Kirsten Dunst Breaks Down Her Career, from 'Jumanji' to 'Spider-Man' | Vanity Fair

Spider-Man was kind of being treated as an indie almost at first with the creatives it was Sam Raimi and Toby Maguire so I thought wow this is cool they're gonna try and make something you know really interesting meaningful and I know it would be life-changing hi I'm Kirsten Dunst and this is a timeline of my career don't make me do this I cannot do it to me snatch me from my mother's hands like two monsters in a fairy tale having tears enough for what you've done to me you'll give her to me Louie I was uh three years old in the grocery store and like people would come up to my mom and be like your kid's cute you should put her in like child acting or modeling and we were in New Jersey and so I signed with the Ford modeling agency as a little girl I went out for a kick cereal commercial and I booked it and then interviewed the vampire came around and that's you know was my big break [Music] I guess I must have had something equality that probably caught up to itself eventually but you know as a young girl I probably maybe had a look in my eyes that you know a more old soul quality than most young girls maybe that will never happen to you I had to kind of give a look of like longing it will never grow old and you will never die I remember working with my acting coach a lot he kind of would make things more relatable for me he was like you know when you steal your brother's toy and you know where it is and he's asking asking for it he's like that's the look you know like for this the only time I remember complaining to Neil Jordan was I had to bite This Woman's neck and she was sweating like so wedding and I was like I was like Neil so that was you know the worst thing I did and also having obviously to kiss Brad Pitt at that point I was a little girl and he was like a brother to me and it was very weird even though it was a pack I just was very not into it other than that I was treated like a total princess on that set so and it means something else too doesn't it she'll never ever grow up limes are limes the fashion now of course they are it's nothing but limes now everyone keeps them in their desks and trades them for beads and things and all the girls treat each other at recess if you don't bring limes to school you're nothing you might as well be dead I had just come from Interview with a Vampire which was a very male set and then to go from that to Little Women was such a fun difference for me I was with all these older actresses that were so cool and like I looked up to Claire Danes and Winona Ryder and Jillian Armstrong was directing so it was it couldn't be more polar opposite to the interview the vampire it was great for a young girl like I just had the best time working with with all of those women now I want you to do all the pages that I've marked I won't have a sister who's a lazy ignoramus you don't sulk you look like a pigeon I also remembered auditioning for Jillian Armstrong four little women and I think I had to audition for Beth and Amy I think I still had like a little interview of the vampire Claudia in me because she was like um her read was like a little like maybe like dark or something I probably saw it interviewed the vampire Mojo March [Music] somebody roll a five or an eight he did [Music] being on the set of Jumanji watching Robin Williams was so exciting for me you know when you're a kid you don't appreciate things as much as when you look back as an adult it was really special to be on that set um with him just wet I just remember being these water tanks for weeks with like a wetsuit underneath and our all our clothes on my mom would send me sandwiches on a raft it was a little bit scary too I remember standing on the steps and they'd be like three two one and there's like a gush of water that comes down these stairs and we kind of float back and it was kind of terrifying all right I was 16 it was the first time I was kind of seen in a more womanly light working with Sophia she always made me feel very beautiful for exactly all of my quirks and who exactly who I was just being 16 it's just a hard time and to have an a woman who I thought was so cool to look up to think that I'm pretty like kind of set me up for the rest of you know dealing with Hollywood and dealing with like producers directors or critiques of myself I was like well Sophia thinks I'm pretty so I'm good you know what I mean like I kind of had that like whatever like I never felt like I had to look too sexy or do anything other than what was authentic to me this was around the time we began to see locks Making Love on the roof with random boys and men stop where you turn what are they doing it's changing obviously they're rolling around up there it was written in a script that I like have to make out with a bunch of different boys on the roof it freaked me out I hadn't I was a very innocent 16 year old and finally was like I'm kind of nervous so she was like you don't need to kiss any of them just like bury your head in their neck and like we'll put you know a jacket or just like he'll put his arm around you here and stuff so she always made it you know comfortable for me in the atmosphere she created on set it always felt very authentic um which helped lend itself to the realness of of the way we were all feeling during the actual scenes [Music] making Bring it on I was making it at an age range of my peers who would watch this movie it's probably like 7 16 17. it's age-appropriate and I feel like there was some movies that I did that weren't like things that I did that adults only watched and this was like something for people my age gee now I'm confused well I hope you're not too busy to hear this kiss my ass Erin it's over what convinced me to do bring it on was talking to Peyton Reed the director he's so smart he had done done a bunch of Mr shows and I just knew that he was gonna take this script and like elevate it in a really fun way and to be honest like none of us knew that this is gonna be a huge hit we were like having a fun summer in San Diego that way we beat you well no it's because we're better I'll bring it don't worry [Music] you have a knack for getting in trouble you heal up an egg for saving my life honestly I never think about it while I'm making it but I just knew that I just felt like it was special the cast that was coming together always it was like Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina and like we always had amazing actors you are amazing Sam always wanted the quality of the