Jessica Chastain to play Princess Diana
Jessica Chastain to play Princess Diana - American actress Jessica Chastain has been tapped to play Princess Diana in a movie about the Princess of Wales' alleged two-year secret romance with a Pakistani heart surgeon. Billed as a "love story between a princess locked in a tower and an ordinary man," the film "Caught in Flight" will serve a slice of Princess Diana's life that is largely unknown.
According to reports, Diana met surgeon Hasnat Khan in 1995 at Royal Brompton Hospital while visiting a friend. The two were together for two years, reports say, and things got so serious that Diana met his parents on a visit to Pakistan. Some reports claimed she even flirted with the idea of converting to Islam for him. Allegedly, Diana nicknamed Khan "Mr. Wonderful."
Khan has remained silent about his relationship with the princess.
In an interview with The Telegraph in 2008, he said, "Generally, I do not talk about people -- family or friends. This is how I am ... If I had said some things about her before 1997, she could have responded to them but, since she is not here, it would be very unfair to make a comment about her."
Friends of Princess Diana's, however, have discussed the relationship.
"She was very much in love with him," said Rosa Monckton, who vacationed with Diana weeks before her death in a paparazzi car chase in 1997. "She hoped that they would be able to have a future together. She wanted to marry him."
Monckton added that Princess Diana was "deeply upset and hurt" by her breakup with Khan just months before her death, and was still talking about him while dating Dodi Fayed, who was killed in the car crash alongside her.
"Caught in Flight" will portray this version of the relationship, showing Princess Diana as crushed by Khan's decision to leave England. According to IndieWire, "She is shown as a damaged person who stalks the doctor after he ends the affair."
Chastain is certainly an unexpected choice to play Diana. She was largely an unknown before this summer, doing bit parts in "ER" and "Veronica Mars." In May, Chastain burst onto the scene opposite Brad Pitt in Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" at the Cannes Film Festival. Shortly after, she appeared in "The Help," one of the summer's biggest hits. Next, she had a starring role in "The Debt," playing a young version of Helen Mirren in the tale of three Mossad agents who cover up an uncompleted mission.
"Caught in Flight" will be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and will go into pre-production in March. The movie will film in Pakistan, Angola and France.
via: nypost
