It’s been 25 years since American actor Kirsten Dunst had her first on-screen kiss; and it was even more memorable, because it was with superstar, Brad Pitt.
Dunst, now 37, and Pitt, now 55, starred in 1994’s Interview With a Vampire when they were respectively 11 and 30. The kiss is something Dunst has described as “gross”, but she’s also added that Pitt treated her “like a little sister”.
Nevertheless, despite the awkward scene, playing Claudia in the movie catapulted Dunst into the international spotlight. She was acclaimed for her stellar performance, and was even nominated for a Golden Globe award.
Watch Kirsten Dunst in the Bring it On trailer. Post continues below.
Since then, Dunst has enjoyed a prolific career, easily making the transition from child star to serious adult actor. Her long list of movies includes hits such as Jumanji, Spider-Man, Hidden Figures, Marie Antoinette, Bring It On, The Virgin Suicides, Mona Lisa Smile, Wimbledon, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Dick, Melancholia, and Bachelorette.
The actor has worked with the best directors, such as Sofia Coppola, has modelled for major fashion houses like Rodarte, and appeared in the acclaimed television series, Fargo.
Fast forward two and a half decades and this week, Dunst has celebrated her acting career by receiving her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
And yet, at the same time, she’s spoken out about feeling ignored for much of her career.
During a recent interview on SiriusXM’s In-Depth with Larry Flick, where she was promoting her series On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Dunst admitted that she felt a lack of acknowledgement for her decades-long career from her Hollywood peers.
“I’ve never been recognised in my industry,” she said.
“I’ve never been nominated for anything. Maybe like twice for a Golden Globe when I was little and one for Fargo.
“Sometimes you’re like, it’d be nice to be recognised by your peers.”
Although Dunst has been recognised numerous times for her work, including winning a best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for Melancholia in 2011, and being nominated for an Emmy for 2015’s season two of Fargo, she still feels overlooked for the major acting awards.
“Of the things that people like, remember when Marie Antoinette — y’all panned it? And now you all love it. Drop Dead Gorgeous? Panned. Now you all love it. I feel like a lot of things I do, people like later,” she mused in the same interview.
“I always feel like nobody — I don’t know, maybe they just think I’m the girl from Bring It On.”
Dunst also speculates in the interview that she didn’t do enough behind the scenes. She added, “I just feel like, ‘What did I do?’ Maybe I don’t play the game enough.”
Dunst may not have the professional recognition she feels she deserves, but fifteen months ago, her personal life was enriched when she became a mum – and gained her biggest fan.
In 2018, Dunst gave birth to her son Ennis Howard with fiancé and actor Jesse Plemons, 31. The toddler made his public debut this week at the Walk of Fame ceremony. But as the mum told Net-A-Porter magazine recently, she’s not keen for Ennis to follow in his parents’ footsteps too soon.
“If you have a kid who’s very cute, I get why people do it,” she said.
“Do a Gap ad and you can make your college money. It’s the first time I kind of understand it.
“Ennis is so adorable, with two big dimples. He is such a happy baby, and I see why I might want that memento of him at this age, but we will probably just encourage him to do school plays.”
Dunst revealed she was ready to settle down and have children after the birth of her goddaughter, telling Marie Claire UK in July 2017:
“I wasn’t one of those ‘I need a baby!’ people until my goddaughter was born. I love her so much.
“That love is just like… you can’t experience that unless you have a kid.”
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Top Comments
She’s a mediocre actress and many people actively avoid her films. In addition, she got a reputation for being terribly unreliable and hard to work with. She was a cute child actor but not competitive as an adult.
Though she’s worked prolifically since a young age, I can’t think of a film she’s done where I’ve felt she was deserving of a big award. (Although, All Good Things was terribly underrated).
Exactly. I've never once heard someone say "Kirsten Dunst was robbed" of any award - she's simply not done anything that great or noteworthy.
Agreed, for the most part. I’ve seen a lot of her work, and the only time I ever thought she was really excellent in something was Fargo.
She was rightfully nominated for a Golden Globe for that, and should have won over Lady Gaga for that awful season of American Horror Story, but it’s the first time I’ve seen her do anything award-worthy since Interview with the Vampire, and she hasn’t done anything that would make her part of awards conversation since.
If she feels she’s consistently bringing the same level of quality to her work that she did for Fargo, she needs to pick better roles because it’s not coming across.