Kristen Stewart needed to feel “emotionally connected” to Princess Diana in order to portray her in ‘Spencer'.
The 31-year-old actress revealed that in order to best approach her role as the late Princess of Wales - who passed away in 1997 at the age of 36 - in director Pablo Larraín's historical fiction film she had to create a connection between herself and Diana.
Speaking on ‘The Jess Cagle Podcast with Julia Cunningham', she explained: “My whole thing in getting ready for this was growing close to her, getting to a point where I could feel protective and emotionally connected. And I understand that my job was definitely not to retell her story, but to give voice to a feeling.
“I don’t know exactly how she felt, but when you look at pictures of her, you do know how she feels. She is, herself, such an empath that as a human you’re like, ‘I understand this person.’ In an inarticulate way, she’s so communicative.”
The ‘Twilight’ star added that she heavily considered public perception of Princess Di - the mother or Prince William and Prince Harry - when approaching the role as well.
She said: “I think the first thing you think of when you imagine her or when you’re shown an example, like a picture of her, or something she’s said, a trace she left behind, is that she’s really, really cool. She’s a very good person. She’s very quintessentially sainted.
“We made a movie that’s poetic and strange and doesn’t have a lot to say but it’s also screaming, and I feel that way when I look at her.”
Kristen also confessed that the scene that she felt the most pressure to film was when Diana speaks her first lines, despite the fact that this was not the first scene that was shot for the film.
She revealed: “The first time that she speaks in the movie had a hugely pressurised feeling, more so than some of the other dialogue-heavy scenes. It wasn’t like that was the first scene that we shot, but because that’s the first time you hear her speak, oh man, I really wanted to get that right ... I was scared that day. I hated that day.”
However, despite her worries, she added that the script for the movie was “perfect” and praised filmmaker Larraín’s choices.
She said: “[Pablo] wanted so badly to delve into an inner life. The exterior life is so fascinating to people and he was like: ‘No. None of that. Inside.’ And I just think that’s the nicest gesture … I was so down to take that ride with him. Also, the script is like perfect.”
