Kristen Stewart to play Princess Diana in new movie, 'Spencer'

Kristen Stewart will play Diana Spencer, better known as Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, in an upcoming drama.

Deadline reported Wednesday that the period piece, called "Spencer," will have Stewart playing Princess Diana over a crucial Christmas holiday during which she plotted her divorce from Prince Charles, and began charting a life away from the British royal family.

Pablo Larraín, who called the shots on Natalie Portman's Oscar-nominated Kennedy biopic "Jackie," will direct "Spencer."

"Kristen is one of the great actors around today," Larraín told the trade publication. "To do this well, you need something very important in film, which is mystery. Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile an ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need. The combination of those elements made me think of her."

"The way she responded to the script and how she is approaching the character, it's very beautiful to see," he added. "I think she's going to do something stunning and intriguing at the same time. She is this force of nature."

Princess Diana died in 1997 after being injured in a car crash in Paris that was caused in part by a high-speed pursuit from paparazzi.

Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were also killed. Paul was later found to have been driving drunk. A bodyguard survived the crash.