Kristen Stewart made her debut as Princess Diana.
The main photography started in Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer”, with the production revealing Stewart’s first glimpse of the real young man.
Written by “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight, the film focuses on a weekend in Princess Diana’s life when she spends the Christmas holiday with the royal family at Sandringham’s Norfolk estate and decides to leave her marriage with Prince Charles.
Filming will take place in Germany and the UK and a release in the fall of 2021 is planned. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death.
The cast also includes BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall (“Mr. Turner”), Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”) and Sean Harris (“Mission: Impossible”).
The film is produced by Juan de Dios Larraín (“Jackie”) for Fabula Films, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski (“Toni Erdmann”) for Komplizen Film and BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Paul Webster (“Anna Karenina”) for Shoebox Films.
“‘Spencer is a plunge into an emotional imagination of who Diana was at a crucial point in her life,” said Stewart. “It is a physical statement of the sum of its parts, which begins with his given name: Spencer. It is a distressing effort for her to return to herself, while Diana struggles to maintain what the name Spencer means to her. “
“We are extremely grateful for the support of our distributors worldwide, our partners and financiers who have shown tremendous commitment to us in these extraordinary times. With Kristen Stewart, Steven Knight and the rest of our fantastic team in front and behind the camera, we are bringing ‘Spencer’ to the world. It is an independently produced film, made for the big screen, about an iconic woman’s declaration of independence. We couldn’t be more excited, ”said producers Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Juan de Dios Larraín, Paul Webster and Pablo Larraín.
Executive producers are Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman and Christina Zisa for Neon and Michael Bloom, Maria Zuckerman and Ryan Heller for Topic Studios.
FilmNation Entertainment managed international sales with all major territories selling outside the Cannes virtual market. The CAA Media Finance group was sold to Neon and Topic Studios for distribution in the United States, STXinternational will distribute the film in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Benelux and DCM will distribute in Germany.
Other territories sold include: Australia / NZ (Roadshow), Latin America, Spain and Portugal (Sun), South Korea (Green Narae), Japan (Tohokushina), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Canada (Elevation), CIS / Baltic (Partnership Central), Eastern Europe (Forum), Middle East (Italy), Singapore (Shaw), Greece / Cyprus (Spentzos), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), India / Pakistan (Impact Films India), Israel (Lev), Turkey (FilmArti), South Africa (Empire), Taiwan (Moviecloud) and Thailand (M Pictures).
“Working on the script was a pleasure. I think it’s a different perspective on a story that we don’t all know well, but we all feel like we’re part of it now, ”said Knight Variety in an exclusive interview last week. “And I found everything fascinating. Talking to people who knew her and trying to get a vision of that person – who that person really was – who was an ordinary person in extraordinary situations, is what I think of her. “
Knight said he did not watch the hit Netflix series “The Crown” because he did not want his perspective to be influenced by the program. The fourth season of “The Crown”, which began airing in 2020, focuses mainly on the relationship between Lady Diana (played by Emma Corrin) and Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor). The season is in the spotlight, as relatives of real people portrayed in the drama talk about their representations.
UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Lady Diana’s brother Charles Spencer later demanded that “The Crown” contain a statement that it is a fictional show, but Netflix declined.
Spencer is supported by the Federal Film Fund of Germany (DFFF), Berlin-Brandenburg medienboard, German Federal Film Board (FFA), Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and HessenFilm und Medien.