heart and soul that was always the most important and the way he talked about Spider-Man and movies he just got you excited like I remember when we did do the upside down kiss he had given me a book um of like famous kisses like Sam was so romantic about this movie and so making it with him didn't feel like a huge movie it felt like we were making a tiny movie on a bigger scale Mary Jane you kind of like kind of know what she is when she runs out of her house like a fight going on in her house and she sees Peter there and you're like oh Mary Jane has this whole really hard childhood that like you just got a glimpse of she's kind of represents every girl next door kind of everyone has problems she represents first love things hello my dear damn Remy wanted me to like try out a stunt so he took me to the top of a Sony studio which is very very very high and they just free felt like I bungee jumped basically I was like you should have shot that because I'm never doing that again I was like that's never happening I was terrified foreign [Music] just gave me Antonio Frazier's novel and she's like I want you to play Miranda and I was like oh God it's like a 500 page doll I was like I was like cool I think so I was very nervous I was like do I need to get like accent coaches and all this stuff she's like no no we're gonna do it a different kind of approach to a period film we shot a Versailles every Monday which was pretty unreal I got to see her like private bathroom I think just crazy you know to have to dance with Jason Schwartzman in the Hall of Mirrors we had a really good time but I definitely always felt like uh overwhelmed because it's an intimidating person to to play even though I feel like at the end of the day I almost played like an essence of her into Sophia's interpretation it almost felt like yeah I was playing like her perfume not necessarily her it was Sophia's version which I think is so cool and people really appreciate now and it's nice to see her influences now being made into other movies and shows and things like that all right [Music] I'm very director driven so like if Laura's von Trier calls you to well sometimes you gotta be careful about that actually never mind a bad example you definitely got to read that one first it's mostly about the director and not necessarily about the role for me but Paul Thomas Anderson suggested me for Melancholia to Laura so yeah that was a no-brainer I had such a good time it's interesting having such a good time when you're playing someone so depressed but I felt like it was you don't really get to see depression is kind of hard to be portrayed on screen and Lars did such a beautiful job of portraying like how hard it is to take a shower when you're depressed or how hard it is to eat something or you know and he turned it into like a really beautiful intense movie that I feel like will be one of the more special things I I'll have done [Music] I ran over him hit and run and and then you stab him with a gardening tool the cops do you think they're gonna believe us I don't know but but people are gonna look for him but but look I I was careful I I drove the back way all the way home he drove the a man's dead this was the first TV I'd done in a long time and now TV is amazing I think they gave me like two or three episodes to read and I just knew like oh wow this woman is gonna go through some crazy things do you think uh I I know there's a lot of questions but I just I gotta um I got this seminar tomorrow Life Spring and uh I gotta drive up to Sioux Falls first thing so um I work really intensely with someone um on all my roles and we do a lot of dream work so whatever my unconscious kind of gives me I incorporate into the role that I'm playing actually my dream gave me something funny for Peggy that um I remember in my dream there was a tape and it said Scooby-Doo on it and I was talking to my acting lady and she's like well what do you think about when you just think about Scooby-Doo I was like well they all like Scurry around kind of funny right they're always like like they have a funny run or like a funny walk and and she's like there you go so like Peggy had this like funny little walk I I got five dead since Saturday including the one tonight and the burned down butcher shop and your husband is currently in jail so I wouldn't count on getting there early there was definitely something written about Peggy avoiding and like cleaning up and doing kitchen things instead because obviously she's guilty so in her peggy-esque way she just was busying herself I like that combo of you know dark comedy and and Ted's such a great actor to work with and so sweet he should run for president really these are modern times you know and a woman well she just doesn't have to be a wife and a mother no more she can be there's nothing she can't be you're a little touched aren't you Jane campion's always been one of my favorite directors I would play any role for her her female leads and their performances have always inspired me as an actress I just like take her in sometimes because I'm getting to you know have this experience with a legend there's something in acting you always chase a feeling of like that you're like flying in a scene there's no cameras and it feels so free and I've definitely felt that with certain actors Like Jesse plemons for instance you are marvelous Rose where you're just like on the same page and it's just like trying things and it feels so alive and I I think that's what we all kind of aspire to feel in scenes that you don't you don't always get it Rose is really not a fun person to play she is just you just have to like go to like all the old pain of like feeling insecure feeling bad about yourself and just like Let It etch away at your brain and allowing that to happen to yourself is just a very painful place to work in and yeah I just have to like dig up some old things and foreign Benedict and I didn't talk to each other on set but to be honest we weren't really in the scenes together we rarely interacted so for me it was just like oh just seeing him across the like Plains of Montana and the distance would get to my brain which is exactly what's amazing about it is like someone can just their presence can affect you you kind of have to manage your career and keep working with like interesting filmmakers or just like working with the people who allow you to express yourself in like the deepest way I'm in a lucky position I've been doing this so long I can wait and pick and choose projects that I really that means something to me

