Feature Article

Kristen Stewart's Biggest Role yet!

The year 2021 saw, Actor Kristen Stewart took a plane from Venice, Italy, to Colorado to attend the premiere of "Spencer," a new film in which she plays Princess Diana. While she was sleeping above the Atlantic, the initial reviews of her performance were published. She made a hotel stop to change and have her bleached blonde hair fashioned in a sloppy updo, then she and Pablo Larran, the film's director, went straight to the Werner Herzog Theatre, arriving only a few minutes late. The events of "Spencer" take place in 1991 during a turning moment in Diana's marriage to the Prince of Wales, during the Royal Family's Christmas vacation at Sandringham House. The Princess is isolated from the outside world and subjected to royal traditions while surrounded by trembling Christmas jellies and sparkling puddings; eventually, the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunts her. Jonny Greenwood's music amplifies the tension to almost excruciating levels. Diana, having an anxiety attack as she eats supper, is seen at the film's beginning, wearing a green gown that matches the soup being served to her and crunching on a string of pearls. (The jewels are embarrassing because Charles bought the same gift for both his mistress and wife.) The necklace reappears later, still intact, indicating that Diana's mental stability is deteriorating. Stewart's mystery and charisma are tapped into in "Spencer," which also forces her to adopt performance gimmicks from other parts. She naturally adopts an accent and convincingly adopts Diana's well-known characteristics, but she also gives the role a melodramatic hyperbole that elevates her beyond historical representation and, at times, into comedy. 

Her portrayal of Diana tries to adopt different personas to escape her helplessness. Her moods change abruptly as she moves quickly through the castle halls, much like a pursued woman, with her eyes downcast and voice breathy in moments of pliancy and her chin raised with imperiousness when breaking the rules. Sitting on a seat in a Telluride Park between screenings, Pablo Larran said, "There are some actors and actresses that may become, in my opinion, transparent." He intended the adjective to be derogatory. As a result of the filmmakers "offering it to me entirely digested," he continued, "you might occasionally witness a movie that is too obvious, so I don't understand what I'm doing as an audience." Larran, a bearded man who was raised in Santiago, Chile, is reflective.

In 2016, Stewart starred in "Personal Shopper" the same year, a spooky art-house movie about an American in Paris attempting to communicate with her deceased brother's spirit. Larran recognized the characteristics he was looking for in his Diana in Stewart's portrayal of the loneliness of loss. He described the part as requiring "something that needed to be magnetic yet, at the same time, quite mysterious." He had a script written for him by seasoned British screenwriter Steven Knight, and Stewart received it. When he finally phoned her, she replied, "Dude, I'll do it," in "her flawless American accent."