I really hoped that we would get a teaser trailer for Spencer this week, and look at this! The poster dropped on Wednesday, and the teaser dropped on Thursday. If you’ve seen Pablo Larrain’s Jackie, the general vibe will feel very familiar: two films centered on a tragic, glamorous heroine, with lots of wigs and running through fields. Jackie was about the week following Jack Kennedy’s assassination. Spencer is about the three days, over Christmas 1991, where Diana “decided” she needed to separate from and divorce Charles, apparently. Here’s the trailer:
It looks… okay-ish. I keep saying this, but I learned my lesson with Natalie Portman and Jackie. Before I saw that movie, I was pretty bummed about the casting and I did not think it would work. But it did. Portman did a great job with the role. So I feel like K-Stew might do something really interesting. I will say this… neither Emma Corrin nor Kristen really capture Diana’s elegance or her movement, probably because neither of them have a dance background. The shot of Diana reeling back… I don’t know, it doesn’t look right. The clothes look amazing though (the clothes were amazing in Jackie too).
If you’re curious about the history, Charles and Diana didn’t formally separate until December 1992, at least that’s when they announced it. Clearly, their marriage was “irretrievably broken” years earlier, and they had largely been living separate lives. It’s also clear that, much like The Crown, this film will deal with Diana’s bulimia directly. 1991 was at the tailend of her decade-long struggle with bulimia – when she began her affair with James Hewitt and began building a separate life away from Charles, she began having a much healthier relationship with food and exercise.
Poster & photos courtesy of ‘Spencer’/Neon Films.
I dunno, it feels quite ghoulish to rehash all this. I felt the Crown was done so sensitively and loved Emma Corrin’s portrayal of her. I just feel like this film will just spend its entire time being compared to that and that a lot of Diana’s pain and trauma will be under the lens again. Poor woman. I also just cannot fathom Kirsten as Diana – I can’t see any likeness in these shots at all!
All I see is a moody Bella Swan in a wig, tbh……
I see Bella Swan (I vomit mentally saying that name…the writer was horrendous) biting her lip and aoogizing to Rob.
I can’t see anything else.
Too awkward in every role. It’s like she’s still apologizing.
It’s just…there’s so many other unknown actors out there that may have been better suited.
Well said, Aidevee. I see it that way, too, exactly.
Well, they certainly have captured the atmosphere of airless isolation.
😂😭💀
Oh, wow. It looks really bad to me.
But, to be fair – I liked Jackie and Portman. However, never thought she is anything like Jackie in any way, so it was like watching a completely made up story about a fictional woman.
If it’s like Jackie, LarraIn’s going for an impressionistic view and not one that’s necessarily true to life. I said on another post that the big sign that this film is likely to be an awards player is that it’s doing Telluride/TIFF/Venice—Telluride, more than the other festivals, is usually a big indicator of Oscar potential. Not to mention it’s positioned to be released right in the middle of awards season in early November.
Going to laugh so hard if this becomes a major player at the BAFTAs, considering it allegedly rips Chuck to shreds. Also saw a few things on twitter commenting on the dialog, but it’s a teaser trailer—not an actual trailer—and there’ s maybe like 5 words spoken total. So I feel like “they must be hiding her accent, it’s awful” or “her accent is amazing” is a weird assumption to make for a teaser. Probably won’t get a real look at it until the actual trailer. It’s actually pretty typical of teaser trailers-for the Power of the Dog, that was also released today, there’s not even a single word spoken by Benedict Cumberbatch.
I really don’t care for her acting – it always just seems like she’s playing a version of herself – so I think she was a strange choice for this. I also find it interesting that they only let us hear her speak two words in the teaser. has she ever done accent work before?
I watched Jackie and disliked it, so I don’t have high hopes for this.
Her range is very narrow to begin with. And in this she doesn’t look or move like Diana. When she’s walking down the hallway or how she lifts her head it doesn’t fit Diana who carried herself like a shy dancer. I’m not seeing how this will be good. Or that they only showcase Kristen Stewart laying down and give her 2 words to hear the accent.
And that dress in the promo poster… is that meant to be a more modern wedding dress? It doesn’t fit for her story.
