Finally eOne has stepped up and set a limited, November 1 release date for Diana, their Princess Di movie starring Naomi Watts in the title role, perhaps to take advantage of the small controversy that started around the film just last week.
The film, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), professes to take audiences into the private realm of the Princess of Wales, Diana (Watts) during the last two years of her life. The primary topic is her secret love affair with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews) and the real Khan doesn’t seem too impressed with what he sees.
According to The Telegraph, Khan insists the film does not tell the whole story saying award-winning playwright Stephen Jeffreys‘ screenplay is “completely wrong”.
He addds, “It is based on gossip and Diana’s friends talking about a relationship that they didn’t know much about, and some of my relatives who didn’t know much about it either. It is all based on hypotheses and gossip… There wasn’t any hierarchy in our relationship. She wasn’t a Princess and I wasn’t a doctor. We were friends, and normal people stand like friends with each other.”
Of course, Khan also admits he refused to cooperate with Hirschbiegel or Kate Snell, who wrote the book on which the Jeffreys’ screenplay is based, perhaps he did so just so he could say how wrong they got the movie. Sly my friend, very sly, but we’re onto your trickery.
The film will have a gala screening at the Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 26-Oct. 6) prior to its release. Watch the latest trailer directly below.
