Kristen Stewart Wows as Conflicted Princess Diana in Spencer Trailer

Author: Tracy E. Gilchrist

The full trailer for Neon’s Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in the biopic from Jackie director Pablo Larraín, has dropped. And Stewart, who starred in last year’s Happiest Season, appears to be in top form with an uncanny portrayal of the beloved British princess. 

The story follows Larraín’s style of biopic as in Jackie and Neruda (2016), which tends to focus on a point in time rather than a sweeping survey of the subject’s life. While Jackie depicted the first lady as she grappled with her husband’s assassination while dealing with affairs of state, Spencer will examine Diana’s life over the Christmas holidays when she considers leaving her marriage to Prince Charles. While the trailer doesn’t reveal much of the story, Stewart’s Diana appears caught between her public and private personas and the expectations placed on her by the people, as a mother, and by the royal family. 

In 2015, Stewart won the Cesar (the French equivalent of the Oscar) for her work opposite Juliette Binoche in Olivier Assayas’s Clouds of Sils Maria (2014). She also received critical acclaim for her lead role in Assayas’s 2016 modern ghost story Personal Shopper.

Taking on the role of Princess Diana is the third time Stewart has starred in a biopic. She played the queer sensation Savannah Knoop opposite Laura Dern in JT Leroy (2018). In 2019’s Seberg, Stewart played actress Jean Seberg, whose career took off when she starred in the French New Wave classic Breathless. Later in life, she became a target of the FBI for her work with the Black Panthers. 

Spencer costars Poldark’s Jack Farthing as Prince Charles, Stella Gonet as the Queen, Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner, The Party) as Major Alastar Gregory, and Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Paddington) as Maggie, Diana’s confidante. 

The script for Spencer is penned by Steven Knight, who wrote the screenplays for David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises and Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things. Larraín’s director of photography is Claire Mathon, who worked on Celine Sciamma’s acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Watch the trailer below. Spencer is out in theaters on Nov. 5. 

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Tracy E. Gilchrist