I agree. Her walking down the hallway in that white dress is all K Stew, the face, the movement. Jack Farthing playing Charles perked me up though even though you only see him for one second. He was so good in Poldark, arrogant, smug, punchable face. So I can see this casting working at least.
Yes. Di wasn’t awkward; she was shy. But passionate.
This one looks confused and embarrassed at all times.
I kinda feel like an asshole criticizing her, though.
She’s an actor doing her job.
I guess everyone has an opinion on how well she’s doing it.
I did hear Oscar buzz….I dunno.
Agree with everything in both comments. She looks passably like Diana in photos, but once you start to see her move, she just looks like herself.
Personally im not really feeling it. Even with the wig and all that kristen doesn’t look like diana nor has she really captured her movements and such. As for the trailer…… im not completely sold on that either.
But it does look better than I initially expected so maybe i will watch it.
All I see is Kristen Stewart in a bad wig.
My exact thought. I don’t need actors to become unrecognizable, but this is completely Kristen Stewart in a wig and giant dresses.
She looks like herself, moves like herself, and moves her mouth to talk like herself.
I’m still holding judgement. I’m definitely interested in the film. Regarding the wigs, I thought Diana’s hair in the Crown wasn’t very good either. It seems like no one can quite get Diana’s hair right, whether in shape or color. These types of styles were so common on the 80s/early 90s but it seems like stylists can’t accurately duplicate them anymore.
Big no. I just see Kristen in Diana drag. Her chin and the way she moves that whole area and mouth is so distinctly Kristin it’s impossible to hide it. Not to mention the total lack of graceful movement. Not a fan. I look forward to the next season of the crown instead.
Exactly. She doesn’t seem to grasp that acting incorporates the entire body, not just saying lines.
@ lulu : it’s true -training in dance shows in how the person moves. I am once saw a class of little ballerinas move from one building to another at the Canadian National Ballet School in Toronto. They were in tutus and had their hair in buns and looked like they were floating on air. Incredible posture.
You know it’s funny you say that because my 6 year old has been taking ballet since she was 3, year round (she’s obsessed) and we had a couple over about a month ago for a few hours. Friends we hadn’t seen in over 2 years and are vaccinated like us and the husband asked if my daughter took dance and I said yea why, and he said he could tell by the way she walks, very intentionally. He has two daughters of his own who are in all kinds of activities and we’ve known them for almost half our life so no he’s not a creep either lol.
Same, I feel gaslighted when they try to sell Kristen as this great actress, as if we didn’t have film after film after film of her being herself in every movie. I adored Emma Corrin, she did a great job and I too will wait for The Crown.
Nope, not buying it
exactly, no!
I’m asking myself do we need another Diana movie? I think it was a good idea to not have Kristen speak a lot in the trailer because that would have been a distraction. And as I said yesterday she doesn’t look like Diana. Nevertheless, this is more pain for Charles which is a good thing. The Royal Family is going all out for the Platinum Jubilee but it’s still not going to distract from the fact that next year will be 25 years since Diana died.
I would like to see a good Diana movie, that is something we haven’t had yet. The Crown still glosses over certain things. And I really hope this one is good and gets a lot of buzz so that season 5 of the crown and this might take the monarchy down by reminding everyone of what they really are.
I wish that the BRF may live in interesting times especially during the Jubilee Year and the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death.
I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed any performance from KS. Now playing another actual person, thus one far more well known with people already committed to a version of Diana in their heads? Risky and I don’t think her mouth agape acting can pull it off. The teaser didn’t pull me in. She looks, in motion, like a cross between Kate McKinnon and Annie Murphy from Kevin can f himself.
Nope. Not doing it for me.
Yeah not feeling it. Might change my mind once an actual trailer comes out but to me it looks like Diana doing a KStew impression (or KStew doing a Diana impression but not actually acting like Diana). Don’t fault her because Diana is hard to play tbh. If this goes on Netflix I’ll give it a watch but not going to go to a cinema and watch this.
I’ve always found KS apallingly bad, and from what I’ve seen so far, Spencer won’t change my opinion.
KS moves like a truck. Diana moved like a dancer.
Agreed – that bit where she’s marching down the corridor – yikes.
Yes, it was kind of WWE in drag. Maybe we need context – she’s marching with determination, or ready for a fight, or “let’s just get this over with.”
