Kristen Stewart says she feels 'protective' of Princess Diana as she prepares to shoot biopic

Watch: Twitter responds to Kristen Stewart casting as Diana

Kristen Stewart has confessed she feels “protective” of Princess Diana ahead of playing the beloved royal in new biopic Spencer.

In June, it was announced that Stewart will play the ex-wife of Prince Charles in a movie from Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, depicting the end of their relationship.

Stewart told Jimmy Kimmel this week that, although she didn’t grow up with Diana as a prominent figure in her life, she still has an affinity for the woman known as the ‘People’s Princess’.

Read more: Emma Corrin on playing Diana in The Crown

“I was really young when she passed away,” said the 30-year-old star.

She added: “I remember the flowers. I remember being like: 'What are all of those? I've never seen so many in one place.'

“I was really young and didn't really know what was going on, but now it's hard not to feel protective of her. She was so young. She comes out to here.

“Everyone's perspective is different and there's no way to get anything right because what is fact in relation to personal experience?”

Read more: How Kristen Stewart turned her career around

Stewart said that Larraín’s movie is set over three days and will be a “poetic internal imagining” of Diana’s feelings, rather than the more traditional approach of Emma Corrin’s portrayal in The Crown or Naomi Watts in the disastrous 2013 film Diana.

Larraín has form for this sort of take on a beloved figure, having directed Natalie Portman’s Oscar-nominated performance as Jackie Kennedy in the 2016 film Jackie.

Stewart has experience in the biopic world too, playing rocker Joan Jett in 2010 film The Runaways and French New Wave actor Jean Seberg in this year’s Seberg.

Stewart is currently promoting her lead role in the festive romcom Happiest Season, in which she stars as Abby — girlfriend of Mackenzie Davis’s Harper.

Harper invites Abby to meet her family over Christmas, but then drops the bombshell that she hasn’t told them she’s gay.

Read more: Best Christmas films of the 21st century

The movie’s ensemble cast also includes Alison Brie, Mary Steenburgen, Aubrey Plaza and Schitt’s Creek creator Dan Levy.

Happiest Season is available on digital platforms in the UK now and in the USA via Hulu.

Watch: Trailer for Christmas romcom Happiest Season