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Kristen Stewart stuns as Princess Diana in Spencer trailer

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Updated on June 17, 2023

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Kristen Stewart wowed CinemaCon – and the internet – with the first footage of her performance as Princess Diana in “Spencer” in which she faces off against an icy Prince Charles.

Filming has commenced in preparation of an autumn release through Topic Studios and Neon, the latter of which is home to the Best Picture winner for 2020, Parasite. Princess Diana enjoyed a Christmas break with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, and Spencer recounts that weekend in her life. It is there that she chooses to divorce Prince Charles.

In 2020, Stewart said about Diana, “It’s hard not to feel protective over her. She was so young … everyone’s perspective is different, and there’s no way to get everything right … what is fact in relation to personal experience.”

The trailer, which is set to the tune of a cover of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, shows cars arriving and clothes being laid out while food is unpacked and prepared before the royal family sits down for a dinner.

“Spencer is a dive inside an emotional imagining of who Diana was at a pivotal turning point in her life,” Stewart said in a statement. “It is a physical assertion of the sum of her parts, which starts with her given name; Spencer. It is a harrowing effort for her to return to herself, as Diana strives to hold onto what the name Spencer means to her.”

Before releasing the official teaser trailer on Thursday, NEON films unveiled the first look of the Pablo Larran-directed picture to the national convention of theater owners on Wednesday. The studio also unveiled the first poster for “Spencer” (coming out Nov. 5), which depicts Diana in a lavish gown and in tears.

Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, and Charles (Poldark villain Jack Farthing) all feature in the film.

The producers, that include Larran, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Juan de Dios Larran, and Paul Webster, issued a joint statement that reads, “We are extremely grateful for the support of our distributors worldwide, our partners and funders who have shown tremendous commitment to us in these extraordinary times. With Kristen Stewart, Steven Knight and the rest of our fantastic team both in front and behind the camera we are bringing Spencer to the world. It is an independently produced film made for the big screen about an iconic woman’s own declaration of independence. We couldn’t be more excited!”

Stewart was always thought to be in the running for an Oscar for best actress for the film, but now that the first footage has been released, expectations have skyrocketed as “Spencer” joins the renowned festival circuit.

The trailer shows Diana locked in a toilet, where she is told, “Ma’am, they are waiting for you.”

Later in the yard, we find Princess Diana and a friend having a conversation.

“They know everything,” the friend says. “They don’t,” replies the princess.

The movie will be shot in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Larran, whose credits include Neruda and, most recently, episodes of the Apple TV+ horror series Lisey’s Story, told Vulture that he is concerned that the film may catch audiences off guard.

“I think some people could misunderstand it,” he said. “Before they go to see a movie like Spencer, they might say, ‘We’re going to really understand who this person was.’ No! Wrong number! Wrong movie! We don’t do that! We’re just trying to work with whatever that person was and create a fable out of it. That’s what I’m looking for. We’ll see if it works.”

The clip also shows Poldark’s Jack Farthing as Charles for the first time.