herself and what her presence was like. I guess I have the same impression of Marilyn Monroe and other icons. In that sense, I think any movie about Diana is doomed to fail.
I feel the only ones who ever like movies about icons are the ones who kept themselves away from seeing old footage. In the case of Marilyn Monroe, some actresses strive for more of her internal psychology rather than gunning for her external charisma so they tend to be successful in that regard. But with Diana everyone seems to try for the external and that always fails, because her external presence is hard to duplicate.
Just not feeling it!
I can’t watch any more footage of KS with her mouth hanging open. That alone blows her portrayal of Diana.
Meh. She’s not a good actress no matter what critics say.
A trailer just dropped and it looks very interesting. People are raving about it and there is already Oscar buzz. I’ll wait and see.
Agreed, but apparently we’re in the minority. Every film festival she gets rave reviews for whatever she’s in that year and I find it so perplexing. She reminds me of James Franco in that she has (“had” for him) a lot of indie cred but they both kind of just play every role the same.
That christmas movie she was in was awful, it’s jarring watching her do scenes against actors with comedic timing. It’s like acting doesn’t come easy to her and you can see it on her face in every role she plays.
I am looking forward to seeing this and I don’t hate that we have gotten so much Diana content over the last few years because it is a reminder that the royal family has learned nothing and is as awful as ever.
Larrain is such a interesting filmmaker so the film could be wonderful or terrible but it won’t be boring.
I still think she’s and odd choice for the role, even if she does look like Diana.
I really do like her and Pablo Larrain, but it does seem like an odd topic both for her and the director (I know he did Jackie, but her life story has a different vibe than Di).
That said, the footage at Cinemacon seems to have over very well.
She’s just haven’t got the Diana vibe
Def not. But I guess her young fans don’t remember Diana, so won’t know the difference.
I love Pablo Larrain and I like Kristen, but I honestly thought the subject matter (even though he did Jackie) wasn’t a good match for either of them and figured it would be a flop.
But it is interesting—the films going to be at Venice, Telluride, and TIFF…a big sign that it has awards potential that it’s hitting all three festivals (especially Telluride, almost all the films that show there end up being awards players in some aspect). The buzz is apparently pretty good with footage/test screenings, too.
Apparently the film isn’t very accurate (which I’m not surprised, because they seem to be going for costumes/looks that are similar to Di but not exactly like it) and the script totally eviscerates Charles. Cackling at him being dragged by both the Crown and now what looks to be an awards baity film. Also Pablo and Kristen both give the impression of people who do not give a flying f*ck about the royal family and the types who won’t mince words, unlike the Crown cast, so if this does live up to the hype there ought to be a lot of interviews that get the Daily Fail frothing.
omg, what if this film is nominated for a BAFTA? For many of them?!?!?! What if William has to attend and watch this film win lots of awards if it really does skewer his father??
I am super petty but I can’t wait.
I wish someone would do a film about Diana’s more risky charitable endeavors. She was so brave and pioneering. But I will watch this film. Agree that dress in the promo image is prettier than what she wore IRL – just my opinion. I don’t care for 80s fashion.
Great poster, but I’m still unsure of Kristen being able to pull this off.
Not a KS fan but wow, actually. Her eyes nail it. I will watch this.
If it’s anything like Jackie then it will be more of an impressionistic movie than a historical account. So it won’t matter much if Stewart doesn’t look exactly like Diana.
What is interesting is that right now there isn’t an opening date for the UK. In the US and Canada it will be Nov 5
Terrible casting choice
The movie poster is a powerful image, for sure. As for everyone mentioning the dress bunching at the butt, that is what happens to a dress naturally when you slump over like that. It would look weirder if it was smoothed out. Plus, that is an intentional choice. If the character of Diana were standing and facing us, the dress would look perfect, unwrinkled, and sleek. Here, we see a Diana at the end of her rope, surrendering to herself. The dress reflects that and the state of her crumbling marriage. It’s all part of the image’s theme. I’m not even a movie critic and I can understand that.
As for Kristen Stewart as Diana, yeah I’m not feeling it. I have yet to see her in anything that really impresses me and this choice seems so random.
Of course the imagery is very stark of an unsleek Diana slumped over in grief/despair in a beautiful gown engulfing her. A portrayal of unhappiness behind the royal facade, collapsing and suffocating in her gown as was the state of her marriage. So many metaphors that popped out immediately. But what can l say, my observant eye did also gravitate to that bunching.
Kristen Stewart is pretty small, right? Diana was about 5ft 10–she was the same height as Charles, so she was often posed standing on a lower step than him so he would look taller than her. I wonder how they will suggest Diana’s height with a small person. Natalie Portman was shorter than Jackie–was Jackie 5ft 7 or so?? Natalie Portman is likely about 5 ft 2–but Jackie’s height wasn’t as much a feature of her appearance as Diana’s. People used to say about Diana that she was taller than people expected and prettier than people expected when they first met her.
I don’t think she looks anything like her. (The only reason I’m mentioning this is because all the promo says she looks so much like her. They don’t emphasize her acting, but the resemblance instead. And I don’t see any resemblance).
For some reason, I think height is important to playing Diana. It’s such a significant part of how she carried herself. Naomi Watts looked too short to play her to the point I found it distracting, and I’m wondering if I’ll have the same reaction here. I’ve read Kristen Stewart is 5’6 or 5’7′ but she still looks quite petite compared to Diana (who looked like she towered over everyone, including men).
I actually like Kristen and don’t think she’s given enough credit for her acting ability. I don’t think that she’s even 5’6 though. I think more like 5’3 -5’4.
