"Diana" (2013) - Film about Diana, Princess of Wales and Hasnat Khan


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I don't think anyone can expect a full house for this film. This should've been a Lifetime Movie or a NBC movie or something. I don't think there would be a big audience for a film like this.
 
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Archduchess Zelia said:
To be completely honest, I can't wait to see this film blow completely. Call me a Doris Downer or whatever you like, but I still think it's way too soon to make a film about someone as well-loved and iconic as Diana was and still is. Doesn't help much that the film looks (and always have looked) like a cheap Lifetime movie. I also think that Naomi Watts is a horrific actress but that's just me.
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This film looks bad, but I don't think it's too soon - she passed away over 15 years ago!
 
Osipi said:
It is no surprise to me that this film is going to flop. I really don't think there's that much general interest in Diana and her love affairs anymore let alone how badly the script was written or how bad the actress was. Then again, making a movie these days about Betty Ford's battle with alcoholism would probably garner the same response. The interest in both persons has met its sell by date. (I do know there was a movie made about Betty in 1987)
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You never know.
I imagine the producers took one look at the box office and awards for recent films about the BRF like The Queen and The King's Speech, and thought YES! Diana would be box office gold, and a few of those little gold statues wouldn't hurt either!

(It's like the Holocaust in a way; films about that are considered Oscar bait. Hope that doesn't offend anyone, but it's the truth).
 
I think that this movie was made too soon, at least 30 years should have gone from Diana's death.
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You seem to forget the numerous and cheap TV movies about Diana. A movie about the late princess is ok, at least it must be a good one. And here it's not the case. ...
 
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Nico said:
You seem to forget the numerous and cheap TV movies about Diana. A movie about the late princess is ok, at least it must be a good one. And here it's not the case. ...
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I remember - didn't Catherine Oxenberg play Diana??
 
LadyFinn said:
Naomi Watts chose an awful dress to the premiere in London, her outfit describes the whole lousy movie.
http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/pc/Naomi+Watts+Diana+Premieres+London+5JltSu_IGFWx.jpg
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What an absolutely superb illustration of the calibre of the movie people were set to watch.

LadyFinn said:
At the premiere in Parishttp://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/pc/Naomi+Watts+Diana+Premieres+Paris+jn3UnKiSd9Fx.jpg
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Hells bells! She looks like mutton dressed as lamb!

LadyFinn said:
I think that this movie was made too soon, at least 30 years should have gone from Diana's death.
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As previously noted, there has been more than one telemovie about Diana. This one is just big screen, bad dialogue and a disastrous train wreck. It appears that no amount of time would have saved this Turkey! Shakespeare it is not!!
 
Andolini said:
This film looks bad, but I don't think it's too soon - she passed away over 15 years ago!
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She's like a legend among people, I think most people would think of the late Princess of Wales just by the mention of the name "Diana". Personally, I think another fifteen-twenty years will be an appropriate amount of time for there to come a well-made biopic about her. She's still too big right now.

Nico said:
You seem to forget the numerous and cheap TV movies about Diana. A movie about the late princess is ok, at least it must be a good one. And here it's not the case. ...
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The numerous and cheap TV movies about Diana weren't high-profiled films, that's the difference between those films and this one. There will always be mediocre TV movies/mini-series about close to everything, but they don't get even half of the press and publicity as this film does.
 
Mirabel said:
You never know.
I imagine the producers took one look at the box office and awards for recent films about the BRF like The Queen and The King's Speech, and thought YES! Diana would be box office gold, and a few of those little gold statues wouldn't hurt either!

(It's like the Holocaust in a way; films about that are considered Oscar bait. Hope that doesn't offend anyone, but it's the truth).
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I fully agree with you,there are certainly some topics that are considered "Oscar-material", it usually contains an excentric,edgy,mentally insane main person,extreme tragedy (a horrible war or terrible human rights violations) and it must be either shocking,provocative or difficult to understand for the general audience. I find it sad that Oscars are so predictable, because there are also many other films that are nice & interesting and many actors who play normal,average people very convincingly.

The production team of this lousy film probably thought "even if we make a bad film,there will be millions of Diana-admirers who will storm the cinemas worldwide"...
I would have expected them to try harder to make a good film,they did not even manage to re-create Diana´s iconic hairstyles! Naomi Watts looks nothing like Diana, I am really disappointed even though I did not expect much than another silly try to use Diana´s fame and star appeal to make a few Dollars...
It must be quite sad for the people who personally knew Diana to see her pictured in such an awful movie...
 
I just think it should've been a television event kind of film. Maybe a Lifetime Movie or NBC special but I'm just not sure if there's a big movie theatre audience for a film like this.

Still, the best movie I've seen so far on the late Princess was the 1990's TV series Diana: Her True Story with Serena Scott Thomas and David Threlfall portraying Diana and Charles.
 
I don't think someone like Diana is going to be "not big" in the future - if anything, the legend gets stronger. I wouldn't mind a very well made, well acted film about her. I am older and I still remember staying up to watch her funeral and her sons broke my heart. A well made film might be a nice way of preserving her memory, perhaps one based on her charitable works and not something lurid.
.
 
