We learn today that Naomi Watts has signed on to the upcoming film Caught in Flight, about Princess Diana’s last years, from German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, best known for the last-days-of-Hitler flick Downfall. (That’s the source of all those Hitler-is-angry viral videos.)
Is Naomi Watts the right choice to play Princess Diana?
Apparently Jessica Chastain was rumored to have been attached to the project for a long time; at 31, she’s slightly closer in age to the years in Diana’s life the film will cover than Watts, who is 43. Is it better in general if an actor is slightly older or slightly younger than the subject? Does the nationality of an actor matter? Chastain is American; Watts is Australian but was born in the U.K. and lived in England until she was a teenager, and so she would certainly remember the public excitement surrounding Diana’s wedding to Prince Charles in 1981; Chastain was only a baby then. Is any of that important?
If you don’t care for Watts in the role, whom would you cast?
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTD sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)
