Eight years after playing a gritty fairy tale princess in Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart is ascending to for-real royalty in the new drama, Spencer. Directed by Pablo Larraín, the film depicts the bitter end of the seemingly storybook romance between Prince Charles and Princess Diana, to be played by Stewart.This isn’t the first time that Larraín has made a bold biopic casting choice. In 2016, he directed Natalie Portman to an Oscar nomination as Jackie Kennedy in Jackie. “I couldn’t imagine the movie without her,” he told Yahoo Entertainment at the time. “Natalie resembles the real person. But I’m not that into the way they look. I look for someone who can create the illusion of that person. I’m not a journalist or a historian.”

Speaking with Deadline, the director said that Stewart — who he describes as “one of the great actors around today” — was a natural choice to play Diana Spencer. “Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile and ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need,” he explained, adding that the film won’t depict Diana’s death in 1997. “The combination of those elements made me think of her. I think she’s going to do something stunning and intriguing at the same time. She is this force of nature.”

Kristen Stewart has made her debut as Princess Diana.

Principal photography has begun on Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” with production unveiling the first glimpse of Stewart as the young royal.

Written by “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight, the film focuses on one weekend in the life of Princess Diana, as she spends the Christmas holiday with the Royal Family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, and decides to leave her marriage to Prince Charles.

Filming will take place in Germany and the U.K. and a fall 2021 launch is anticipated. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death.

The cast also includes BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall (“Mr. Turner”), Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”) and Sean Harris (“Mission: Impossible”).

The film is produced by Juan de Dios Larraín (“Jackie”) for Fabula Films, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski (“Toni Erdmann”) for Komplizen Film and BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Paul Webster (“Anna Karenina”) for Shoebox Films.

“‘Spencer is a dive inside an emotional imagining of who Diana was at a pivotal turning point in her life,” said Stewart. “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.”

“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,” said producers Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Juan de Dios Larraín, Paul Webster and Pablo Larraín.

Executive producers are Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman and Christina Zisa for Neon and Michael Bloom, Maria Zuckerman and Ryan Heller for Topic Studios.

FilmNation Entertainment handled international sales with all key territories selling out of the Cannes virtual market. The CAA Media Finance group sold to Neon and Topic Studios to distribute in the U.S., STXinternational will distribute the film in the U.K., France, Italy and Benelux and DCM will distribute in Germany.

Other territories sold include: Australia/NZ (Roadshow), Latin America, Spain and Portugal (Sun), South Korea (Green Narae), Japan (Tohokushina), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Canada (Elevation), CIS/Baltics (Central Partnership), Eastern Europe (Forum), Middle East (Italia), Singapore (Shaw), Greece/Cyprus (Spentzos), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), India/Pakistan (Impact Films India), Israel (Lev), Turkey (FilmArti), South Africa (Empire), Taiwan (Moviecloud) and Thailand (M Pictures).

“Working on the script has been a pleasure. I think it’s a different perspective on a story that we don’t all know well, but we all feel we now are a part of it,” Knight told Variety in an exclusive interview last week. “And I just found the whole thing fascinating. To talk to people who knew her and to try and get a view of this person — who this person really was — who was an ordinary person in extraordinary situations, is the way I think of her.”

Knight said he hadn’t watched hit Netflix series “The Crown” because he didn’t want his perspective to be influenced by the show. Season 4 of “The Crown,” which began streaming in 2020, primarily focuses on the relationship between Lady Diana (played by Emma Corrin) and Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor). The season has been in the spotlight as the relatives of real individuals depicted in the drama have been speaking up about their portrayals.

U.K. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Lady Diana’s brother Charles Spencer later demanded that “The Crown” carry a disclaimer that it is a fiction show, but Netflix declined.

Spencer is supported by the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Federal Film Board (FFA), Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and HessenFilm und Medien.

Spencer — the Venice and TIFF title that will see Kristen Stewart play Princess Diana — has gotten an awards-season release date. Neon and Topic Studios has scheduled the feature for Nov. 5.

Pablo Larraín is behind the feature that takes place over three days in one of her last Christmas holidays as a member of the House of Windsor at their Sandringham estate. The description for the movie reads: “Spencer is an imaging of what might have happened during those few fateful days.” (The weekend was also featured in the latest season of Netflix’s The Crown, with Diana played by Emma Corrin alongside Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles.)

Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins, and Sean Harris also star in the film that will premiere in competition at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.

Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Locked Down) penned the screenplay. The Jackie filmmaker produced Spencer along with Fabula partner Juan de Dios Larraín, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski for Komplizen Film, and Paul Webster for Shoebox Films.