Naomi Watts to Play Princess Diana Role in ‘Caught In Flight’ [PHOTOS]

British-Australian actress Naomi Watts will play the lead role in a movie which will focus on the last two years of Princess Diana, producers announced Thursday.

The biopic of the late princess, titled Caught In Flight, focuses on a period when Diana had a relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

The couple had a secret romantic affair that began in 1995 and ended in June 1997, few months before her death in a Paris car crash.

Watts, 43, is rumored to have beaten up U.S. actress Jessica Chastain for the lead role. The Oscar-nominated actress said, It was such an honor to be able to play this iconic role - Princess Diana was loved across the world, and I look forward to rising to the challenge of playing her on screen.

The movie will be directed by Oscar-nominated German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who is best known for his film Downfall.

In 2004, Hirschbiegel directed the final days of Hitler in his epic film Downfall. He described Watts as a truly exceptional actress who embodies the warmth, humanity and empathy of such a global icon.

I am delighted to have such a truly exceptional actress who embodies the warmth, humanity and empathy of such a global icon as Princess Diana, he said.

Ecosse Films, the producers of biopic, said that the shooting for the film would begin in the UK later this year.

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

However, the filmmakers have not yet confirmed whether the biopic will also focus on Diana's relationship with Dodi Fayed, the son of Egyptian business man Mohamed Al-Fayed who was her boyfriend and died with her in the car crash.