Kristen Stewart says that she fought to keep Diana Spencer alive “every single day” while portraying the late princess on the set of the upcoming film, “Spencer.”
“She felt so alive to me when I was making this movie, even if it’s all between the ears and it was a fantasy of mine,” the actress said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “But there were moments where my body and mind would forget she was dead. And suddenly, I would just have an image of what happened […] I just could not come to terms with it, because I was fighting to keep her alive every single day.”
The film, which is scheduled for release November 5, follows the late Spencer over the course of a Christmas holiday weekend as she contemplates leaving her marriage, and royal life, behind.
Although Stewart says we can’t know for certain what, exactly, the Spencer was thinking in the days leading up to her fateful decision to leave her marriage, “I don’t think she was ever able to come to terms with the rejection,” she adds. “She just couldn’t stomach the lie anymore. And that is a feeling that is really easy to relate to. That would make me angry. I think it would make anyone angry. How can you not empathize with that?”
When Stewart’s role in the film was announced last year, director Pablo Larrain said at the time that his decision was based in part on traits he believed the two women shared, referring to Stewart as “a force of nature.” And while Stewart qualifies in the recent interview that her level of fame has not approached that which Spencer endured, she can relate.
“I know what it’s like to feel backed into a corner. I know what it’s like to feel defiance, and then kind of regretful of that, because then suddenly you are being defined as rebellious,” she said. “It’s a convoluted idea, but I definitely understand what it feels like to want human connection and actually, ironically, feel distanced by the amount that’s thrust at you.”
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