“As soon as you aren’t able to uphold a standard or ideal, then suddenly people come and attack you.”
Interest in the royal family is at an all-time high lately, thanks to the likes of The Crown, The Favourite and, well, real life. So being asked to portray arguably the most famous member of that family must come with a lot of pressure.
Kristen Stewart had to face that pressure when she took on the role of Princess Diana in the new biopic drama Spencer, but behind the scenes, she is in very good hands.
The movie comes from the director of Jackie – the powerful drama detailing the life of Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman) in the hours following JFK’s assassination – and the script comes from Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders.
In the run up to the movie’s release, JOE was lucky enough to sit down with the actress (via Zoom, naturally) to discuss the role. Check out the full interview right here:
Over the course of the interview, they brought up topics including the creepy, almost horror-tinged nature of the introduction of the movie (you’ll know it when you see it), as well as the biggest things she learned about Diana that she maybe didn’t know or didn’t realise prior to filming.
We mentioned a similarity between Diana and arguably Stewart’s most famous role to date – Bella Swan in the Twilight Saga – and how both movies have attempted to sell the idea of “Finding your prince will make your life complete”, as well as a slightly naive young woman marrying into a family that she doesn’t fully understand.
Upon this comparison, and the idea of selling a particular life ideal in these movies, Stewart remarked:
“I never thought about that Bella Swan [comparison]. That is correct and interesting and funny that you mentioned it. It is, yeah, bizarre.
“Personally, I’ve never been asked to be anyone that I wasn’t. It is kind of a common conception that people play parts, the actors come in and sit and do interviews and just sort of playing a different version of themselves to keep a distance and protect themselves. As soon as you aren’t able to uphold that standard or ideal, then suddenly people come and attack you.
“I’ve made my mistakes in public. I’ve been a pretty curious, open, sprawling person and I’ve enjoyed that. I don’t feel like I’m supposed to do anything and I’m very, very aware of how lucky that is.”
Spencer is released in Irish cinemas on Friday, 5 November.
Clip via NEON