Yes, yes, yes! I saw that and thought, “She looks like a truck driver!” Diana would never!
I definitely feel like the fact they haven’t let her speak in the trailer is intentional to hide her terrible English accent.
Was there truly not a single British actress to play Diana? This casting seemed ridiculous to me and the trailer does nothing to change that opinion. However, if the film rips Chuck and Cam I’m all for it!
Yeah, it’s very interesting there’s only that one short clip of dialogue. It makes me think her voice doesn’t sound like Diana’s, and she did a bad job with the accent. We’ll see, I guess!
It’s hard to give your opinion from a teaser, but the vibe is very The crown. The few words she said in this teasernot reassure me about the accent’s work. Diana with a chic British accent but she also had a very specific intonation. She spoke in a tone very low like a bird’s whisper, very soft and very peaceful. Then compared to the body language and movement based only on the teaser it’s to fail, Kristen is not naturally graceful and the way she moves this whole area and that mouth is so distinctly Kristin, she does it in everything of her movies. Except that there it is problematic because it plays a real person not a fictional chacarect .
I had hated her portrayal of Jean Seberg because it was just Kirsten with short pixie hair in a movie set in the 60s so I don’t have much hope but hope for her is not give us a awful performance because the reactions will be hard for her as was the case with Naomie Watts.
TBH I can mimic most accents and voices for about a line or two. After that it becomes a bad parody
Emma did actually have dance background but she certainly didn’t show it. While Kristin LOOKS fabulous as Diana and captures her soulful eyes, yes she moves like a truck like PP said. Yikes.
She’s also doing her mouth grunt acting AGAIN. Diana was not a grunting mouth cringer.
Neither KS nor Julia Roberts has ever been able to overcome the way they move. You can’t make a truck graceful.
I remember Julia Roberts’s walk from one of the Ocean’s movies she looks fine from the waist up, and then suddenly a full view of her walk comes on with “alluring music” and she really does look like she’s lumbering. The clip must be up on Youtube. Makes me chuckle every time I see it, and I don’t dislike Julia Roberts’s acting or anything. But her walk is very….distinct to her.
And her laugh! I swear she’s never been in a movie where that horse laugh didn’t come out at least once. But then I’ve always thought of Julia Roberts as a movie star, not an actor. When you go to a JR movie, you go to watch JR, not “Julia Roberts as…”
Ha, @questions. I know exactly the scene you’re talking about. George Clooney is watching her walk and the music is very “oh, how dazzling and dreamy” but Julia’s walk is like “Let me go saddle up a horse at the barn.” I love JR in movies but they needed to cut that scene differently to disguise her walk.
Nope. Stewart looks too little, and why is she running everywhere? Also, why does this look like the Downton Abbey movie with so much focus on the staff? Clothing tags with a big D (?), racks of clothes, lobster, fancy soup?
She might actually be ok?
But as someone in another post about this movie in relation to K-Stew’s career—you need to stop making “fetch” happen.
She gets so many chances and then…sucks.
I thought it looked good and that she looked good, but perhaps it was the music and the clothes that sold me. I never liked Kristen Stewart until very recently, I think she’ll do ok. I, too, ended up liking the jackie movie way more than I thought I would so, I’m optimistic
Yikes
It looks tragic, in many ways.
I don’t understand the realistic expectations regarding this. It’s a film based on a tragic woman’s story not Madame Tussaud’s in motion. That said, I am not the target audience as I am sick of the attention brought to these people as tragic as their lives have been. Jackie and Lady Di are not the women I will go to the cinema for.
I think the expectations might be high because of the potential awards it could receive. If it were a cheesy Lifetime movie (as a lot of royal movies have been), I don’t think anyone would care. The “classy” treatment of these figures, as The Crown and this movie tries to be, seems to be much more recent. Up until now, I never thought of playing Princess Diana as something you could win an Oscar for.
Also if the promo up to now has been screaming “Kristen Stewart looks exactly like Princess Diana!” the natural reaction would be to make an assessment if she, in fact, does.
Nope. The trailer was overwrought. I get the feeling that’ll be the whole movie. No thanks.
Kristen Stewart is pretty as herself (in that “whatever” attitude kind of way) but as Diana she seems too ordinary or something. I guess that hairstyle only complimented Diana’s features.