That’s my guess too, based on how she looks standing next to other people. “Official” heights are rarely correct for actors and models. Tom Cruise is NOT 5 ft 9 for example.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she is shorter. I just overestimated in case someone was going to tell me she is some version of tall. She does look petite to me.
Hope the fact that this movie is coming out in a couple months is giving the tampon king and queen sleepless nights.
I might watch but I don’t know, it just bugs me that Stewart got this role. I’ve only seen her in two things and she is so expressionless. She pretty good at eye acting, I guess, but otherwise, she’s always the same and so flat to me. It’s irrational, but even if she turns in a good performance, her very presence would detract from my enjoyment of it, lol.
She played Jean Seberg. All I saw was Kristen Stewart. She has a way of speaking in both interviews and different roles that you can easily recognize as her (if you put one of her David Letterman interviews side-by-side with her character from Twilight,, I would see them as the same more or less). So I all I ever see is Kristen Stewart, rather than the character (if is a well-known on). In characters where she is not playing a well-known icon, her manner of speaking isn’t a negative as a much (that French movie for which she won the Cesar? I suppose even there I would be thinking “Oh, that’s Kristen Stewart playing a character.”)
Back in high school I had a friend who was the star of our drama department and truly quite talented. She said she always began her work on a character with a voice. That if she just used her usual voice, it was hard for her to build and inhabit a character. I think someone should say that to KStew. And I agree with you, I think some people naturally have a fairly neutral manner of speaking, so they may not have to change it up a lot role-to-role, but she has a very distinct, abrupt way of speaking that does not work equally well for all the roles. I’m guessing that’s why she usually plays angry, brooding characters. Those are the only roles where she looks good.
I saw Seberg as well as it was ok but you are right she’s not hidden in the role.
That poster is stunning. Just really evocative
Is the release date intentional? Remember, remember the 5th of November!
They just dropped the trailer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYTtrABWy_o
It looks gorgeous and very atmospheric but I’m not sure i’m buying Kristen Stewart as Diana, she looks more like Kate McKinnon to me than Diana, but I’ll reserve judgment until I actually see it, because acting is more important than looks for these kinds of roles.
I was looking to see if anyone else saw Kate McKinnon! I just watched that teaser they released, and she’s giving me total Kate McKinnon vibes. I can’t unsee it.
The feel is similar to Jackie but I agree with you I am not really buying her as Diana. I will eventually see it but I think the Crown has cast two better actors to play Diana. Emma Corrin wasn’t as tall as Diana either but she fell into the role much more.
I’m so glad someone else saw Kate McKinnon!
I actually don’t even care if the movie turns out to be good or not, I’m just delighted at the fact that it will further infuriate Charles when he’s already stressing about The Crown. If it does end up being nominated for any BAFTAs, I’ll lmao.
I think it would be difficult for any actress to get Diana just right now, though, because Emma Corrin is a hard act to follow. She was a pitch-perfect Diana.
First I’ll just say using that song ironically in a soundtrack is so over done. Second, nope. She doesn’t look like Diana at all. Maybe in stills but in motion she just doesn’t have it.
I kind of wished they showed more of her talking, but not sure if that would made people less likely to want to see it. She really doesn’t look like her in motion (very small and her face doesn’t look similar to Diana’s at all.)
No hairdresser seems able to get Diana’s hair right. I’ve always wondered what that’s about.
I would never see Stewart as Diana, but I actually like the concept of it. It could be cool and kind of subversive, and wonder if there will be any references to the current royal mess and how they honed their smear tactics with Diana, only to amplify it with her daughter in law and youngest son and to this day. I’m going to say it but love the fact that an openly queer actor is playing this doomed princess role as well. Kristen has always had her moments of being hounded and shamed by the tabloids and slut shamed. Curious to see it, even though I’m not a big Diana stan.
Watch Kristen’s monologue on SNL (which she totally nails, IMO). At one point she’s standing between Ady Bryant and Kate McKinnon, both of whom are reportedly 5’3”. Kristen is in heels, the other two in flats. Even so, she stands about their height. Point being, she must be about a foot shorter than Diana. Did they hire tiny actors to play opposite her in this movie? That height difference is more than can be adjusted with heels and camera angles.
If they’re really committed then they might call up Peter Jackson for pointers on forced perspective, but somehow I don’t see that.
Beautiful cinematography in that trailer but I’m also not getting Diana vibes. I wish she had more spoken lines here, but it’s hard to judge her portrayal of Diana when you see just a small snippet. Thanks for posting this.
Diana radiated a lot of warmth. I find that aspect of her personality isn’t captured well by other actresses. Maybe Emma Corrin came the closest since she was playing the innocent teenage version. But the more mature Diana is always played a little weird. Even Naomi Watts’s version came across strangely, and I wouldn’t characterize her as a bad actress in general.
I watched the teaser. Still not feeling it. Is Kristen Stewart incapable of walking with her mouth closed? Her entire acting career, to me (And I’ve watched her in things) is opening her mouth to varying degrees while standing there. We’ll see, I probably won’t see it but others will. With me, unless I am a fan of the actor’s work, unless the trailer snags me, I don’t see the movie. But as far as I remember she’s not a problematic person really, so less distraction.
I too am hoping it does amazing in the UK and Will and Kate have to sit there and watch it go up for awards for BAFTA.
She. Is. A. Terrible. Actor.
I don’t know. Diana as a media figure was all about public vulnerability and compassion. I can never get past Kristen Stewart as an always too cool for school hipster, no matter what her role.