Diana was ‘wagonload of monkeys’ says filmmaker

IT IS more than 14 years since the death of Princess Diana even the Daily Express has moved on, but the 'People's Princess' could be about to reclaim her place in the hearts of the nation as plans for a $50m biopic chronicling her 1996 divorce from Prince Charles apparently approach fruition.

According to industry website Screen Daily, film producer Stephen Evans is pressing ahead with the project and has been working with figures well known to Diana watchers. Among the team helping with the film are Ken Wharfe, Diana's former bodyguard, who wrote a book about his time guarding the princess, and Patrick Jephson, her former secretary.

They appear to have given Evans quite an insight into Diana's world. "What is quite clear is that her life was an amazing life," he told the website. "She was a wagonload of monkeys but she was also an amazing, fascinating, ballsy woman."

The man tasked with producing a script that illustrates the different aspects of Diana's personality is Philip Kerr, and Evans says that he hopes to confirm a producer and begin the search for a lead actress to play the princess soon.

Evans has something of a pedigree when it comes to films about the monarchy - he was a producer on both Kenneth Branagh's Henry V and The Madness Of King George. And he is confident of success this time round as well, describing the new venture as "bomb proof" and calling Diana the "grandest marquee name of the 20th century".

Certainly the last major film to touch on the life (and death) of Diana, 2006's The Queen, was a major success. However, Evans has been working on his latest project for two years now, and there has been no news of another Diana-themed blockbuster, reportedly planned by Pathe and starring Keira Knightly, for almost a year. ·