Naomi Watts to star as Princess Diana in biopic - What do you think? (Poll)

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02/09/2012 by Kristina Lopez

Naomi Watts has been cast to play Princess Diana in a film about the last years of the royal's life, producers of the production tell the Associated Press.

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Ecosse Films says "Caught in Flight" will focus on the two years before Diana's death in a Paris car crash in August 1997. The film will be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who is known for his film about Hitler's last days, "Downfall." Stephen Jeffreys, who penned "The Libertine" is the screenwriter for the project.

Watts spokesperson had no immediate comment to OnTheRedCarpet.com about the report.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress described her casting as "an honor to be able to play this iconic role. Princess Diana was loved across the world, and I look forward to rising to the challenge of playing her onscreen."

The 43-year-old Australia-raised Watts received an Academy Award nomination for "21 Grams." She is also known for movies like "Mulholland Drive," "King Kong," "The Ring," and "Eastern Promises." Watts was last seen on the big screen playing J. Edgar Hoover's secretary Helen Gandy opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the biopic "J. Edgar."

"The Help" actress and 2012 Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain was previously rumored to star as the royal in the film.

Filming on the Princess Diana biopic is slated to begin later this year.

Diana, mother of the UK's Princes William and Harry and one of the most famous contemporary royal icons, was dating businessman Dodi al-Fayed when the two were killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997 after being chased by celebrity photographers. The princess' televised funeral was watched by more than 2.5 billion people.

Diana has been the subject of films before. Amy Seccombe and Anthony Zaki played Diana and Khan in the 1998 film "The People's Princess - A Tribute."

Toni Collette of "United States of Tara" played the princess in a 1997 movie called "Diana & Me," while Nathalie Brocker portrayed her in the 1997 film "The Murder of Princess Diana," which also starred Jennifer Morrison of the shows "House M.D." and "Once Upon a Time."

The 1992 television movie "Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After" starred Catherine Oxenberg as Diana and "Cheers" and "West Wing" actor Roger Rees as her then-husband and sons' father, Prince Charles.