Pablo Larrain’s Spencer has cast Poldark star Jack Farthing as Prince Charles, as the shoot moves to the UK for the final stretch of filming.
The film, which stars Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, has been shooting in Germany since January 28 at the Schloss Marquardt in Potsdam, a castle which is doubling as Sandringham Estate. But the production has now moved to the UK for the remainder of filming and is shooting on location in Norfolk.
Farthing is a London-born actor who played George Warleggan in all five seasons of UK period drama Poldark. He is also known for roles in The Riot Club and Gavin Hood’s Official Secrets, and will be seen in upcoming Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed drama The Lost Daughter, starring The Crown’s Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson.
Bafta-nominee Timothy Spall, Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins and Sean Harris are also in the cast and are understood to be playing fictional characters.
An autumn 2021 launch for the film is anticipated, ahead of the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2022.
A new image of Stewart as Diana has also been released (see above).
Spencer will take place over three days at the UK’s Sandringham estate during Christmas 1991 as Diana comes to realise her marriage into the Royal Family has failed and she needs to change her life. The Prince and Princess of Wales separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996. She died in a traffic accident in Paris in 1997.
Spencer was introduced at the Cannes virtual market last June and US rights were snapped up by Neon, distributor of Oscar-winner Parasite, and Topic Studios in a deal with CAA Media Finance and Endeavor Content worth a reported $4m. STXinternational will distribute the film in the UK, France, Italy and Benelux and DCM will distribute in Germany.
FilmNation Entertainment handles international sales and sold out all key territories out of Cannes. 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).
Larraín previously directed Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in Venice 2016 premiere Jackie and more recently directed Chilean drama Ema. The screenplay has been written by Steven Knight, whose credits include Eastern Promises, Peaky Blinders and Locke.
Larraín’s creative team includes director of photography Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran (Little Women, Anna Karenina), make-up and hair designer Wakana Yoshihara (Murder On The Orient Express) and production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas (Inception). Composing the original score is Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood (Phantom Thread).
Larraín will produce Spencer with his brother and Fabula partner Juan de Dios Larraín, along with Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski for Komplizen Film, and Paul Webster for Shoebox Films.
Executive producers are Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman and Christina Zisa for Neon and Michael Bloom, Maria Zuckerman and Ryan Heller for Topic Studios.
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.
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