More bad news for the new Princess Diana movie, as a French poster promoting the upcoming "Diana" was pulled because of its proximity to where the Princess of Wales was killed in a car accident. The "Diana" poster was placed just outside the Alma-Marceau, across from The Flame of Liberty statue, a 1987 installation that mourners turned into a memorial for Princess Diana after her 1997 death.
"I really don't have any words to describe how I feel about this cynical and shameless attempt to publicize a film that should never have been made," Rosa Monckton, who the Daily Mail called one of Diana's trusted confidants, told the publication; "To have made a film so speculative and as this is disgusting enough, but to then advertise it on the spot at which she died is despicable."
French distributor Le Pacte removed the poster on Monday night, a spokesperson for the company told The Hollywood Reporter.
This is just the latest stumble for "Diana," which was savaged by the British press after its premiere in September.
"Poor Princess Diana. I hesitate to use the term 'car crash cinema.' But the awful truth is that, 16 years after that terrible day in 1997, she has died another awful death," wrote Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw. "This is due to an excruciatingly well-intentioned, reverential and sentimental biopic about her troubled final years, laced with bizarre cardboard dialogue -– a tabloid fantasy of how famous and important people speak in private."
"Diana" focuses on the princess' relationship with Hasnat Khan, a heart surgeon with whom Diana carried on an affair shortly before her death.
"I just felt like she was a fascinating woman," Watts said to Peter Travers last year about taking the role. "It's delicate because her boys are still around, obviously. Very much so. But, like I said, it was going to be told. Maybe it was more recent than people [expected]."
"Diana" is set for U.S. release on Nov. 1. Head to THR for more on the poster controversy.
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