Kristen Stewart has been grappling with the emotional weight of bidding adieu to Princess Diana. Indeed, since portraying the tragic figure in the 2021 film Spencer—which earned her an Academy Award nomination—Kristen has candidly admitted that the feeling of being "haunted" by the late Princess has lingered with her. "I can't drive around this city," Kristen said of London, and even Paris, in an interview with The Telegraph published on February 5th, "without thinking about her. All the love that poured out of this woman… I can cry about her at any moment."
It was Diana's experiences under the glare of public scrutiny, media speculation, and public obsession that resonated deeply with the Twilight veteran. "She was relentlessly hounded by paparazzi," Kristen observed. "And her rebellious qualities felt so desperate, so young, and so vulnerable." Understanding firsthand how scrutiny can be a "soul-sucking" experience, Kristen added that by the end of filming, "I did feel a bit like a shell, and I think she did too. That was the point."
However, despite her portrayal of Diana becoming one of Kristen's most acclaimed performances, the 35-year-old revealed that it took some encouragement from director Pablo Larraín for her to finally say yes. "I told Pablo he was insane and that he should probably hire someone else," she explained. "But he refused to accept that. There were some significant differences between her and me—the statuesque nature, the eye color—I have green eyes; she has famously blue eyes that matched her ring. So I was like, 'Should we make the engagement ring green then?'"
Despite these inconsistencies "pulling [her] under," Pablo soothed those fears. As she recalled, "Pablo was like, 'You really must detach from those things—this is about spirit.'" And when she finally stepped onto the set in full costume, Kristen was able to embrace Diana's spirit. "The clothes were part of the armor," she explained. "They allowed me to step into her physical space and create images of her in this prison of a castle yet wearing lavish, stunning pieces of clothing. That is a poem in itself."