Someone in an earlier post had mentioned that Kristen Stewart has a certain coldness, and, oh yeah, I can see that here.
I think Kristen might be able to pull this off. Diana wasn’t quite so innocent at this point. She’d had some life experience. So, as unhappy as she was, it’s not like Kristen is playing the very innocent new bride Diana. Kristen is good at playing people who are struggling with their mental health in some way, but while also having some strength. Basically because I think that’s kind of who Kristen is herself. So, if she can take on enough of Diana’s personality and mannerisms, she’ll do really well in the role.
My problem is that this weekend never happened. It’s like a weird Diana fan fiction. It made sense that the crown made certain things up a bit to bridge gaps and such. This is just something that never happened and the people making it have admitted as much. So, what is the point? What does this add to the conversation around Diana? Honestly, I wish we could return to the era where we were more respectful. Do William, Harry and all the other people who loved Diana need another movie out there about their mom? Especially when they so often take out all of Diana’s complexity? I mean, the Crown has turned her into an entirely helpless victim. They have everyone believing that Diana was the outdoorsy type and that’s how she won over the family. The only time Diana was outdoorsy was that weekend in order to win over the family. She did it on purpose. She was still a victim because she had no idea what she was in for, but she wasn’t the entirely helpless victim that the crown has turned her into. So, I don’t really feel like we need another movie that will likely portray Diana in a overly simple light. It was her complexity that made her so interesting.
Diana wasn’t so innocent at this point — that’s true. But her massive charisma, which you can see in documentaries, was still in full force. That part doesn’t seem to be conveyed in the scenes where Kristen is doing the head tilting thing with the exact same clothes Diana was wearing.
I never saw ‘massive charisma’ when she was alive. She had allure and a great combination of grace and woundedness, as well as an empathic aura that drew everyone to her.
It was not until she was killed that the press began painting her in a different charismatic superstar light 24/7.
People seem to either love or hate Kristen. The trailer is way too short to predict anything from yet. I think she is more talned than many give her credit for.
I don’t think every single person on the planet was enthralled with Diana (such a thing doesn’t exist) . But I don’t think you can achieve that immense level of world-wide fame without having charisma (especially since she didn’t have a skill-set of any kind when she became famous at 20, especially like singing or acting). I think whether people like you or not is a little different from having some kind of intangible quality that draws people to you, and I think she had that strange quality that compels us to look at certain people over others. She was as famous as in life as she was in death. You can tell from documentary footage that she hit crowds and news circulation in a bigger way than regular movie stars did. Even other movie stars look at her in photos in a way where they look a little star struck.
@Catt, Charisma can be hard to define, but when you see it in action, you absolutely know what it is. I had the opportunity to meet both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Both of them have an aura that draws people to them like a magnet. Especially Bill Clinton — say what you will about his politics or scandals, but the guy definitely knows how to work a crowd. When he arrived, the vibe was definitely “Elvis is in the building.” You could feel the buzz. I think Diana had that same kind of energy; people just gravitated to her.
I’m not bothered about this event never actually taking place, because he film isn’t presented as a biopic. There are tons of those out there. The director is obviously going for something else. Diana is so much of an icon and cultural touchstone at this stage, that she’s become a concept to certain creators. There’s is too much at a historical thread between what happened to her, and what’s going on now to ignore it. Stewart is petite and mousy so physically I don’t know how she can pull it off. The costumes look amazing.
Jackie was a masterpiece so I can’t wait for this movie
Really? I thought it was terrible. I felt like I was watching Natalie Portman in cosplay. Maybe I’ll give it a rewatch.
I’m excited to see this…
Even in Jackie, I came away thinking that Natalie Portman reminded me of the craziness in Black Swan. The story was interesting. But Natalie reminded me too much of her Black Swan character. The acting looked similar.
What a bad choice, that’s all I will say. Just nope!
I feel like even in this short trailer I can see Kristen Stewart acting Kristen Stewart-ish. She has behaviors she can’t seem to shake even when playing a real person.
This is open mouthed Twilight with a blonde wig. No thanks.
I believe that KS’s casting had a lot to do with engaging new people to the Diana story and how it parallels with Harry & Meghan.
