Kristen Stewart lauded by critics for portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales

Robert Dex @RobDexES4 September 2021

Kristen Stewart has been lauded by the critics and tipped for awards season success for her portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales in Spencer.

The movie, which was shown at the Venice film festival on Friday, is set over a weekend in the early 1990s when Diana joined the royal family for Christmas at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate.

The New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan said her casting was a “stroke of genius”.

He said: “Stewart is one of the few people on the planet who has known paparazzi scrutiny that is even somewhat comparable to the fusillade of flashbulbs that hounded Diana until her death.”

Spencer - first artwork released
PA

Screen Daily’s Jonathan Romney said the actress was “brittle, tender, sometimes playful and not a little uncanny”.

The Daily Telegraph’s Robbie Collin said she “will be instantly and justifiably awards-tipped for this”.

Speaking at a press conference at the film festival, Stewart told reporters: “I think my impression can only be my own. But Diana was a woman who wanted people to come together and I think that this movie’s ambition is to bridge gaps.

Kristen Stewart at Venice

"Spencer" Red Carpet - The 78th Venice International Film Festival
1/12

“I think if anyone ever made a movie about me, I wouldn’t feel like it was … I wouldn’t feel stolen from or taken from. There’s nothing salacious about our intention, I think that would be probably more embedded in interpretation.”

Describing the rules of royal life she had to learn, she said: “We had royal advisers, we had people to tell us all the things that you couldn’t know as an as an outsider.

“The stage that we depict in the film is a true unravelling.

“So, once I learned the curtsy and I learned that we are supposed not to go in the kitchen ourselves and steal food, all of those details, I don’t really remember them, but there was always someone around to make sure that if anything was out of line that we were remaining authentic and we weren’t undermining what we were trying to do, because obviously I’m American and not from that country.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in