Naomi Watts to Play Princess Diana in Big Screen Biopic

Naomi Watts will play Princess Diana in a film about the last year's of her life before she died in a Paris car crash in August 1997, The Associated Press reports.

The high-budget movie, Caught in Flight, will focus on the last two years of Diana's life before the accident that killed her and boyfriend, Hasnat Khan. The movie will be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, best known for Downfall, a film about Hitler's last days. The screenplay is by Stephen Jeffreys, who is known for The Libertine.

The filmmakers said the movie charts how finding true personal happiness for the first time allowed Diana to find her role as a major international campaigner and humanitarian.

It is such an honor to be able to play this iconic role, British-born Watts said in a statement. Princess Diana was loved across the world and I look forward to rising to the challenge of playing her on screen.

Filming will begin later this year.