I think The Crown already did.
Also, Diana’s legacy carries on through her children. Whether one likes either of them or not, she’ll always be remembered through them (especially through big pivotal events like weddings and births of children ) and whatever is going on in their lives (i.e what their marriages are like and how they’re raising their own kinds ) in the present day.
Every mention of William and Harry will always have some mention of Diana’s young demise and how their death impacted their trajectories in life. As long as they are alive, she’s kind of “alive” through them in a way too. As long as an extremely famous dead icon has children, you’ll always hear about the parent (i.e JFK and his kids).
I don’t think Kristen Stewart had much to do with anything since the movie isn’t out yet.
I agree with all you said. I was alluding to maybe Twilight fans that were very young when the Diana stuff was going on. I’m not one but am aware there is a big following to Twilight/Kristin Stewart. I’ve seen her in Panic Room & Still Alice.
The parallel angle was brought up in this Deadline article.
https://deadline.com/2020/06/kristen-stewart-princess-diana-pablo-larrain-film-spencer-diana-rejects-fairy-tale-ending-1202961395/
The film won’t deal with Diana’s tragic death after she left that palace life, but will examine the fraying of the relationship with her husband, and her ferocious love for her sons Prince William and Prince Harry. Latter married actress Meghan Markle and made a decision similar to the one made by his mother while he was just a child.
Hard pass.
I loved Diana so much and yes I will watch this because I am curious with how Kristin handles the role. I remember feeling blown away by Emma’s portrayal after low expectations so this might be surprising good! Who knows though. Emma really nailed Diana’s naïveté and sweetness. Especially during the super early parts of her relationship with Charles. Regardless of how Diana is portrayed by whomever…. Charles always comes out looking like a monster.
An attendee of the test screening said that this movie is similar to shiva baby and uncut gems so I can see where this is going.
That shot of her walking in yellow dress assures that she doesn’t move like “truck”. Her dance is similar to corrin’s. She got the head tilt right, in one short shot in the dining room you can even see the head tilt. The accent and voice is amazing but we will see if it holds up for the rest of the movie. However, this is kristen stewart we’re talking about so everyone shouldn’t expect she’d completely transform herself to Diana.
I will be watching this tbh, this is a very interesting movie.
ps. they will show anne boleyn in this movie
Firstly, love the poster. To me, it captures absolute hopelessness.
Second, Kristen Stewart looks like Kate Mackinnon playing Diana on SNL. Unsee that, go on.
Mannerism wise it’s a caricature and KS does herself better in this than Diana but her voice at the end has stirred my curiosity , maybe just maybe she can pull this off
Yes, the standard portrayal seems to be “Open your eyes wide, dip your head, and look up shyly from under the brim of your hat.”
She looks so ….small…
that’s my take. not a believable Diana, because Diana was TALL and even more so when she had on even low heels. Kristen Stewart looks to be below-average height. She’s not pint-sized, but she doesn’t even approximate a willowy figure.
I liked KS in a couple of movies. I loved her in the Charlie’s angels one. I agree that she doesn’t look like Diana but that doesn’t put me off so much. I’ll watch the movie for sure and I guess I’ll know then whether it felt Diana-y or not.
Diana’s hair in this movie kind of looks like Camilla’s instead.
I haven’t watched The Crown with any regularity and I didn’t see the past season with Emma Corrin as Diana, but I intend to sit down in the near future and to watch the whole thing beginning to end due to Emma’s rave reviews as Diana.
This is not a great trailer at all. You hardly see anything and the first 20-30 seconds are clips of establishing the grandeur and luxury of regimented royal life. Ok, we get that, it went on for far too long. The close ups of Kristen’s face–the way she sighs, the way she walks down the hallway around 36 seconds grimacing, the running, it’s all Kristen. She has this awkward way of moving her face due to social anxiety and it shows up in all her acting. As for the accent work, she literally says two words “They don’t.” I have a feeling this is going to be really bad. Not sure why the critics were raving about this trailer, it was so subpar. And the music choice was awful too.
Kristin didn’t need to do this. And she shouldn’t have. She’s just gong to have derogatory comparisons to the Crown.
She’s lucky it’ll be out (and probably forgotten) before Elizabeth Debicki does Diana in The Crown.
