A Princess Diana movie has been germinating for a few years now, but it's taken a giant step towards fruition with news that Naomi Watts has signed on to play the people's princess in Oliver Hirschbiegel's Caught In Flight.
If you've been following the project, you'll know that Jessica Chastain had been heavily linked with Ecosse Films' dramatisation of the last two years of Diana's wife. Chastain is very much the actress of the moment, with an Oscar nomination to her name, but scheduling conflicts prevented her involvement.
Watts, meanwhile, is eight years older than Diana was during the period being depicted, but offers a more-than-decent physical resemblance to the Princess of Wales and boasts serious acting chops. It's undoubtedly a plum role in a film that will hoover up attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The Daily Express is already clearing its next 400 covers.
Downfall's Hirschbiegel is currently prepping with a UK shoot getting underway later this year. If his first English-language effort, The Invasion, was a little messy, that Reich drama was ample demonstration of his talents. The Libertine writer Stephen Jeffreys is on screenplay duties.