05/07/2012 - Litigious Princess Diana film withdrawn in perpetuity. Naomi Watts plays the lead role in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film

Keith Allen’s Unlawful Killing, a documentary on the allegedly conspiratorial killing of Lady Diana and Dodi Fayed, has been withdrawn for circulation forever. The £2.5 million budgeted film funded by Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed played to gobsmacked audiences in the Cannes and Galway film festivals in 2011.

The film would have required a minimum of 87 allegations to be cut before a British release. The producers had secured an agreement with a US distributor, but they needed a special insurance to protect their European offices that could not be obtained.

A spokesperson for the film said in a statement: “Unlawful Killing had been sold all around the world, including the US but there was a specific form of insurance needed by the US distributors to cover them for their UK and French offices. This proved impossible to secure. As a result of this the film has been withdrawn in perpetuity.”

However, that’s not the last that the film world has to do with Lady Diana. Naomi Watts (photo) has commenced filming for the title role in Diana, previously titled Caught In Flight, being directed by German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile]). The film explores Princess Diana’s relationship with heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan, who is being played by British actor Naveen Andrews (The English Patient).

Stephen Jeffreys (The Libertine) has written the script and the film is being produced by the UK’s Ecosse Films. Diana is due in 2013. Cinéart will distribute in the Netherlands and Ascot Elite Entertainment Group in Switzerland.