Naveen Andrews and Naomi Watts star in ‘Diana’.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: Diana, releasing in theaters on November 1, takes audiences into the private realm of one of the world’s most iconic and inescapably public women — the Princess of Wales, Diana – in the last two years of her meteoric life.
On the occasion of the 16th anniversary of her sudden death, acclaimed director Oliver Hirschbiegel (the Oscar®-nominated Downfall) explores Diana’s (played by Naomi Watts) final rite of passage: a secret love affair with Pakistani heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan (played by Naveen Andrews). the human complications of which reveal the Princess’s climactic days in a compelling new light.
Hirschbiegel directs from a screenplay by award-winning playwright Stephen Jeffreys, inspired by the book Diana: Her Last Love by Kate Snell, which was in turn drawn from extensive interviews with close friends and confidantes. The result is a window into the tumultuous, change-filled period from 1995-1997, in the wake of Diana’s shattering divorce from Prince Charles, and at the moment when she stood on the cusp of a different life, evolving into a global humanitarian, a master of maneuvering fame and becoming her own woman.
While Princess Diana is among the most famous people in history, her last great love, Hasnat Khan, is barely known. A deeply private man and an accomplished heart and lung surgeon, Khan was devoted to his medical career and extensive charity work when he met Diana in Brompton Hospital. He has since spoken little to the media, only publicly acknowledging his near-marriage to Diana at Lord Justice Scott Baker’s inquest into her death.
For Andrews, who takes on the role, unveiling their hidden romance was irresistible.
“I’ve been wanting to do very pure love story for a long time. The script reminded me of David Lean’s ‘Brief Encounter’ in that it is a very pure and simple story of two people who come together and find a connection that turns out to be impossible,” he said in an interview.
Andrews also became enamored of the Diana he uncovered in the screenplay.
“To find out that Diana was such a soulful, unusual spirit was something very surprising — to see her as a real human in all her insecurities and flaws, and also all the strengths and special qualities I wouldn’t have been aware of otherwise. Then, when I met (director) Oliver Hirschbiegel, I could see he had a grasp of the more spiritual side of Diana – an awareness that suffuses his vision of the love story and the piece as a whole,” he said.
Andrews, who hails originally from India, has riveted audiences as Sayid Jarrah, the former Iraqi National Guardsman turned leader on the hit television series “Lost” and as the Sikh British soldier Kip in the Academy Award® winning film ‘The English Patient.’
Hirschbiegel notes that Andrews was the first actor he thought about when reading the script.
“I thought back to ‘The English Patient’, because I so admire the love story between Naveen and Juliette Binoche and it touched me really deeply. I thought to myself, ‘I need that guy.’”
Early on it became clear that Andrews also had the intelligence and charisma required to play against Naomi Watt’s Diana.
“Naveen got to the essence of Hasnat entirely, capturing his charm, sensitivity and joie de vivre,” says producer Robert Bernstein.
Though Khan himself resists publicity and was not involved in the production, Andrews was grateful to connect with several people who know or knew the heart surgeon to garner further insight. Through them, he was able to get a deeper feel for the man. The few pieces of footage that existed, particularly an interview from years later, were also very helpful to him.
“There’s something reassuringly old-fashioned about him,” Andrews observes. “You don’t really see that kind of man on screen much anymore; he has a macho strain, but there’s no real neurosis to him. Above all, I learned that Hasnat was utterly dedicated to his vocation as a heart surgeon.”
His dedication to medicine and his feelings for Diana proved to be in opposition to the desire of the media to be a part of Diana’s life. “I think for him, it was a violation the way the press became involved,” Andrews says. “It made everything between them impossible.”
Like Watts, Andrews felt the weight of playing a real person, indeed a man still trying to lead a private life in the world right now.
“With any piece of art, there’s always a worry about depicting living people,” he said. “I did have two concerns. But I have to say that I found what we did very respectful to both of them, as people. And I hope this is the story Diana and Hasnat would have wanted to tell.”
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