Spencer, the new film starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, will receive its world premiere in competition at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, according to Variety. The project comes from director Pablo Larraín and is written by Steven Knight.
Its focus will be the process of Diana’s separation from Prince Charles, played by Jack Farthing, in the early 1990s.
Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins, and Sean Harris are also set to star. The film will be distributed in the United States by Neon and Topic Studios next year to mark the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death.
Actress Emma Corrin recently won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Diana in the fourth season of The Crown, which is likely to contend for a number of Emmy Awards when nominations are announced tomorrow. The series hasn’t yet reached the time period when Spencer will be set but is expected to cover that in season five, where Elizabeth Debicki will take over the role from Corrin. Naomi Watts portrayed Diana in the poorly-received 2013 film Diana.
Larraín is no stranger to debuting his works at prominent film festivals.
Post Mortem, No, and Neruda all launched at Cannes, The Club opened at Berlin, and his two most recent films have bowed at Venice. Jackie earned star Natalie Portman an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a political and fashion icon, while Ema has yet to make its American debut nearly two years after playing in Venice but will open in US theaters on August 13th.
This year’s edition of the Venice Film Festival is currently scheduled to begin on September 1st, but an increasingly uncertain global pandemic situation casts some doubt on whether it will proceed as planned. While the Tribeca Film Festival appears to have executed a successful hybrid experience with outdoor screenings, the Cannes Film Festival, which is currently underway, has not been immune to COVID-19, reporting an average of three cases per day on the ground as well as one of its top stars, Léa Seydoux, testing positive before traveling from Paris.