Kristen Stewart will become the latest actress to portray Princess Diana on screen with a new biopic by the director of Jackie. Following the release of the film's official poster and teaser, Pablo Larraín's Spencer now has an official trailer.
Princess Diana has fascinated filmmakers and television producers for decades, with Netflix's The Crown season 4 recently depicting her early experiences with the royal family. Spencer, however, will specifically follow Princess Diana as she attempts to navigate the rumors surrounding herself and Prince Charles.
The Spencer trailer highlights the growing tension between Diana and the royal family during the holiday setting. Balanced with scenes of Diana with her children, friends, and confrontations with members of the royal family, the emotional journey is on full display. With many shots of Diana and Charles exchanging tense looks, the trailer highlights Stewart's performance as Princess Diana. Following a successful screening at the Venice Film Festival, many have already begun to praise Stewart's role and are calling it a performance well-worthy of an Oscar nomination.
Spencer features an expansive cast including Jack Farthing, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, Elizabeth Berrington, Stella Gonet, Richard Sammel, Amy Manson, and Sally Hawkins. Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry will act as Diana and Charles' children William and Harry. The music will be composed by Jonny Greenwood, who also composed the music for the Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood. Many have already praised the compositions heard in Spencer's previous teaser trailer and find the music a fitting, sophisticated, and emotional fit for the story at hand. While biographical, Spencer, written by Steven Knight (creator of Peaky Blinders and Tom Hardy's Locke), is an imagining of what happened over the critical days at the Queen's Sandringham Estate.
The director of Spencer, Larraín, also directed Jackie in 2016, a biographical story of Jackie Kennedy following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Jackie went on to be nominated for three Academy Awards in 2017. Among those nominations was Natalie Portman's own performance as Jackie O for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. Following the raving reviews of Stewart's performance as Diana, it seems history may repeat itself for Larraín's newest leading lady.
Those who are expecting Stewart to fall flat in the role will be in for a surprise. Despite her expansive career, Stewart is most often associated with her role as Bella Swan from the Twilight series, which has earned a lot of criticism over the years. Stewart's Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson has gone on to trump expectations as well, and fans of Stewart are excited to see her do the same as Princess Diana.
Spencer will premiere in theaters on November 5, 2021.
Source: NEON