Jessica Chastain Is Your New Princess Di

Will Leitch
·Editor

Considering how much of an iconic figure she remains to this day -- and considering how young she conveniently was when she died -- it's a little surprising there haven't been more fictional portrayals of Princess Diana. IMDB only lists a handful, almost all of which are in cheesy TV movies and/or "South Park" satires. It's possible this is the case because it's difficult to portray Diana doing anything. That's not meant to be an insult, but much of Diana's life was doing public appearances, showing up at parties, speaking in front of crowds. She never acted, or sang, or took down terrorists. (As far as we know.) Diana can be difficult to dramatize.

At the American Film Market, though, a long-simmering Diana project is finally coming together, and the lead role is to be played by none other than Jessica Chastain, previously known as Official Crush of The Projector. (She is also, it bears noting, another American actress portraying a British icon.) The film is called "Caught in Flight," and will be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who previously helmed "Downfall." (In other words, expect lots of Diana YouTube parodies after the film is released.)

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So what are they dramatizing Diana doing? Makin' out, of course.

The film revolves around a secret affair between the late princess and a heart surgeon, Dr. Hasnat Kahn, who was said to be the love of her life. Described as a "love story between a princess locked in a tower and an ordinary man," the film is set to go into pre-production in March 2012.

The affair is, of course, best described as "alleged" (Diana is said to have met Dr. Khan in 1995 and carried on an affair with him until her death in 1997). This also happens to sound almost exactly like the plot to "My Week With Marilyn," which makes a certain amount of sense. We must ground our icons, and there's no better way to do that than to have them cameo, briefly, in the real world before having to return sadly to their home planet. Megacelebrities, they're sort of like E.T. in that way.

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Jessica Chastain To Star In Princess Di Biopic [Thompson on Hollywood]
Denouement: The Wonder of Discovering Jessica Chastain [The Projector]

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