It’s difficult because you have 3 actresses playing Diana at almost the same time with this film and the crown. All performances are going to be compared which is difficult enough but even harder when playing someone like Diana. Naomi Watts didn’t pull it off.
I like Kristen Stewart and I want her to do it justice. But I’m still not sure, I’m not 100% convinced from this trailer, I know her British accent in the snow while movie was awful. I always thought Kristen would struggle getting older in this industry as she always nailed the sulky angsty teenager perfectly. But she is talented and seems like a smart girl and I’m glad she’s taking a risk so I do hope she nails this part.
The actress playing the older version of Diana in The Crown will probably get the BAFTA nomination. I don’t see both of she and Kristen Stewart getting one, even though they would be in separate categories. The Crown is the only royal-type series I’ve seen that doesn’t look like a cheesy Lifetime version so I can see t why it gets so much praise. Even the Naomi Watts movie gave off a cheesy Lifetime vibe. Not sure if that will happen here, but movies about Charles and Diana always seem a little off, almost caricature-like.
I think I’m going to watch it and actually watch The Crown. I never really knew about Princess Diana when I was growing up- I might have been five when she passed (and in the US). So I never really considered her a cultural touchstone.
I remember the Royal Wedding vividly because it was my first year of college and girls in my dorm were making tea and cucumber sandwiches to celebrate and I couldn’t understand the fascination. Then I heard about the commotion Pippa’s butt caused which was so funny because even back then in no way shape or form did she have a noticeable butt.
So I didn’t really think much about the BRF until Meghan. And watching all of that play out made me feel good about my decision up until then to ignore those crotchety jerks.
I don’t think she resembles Diana at all, so I can’t get into it.
Do we really need this many books, movies, documentaries and tv shows about Diana?
Also, am I the only one who sees Camilla in that picture with her hand on her face?
“Also, am I the only one who sees Camilla in that picture with her hand on her face?”
I can see it.
The resemblance is also there when the trailer moves to the scene with Kristen Stewart in the black hat and red jacket. Something about the way her mouth looks in that scene reminds me more of Camilla than Diana.
Yes, I also see It! Kristen would’ve been a better choice playing Camilla in this movie.
I know we’ve only seen the trailer but get the sense this will be another cringe-fest – think Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly or Naomi Watts as Diana.
Why do critics like her? Like others, I just see her here. The way she tilts her head, the mouth/jaw, even the eye expressions. She might nail the accent but I can’t imagine the director couldn’t find a better choice to play Diana.
I don’t need it to be an impersonation, but I need it to be a believable character. I don’t want to be seeing the actress and her distinctive mannerisms and look the whole time.
Yes, I don’t get the raves about this trailer. She’s obviously talented but I don’t think Kristen is a character actor, since her acting style is not at all transformative. She spoke 2 words in the trailer, so the whole accent discussion is premature either way.
The director saw something in her, so maybe it all works in context but I’m scratching my head over film Twitter’s reaction to this. And I think Debecki’s natural grace and willowiness is going to translate much better when it’s her turn.
If you’re into Pablo Larrain’s, go watch EMA. His best movie In My opinion. A magnificent film, it’s in Spanish but nothing subtitles can’t fix. Definitely check it out.
This must be her third biopic. Joan Jett was the first. Jean Seberg was second. Now, Diana.
Maybe Grace Kelly is next.
Nope. I don’t know how KStew happened to begin with. I can’t think of a single reason to watch this. I can rewatch The Black Panther. Again. Such a better use of my time!
It will be the accent for me. Did she nail it? I was hoping to hear more of her speaking. “They don’t” didn’t sound too bad.
I don’t know why people thing an English accent of any kind is easy to do. It’s not.
It’s the same way I feel about American accents when Brits do them. They aren’t as good as they think they are lol.
The poster is exquisite! I will probably watch it but I loved The Crown!
Hard pass. I already see too much of her mouth agape mode in the trailer. Ugh.
I want to watch it because Royal history fascinates me, but Stewart is one of the worst actresses in film.
A nitpick; as the Princess of Wales, Diana cannot decide to divorce by herself, nor can the Prince of Wales. I think only the Queen literally instructed her and Charles to get divorced, and that was 1995, after the BBC Panorama interview.