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There was so much more to her life than just her love life and I think that should be brought to a film. She worked hard as a senior member of the royal family and as Princess of Wales.

I still wait a for a tasteful movie to be made about her and it don't have to be on the big screen. It could be made into a TV movie.
 
Andolini said:
I don't think someone like Diana is going to be "not big" in the future - if anything, the legend gets stronger. I wouldn't mind a very well made, well acted film about her. I am older and I still remember staying up to watch her funeral and her sons broke my heart. A well made film might be a nice way of preserving her memory, perhaps one based on her charitable works and not something lurid.
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Then let me rephrase it: too many people still have a very vivid memory - she's too present still. But yeah, a well-made film, not some tacky try-hard film made for the sake of winning awards and making money.
 
Archduchess Zelia said:
Then let me rephrase it: too many people still have a very vivid memory - she's too present still. But yeah, a well-made film, not some tacky try-hard film made for the sake of winning awards and making money.
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Oh definitely, I agree. Just for fun, who would you like to see in the lead? I have been thinking and cannot come up with anyone.
 
Andolini said:
Oh definitely, I agree. Just for fun, who would you like to see in the lead? I have been thinking and cannot come up with anyone.
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Hmm, that's a difficult one... maybe an unknown but look-alike actress would be best?
for some reason the only 'known' people i can imagine for the part are P.Charlene of Monaco (not gonna happen :lol:) or Joanne Frogatt
 
Lee-Z said:
Hmm, that's a difficult one... maybe an unknown but look-alike actress would be best?
for some reason the only 'known' people i can imagine for the part are P.Charlene of Monaco (not gonna happen :lol:) or Joanne Frogatt
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I remember when Michelle Williams was cast as Marilyn Monroe - people had a fit, said she looked nothing like her, didn't act like MM, etc. Well, her performance blew everyone away. She was excellent, and nominated for an Oscar. Sometimes a person you would never think of casting would be good. Who knows??? Kind of interesting to think about.
 
Andolini said:
I remember when Michelle Williams was cast as Marilyn Monroe - people had a fit, said she looked nothing like her, didn't act like MM, etc. Well, her performance blew everyone away. She was excellent, and nominated for an Oscar. Sometimes a person you would never think of casting would be good. Who knows??? Kind of interesting to think about.
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Oh, got another one:
Katie Holmes (with a blonde wig)
She might just have the right charisma...
 
Lee-Z said:
Hmm, that's a difficult one... maybe an unknown but look-alike actress would be best?
for some reason the only 'known' people i can imagine for the part are P.Charlene of Monaco (not gonna happen :lol:) or Joanne Frogatt
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I don't think you have to look like the person to perform well as them. I don't think Colin Firth looked anything like King George, Helena Bonham Carter like the Queen Mother nor Helen Mirren like the Queen but all were outstanding in those parts.

I think if the film had been any good people wouldn't be so focused on whether or not the actress looked like Diana. That, for me, is the difference between this film and the Queen and King's Speech.
 
I saw The King's Speech it was good but I wasn't wowed. The Queen was amazing and Helen Mirren was brilliant. I'm still reserving judgement for this Diana film; but I'm going into the theater with low expectations. One reviewer said during some scenes the dialogue was weak. And that is something I can't stand. For Naomi's sake I at least hope her portrayal was good or else this could really hurt her career.
 
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You don't have to look exactly like the person you are playing but the costuming and hairstyle needs to be right. Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep in the Queen and the Iron Lady are examples where the crew nailed the looks. The bad wig on Naomi Watts almost puts the film in Lifetime Movie category on its own.
 
I think it should've been a Lifetime Movie in the first place. I haven't seen the film and probably won't see it until it comes out on DVD but I think actress Serena Scott Thomas portrayed Diana the best in the 1990's TV series, 'Diana: Her True Story.'

I also think there's so much more to Diana's life than just her love life. I would like to see a film about Diana finding her feet as the Princess of Wales, becoming a mother and focus on her charity work. I think with a couple of good writers, producers and cast, it could happen.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing this film next month when it opens in my town, and seeing whether it evokes the "spirit of the times" accurately.
 
I, too, plan to watch this film, be it good, bad or indifferent.
 
Dickie Arbiter ‏@RoyalDickie 5h
Done something very silly - been to see the Diana movie. Waste of time, waste of money & a waste of energy - 2 hours of my life, wasted
 
Norwegian royal expert Kjell Arne Totland about the film:
"Diana had deserved better than this ..."
"Although I think the presentation of this romance in the film has elements of melodrama and soap opera - with a little dash of Bollywood . I think many of the scenes between the two main characters seem both rigid and unnatural - and the dialogue artificial."
"The filmmakers have really made ​​an effort to make Naomi Watts looked like Diana as possible - both gestures and looks. But it remains artificially - for Naomi Watts lacks completely the warmth and glow Diana herself had ."
Diana hadde fortjent bedre enn dette… Kongebloggen - Kjell Arne Totland
Translation
 
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