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 3,013,366

Keywords: career timeline, career timeline vanity fair, jumanji, kirsten dunst, kirsten dunst 2021, kirsten dunst bring it on, kirsten dunst career, kirsten dunst career timeline, kirsten dunst interview, kirsten dunst jumanji, kirsten dunst movies, kirsten dunst spider-man, kirsten dunst spiderman, kirsten dunst vanity fair, power of the dog, spider-man, spiderman, the power of the dog, the virgin suicides, vanity fair, vanity fair career, vanity fair career timeline

Id: SOzoNKWrsKU

Length: 15min 55sec (955 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Dassssbooooot]

“On Becoming a God in Central Florida” was great wish they kept it going

[u/DreamcatcherGoneWild]

Melancholia was her best performance (so far)

It now makes sense that PTA recommended her to Von Trier (PTA and Dunst should team up)

I love Kirsten Dunst - she's so talented, beautiful and most importantly authentic. I wish all the best and I hope she'll knock us out again with another great performance! xoxo

[u/LadySynth]

Kirsten is one of my favorite actresses. Personally I consider her best performances to be in the TV shows On Becoming a God in Central Florida and Fargo. For film, probably Melancholia. I also love both comedies she did in 1999, Dick and Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Looking forward to The Power of the Dog.

[u/FistingLube]

She's a constantly great actress, but for me it was Fargo where I realised she's a genuine once in a lifetime superstar.

[u/SirChinkAlot]

i had the BIGGEST crush on Kirsten Dunst as a teen. like from Virgin Suicides, Bring It On, Spider Man… oh my goddess

[u/Brutal1s]

No Kikis delivery service 😭

[u/goboxey]

Interview with a vampire is such a great film. Although I'm not a big fan of Tom cruise's acting, in this movie he really was awesome.

But Stephen Rea and Kirsten Dunst stole the show.

[u/uzidropforfun]

Found out a few months ago that she was married to Jesse Plemons it threw me tf off😭😭

[u/Zhaguar]

I just wanted to hear what she had to say about melancholia, and it was surprisingly light hearted about what was the saddest most panic attack driving fucking movie I have ever witnessed.