Excited to see Naomi Watts play the late Princess Diana? Us Weekly has an exclusive clip from Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Diana, which opens in theaters Nov. 1. The biopic — a love story centered on the late Princess of Wales’ relationship with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan (played by Lost‘s Naveen Andrews) and Dodi Fayed — follows the turbulent, final two years of Diana’s life leading up to her death in Paris in 1997.
The exclusive clip recreates Diana’s then-shocking, internationally televised November 1995 interview with Martin Bashir, in which an emotional, teary-eyed Diana dropped one bombshell after another on-camera: That then-husband Prince Charles was having an affair (with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now his wife), that the Palace found her to be a disobedient “non-starter” and more.
Watts has made it clear that she has invested a considerable amount of time and energy into fulfilling the role of the beloved Lady Di. “I had saturated myself with Diana and her life and I felt this enormous responsibility of playing this iconic woman,” the actress, 44, told Hello! in August.
Despite her ambitious take at playing the people’s princess, even Khan himself was unimpressed by the movie. The 54-year-old cardiologist told The Sun earlier this month that the biopic is a “betrayal” of their romance. “It’s devastating, but when when you make a film like this you don’t think about the reactions,” he said.
For two-time Oscar nominee Watts, the most difficult scene to prepare for was Princess Diana’s provocative, controversial and incredibly candid interview with BBC’s Panorama that aired in 1995. The royal’s legendary sit-down interview, which was touted by the network on Prince Charles‘ 47th birthday and later aired on Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding anniversary, left the royal family reeling. Diana’s defiant responses (among them: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”) were so shocking that the Queen subsequently requested Charles and his estranged wife speed up their divorce — the split was made official on Aug. 28, 1996.
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