The 'Civil War' star opens up about her journey from child actor to Oscar-nominated star and her future in Hollywood.
Kirsten Dunst has come a long way since she made her mark as a child actor with memorable roles in Interview with the Vampire and Jumanji. In a new interview with Marie Claire for the outlet's Makers Issue, the 41-year-old actress reflects on her journey from being one of the few child stars to survive their starlit beginnings largely unscathed to becoming an Oscar nominee, making unexpected career moves and keeping the industry on its toes.
Dunst famously brought the live-action version of Mary Jane "MJ" Watson to life in the first three installments of the Spider-Man franchise, which were released from 2002 to 2007. Alongside (and upside down) was Tobey Maguire, who played the web-slinging superhero.
Despite the instant fame that came along with the role, amplified by the attention gained from what she calls the "shocking success" of Bring It On, Dunst tells the outlet that she passed on the opportunity to "capitalize off the Spider-Man thing" to become a "movie-star-movie-star."
The idea of flying under the radar was preferable over becoming the kind of celebrity that became bigger than their work. "That's great for some people," she says. "It's not the artist that I want to be."
The mom of two explains that she gravitated towards roles that "spoke" to her rather than what some would identify as instant classics or box office bait.
"It was just growing up, and migrating to things that spoke to me," she says of drifting away from the genres that defined her early career and aligning herself in more atmospheric projects such as indies like Melancholia with director Lars von Trier. "I always just navigated with my heart."
A lot of what has motivated Dunst has been wanting to work with directors -- specifically female filmmakers like Sofia Coppola, Leslye Headland, and later, Jane Campion -- who would look past her all-American, girl next door looks.
"I saw the power in women very young," Dunst shared. "I think that's helped with...not needing male attention in my career."
She recalls when she was younger telling her manager, "I feel like I get hired because I'm someone that they might want to sleep with," a common consequence of a pre-Me Too industry. "I think that's probably why I migrated to so many female directors at a younger age," Dunst adds, "because I didn't want to feel that way."
The Civil War star recalls an instance of how polarizing being on set could be, even as a leading lady. She cites a specific example from her time as Mary Jane in the Spider-Man franchise, recounting the frequent use of an unsolicited nickname.
"It was a joke, but on Spider-Man, they would call me 'girly-girl' sometimes on the walkie-talkie. 'We need girly-girl...' but I never said anything," Dunst tells Marie Claire, as the memory ignites the old irritation. "Like, don't call me that... You didn't say anything," she adds of being minimized. "You just took it."
Nowadays, Dunst says she deals with a different issue that comes with being a woman in Hollywood: aging. Although she quips that "no one cares" about her looks as she enters her 40s, she also candidly admits that she's been offered more than her share of "sad mom" roles as she's gotten older.
Civil War is her first role in two years, which she attributes to "every role I was being offered was the sad mom," after nabbing an Academy Award nomination for her role in Campion's The Power of the Dog.
"I've been offered a lot of roles like that. Honestly, it's slightly offensive," she says. "I feel insecure like a normal woman, but I also have a good head on my shoulders.. I just have really good people around me. I have good girlfriends and my mom's fun and comes over every day. I'm very connected to my family and I have a great husband [Jesse Plemons]."
"To be honest, that's been hard for me...because I need to feed myself. The hardest thing is being a mom and...not feeling like, I have nothing for myself. That's every mother -- not just me," Dunst says of not working. "There's definitely less good roles for women my age."
"That's why I did Civil War. When I read the script, I thought, I've never done anything like this," Dunst continues, noting that she appreciates director and screenwriter Alex Garland for being "someone who pushes boundaries."
"I think it's a cautionary tale," Dunst says of the upcoming film, "a fable of what happens when people don't communicate with each other and stop seeing each other as human beings."
Civil War is scheduled to debut at South by Southwest on March 14 and be released in theaters on April 12.
Kirsten Dunst's cover issue of Marie Claire hits newsstands on March 12.
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