Pablo Larraín‘s masterful Spencer is one of the most assured, idiosyncratic and wholly satisfying biopics in memory. Kristen Stewart mesmerizes as Diana, Princess of Wales in a snapshot tone poem set at the British royal family‘s Sandringham estate over Christmas 1991, as tabloid rumors of infidelity and unrest swirled around them—a year before Diana and Prince Charles announced their separation to the world.
With an opening title card that reads “a Fable from a True Tragedy,” the drama from a script by Steven Knight (who wrote magnificent screenplays for Eastern Promises and the Oscar-nominated Dirty Pretty Things) thrusts us into the intimate life of one of the most famous women of the 2oth century as she navigates personal crises under seemingly omniscient scrutiny. Heartfelt, dryly funny and unafraid to be really sad, Spencer is a surprising, haunting success worthy of its subject. Awards-season buzz for the film and Stewart’s career-high performance has remained at a steady roar since the picture premiered on the festival circuit in September.
Spencer opens in theaters Friday, Nov. 5, about a year after Stewart received critical praise and widespread audience enthusiasm for a hilarious, touching turn opposite Mackenzie Davis and Dan Levy in Clea DuVall‘s Happiest Season, a queer rom-com whose irresistible blend of high jinks and pathos proved to be exactly what we needed in a pandemic-era Christmas film.
Parade.com spoke exclusively with Stewart about the daunting task of playing the iconic royal, her enjoyment of Netflix‘s crown jewel The Crown, and—just in time for the holidays—the warm legacy of Happiest Season.
Did you have any nerves or reservations around making a film that depicts such a famous life with some imagination and artistry?
It’s actually the only thing that made this whole experience worthwhile for me—was not reiterating facts that actually muddy the waters of truth more than they actually depict a real life. I think getting obsessed with black-and-white, he-said-she-said stuff completely waters down the opportunity that a movie would have to encapsulate a feeling. We’re not a documentary; we’re not trying to provide any new information at all. All the things we have of her, we already have of her.
I went through everything sort of in a morally responsible way to make sure I was on the right side of the street, and realized there’s nothing wrong in the script. There’s nothing that we said that she did, or that we profess to know that is actually historically inaccurate.
She also was somebody who, at the end of her life, really laid herself out—and, in a really articulate and engaged way started speaking to the public herself, unencumbered and unmuzzled. We’re very aware of her struggles with food, body image and mental health. It would be so much more satisfying to make a movie about her leaning into fantasy indulging in the hypothetical, because she never got a chance to.
What was the most daunting part of playing Princess Diana?
Two parts: I wanted to make sure the relationship with her and her boys felt true and not painted on. She’s the most realized, unshakable version of herself when she’s with her boys, and I feel from her this protective, don’t—f***-with-me nature that I don’t feel from any other aspect of her life. She’s constantly searching and reaching behind a veil in order to kind of say, “This is what I’m saying but this is what I mean!” It’s like the whole tilt-your-head-down-but-put-your-eyes-up… It was like she was always trying to say something that she’s not allowed to articulate. So with the boys, the most daunting part was making sure that felt so lived in and so true—genuinely filled with love. The most beautiful part of her is her as a mother.
Also, she is so cool [laughs] and so infectious and disarming and casual. For lack of a better word, cool. And I don’t mean cool in a detached or cold way—like the most accessible, charming, everyone loves her. The idea of her as an entity has this transcendence
Did you watch The Crown or did you avoid it in preparation for this part?
I totally watched all of it, and I was at the stage of research that was kind of obsessive. I think I binged every season that was available in like three days; I just watched it from start to finish. To a certain extent, they go together; we didn’t ever feel like we had to do what they were doing. This is a different thing.
In a really unacademic way, if I ever felt like I didn’t feel like weighing conflicting opinions or perspectives, or reading a new book, I just felt like I’d throw The Crown on, sort of live with Emma [Corrin] for a second (laughs). I really love that show, and we did genuinely use it to our advantage. I’m glad it existed.
You fully embody this character in a way that’s haunting and transcendent for the audience. Has Diana left an imprint on you?
Yeah. I hope to find a nice way to put this that’s concise and really nails it; maybe that will come at some point in this process—stepping into her skin, and just projecting this warmth that we all feel from her—although I never got to spend any time around her. She sticks out of every photo, she reaches through every lens and touches you.
I have green eyes and I’m 5’5”; she’s 5’11” with big beautiful blue eyes. She has this thing where I feel like I want her to be my mom and my best friend, I want to be a shoulder for her to cry on, and I want to see who can run faster.
She felt to me like, when I imagined who she was and how she affected people—I caught “it.” I brought that to set. It was just a projection, an idea, but by osmosis somehow being close to this idea—which is her, however spiritual you want to make it—if our experiences are totally quantified by our imaginations, I imagined a completely new confidence, a new ease, a belief in other people and faith in other people that was very reciprocal. If I came to set feeling that way then suddenly everyone was leading towards me. It was fun to play her, even though she was very sad over these projected three days. The whole crew, all of us danced every night; we cried together. I’ve never felt so connected to other people, and I think that is very clearly her.
It’s been about a year, and it feels safe to call Happiest Season a Christmas classic. What can you tell us about the experience in making that film, and all the positive feedback since its release?
Clea definitely wanted to make a Christmas classic, so that’s wonderful to hear. I love Clea, and when I read the script I was like, “Oh wow, I can’t believe it’s taken this long to do something this straight down the line but also queer. I’ve been making fun of all of the period lesbian dramas that have been made recently—which I think there should be more of! Some are better than others, and it’s kind of easy to make fun of that trope. Straight cis white people have been allowed to make Christmas movies ad nauseam.
I can’t believe that this one little cute attempt at making something sweet had such impact. It’s just a Christmas movie about two girls who go home and try to make it work with their families. We need more of them: small ones, good ones, ambitious ones and simple ones, all of them, everything in between. I’m so proud to be in that movie.
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