tom cruise movies kirsten dunst

• Kirsten Dunst

IMDbPro Starmeter Top 500 146

• Contact info
• 51 wins & 122 nominations total

Photos 1118

• Mary Jane Watson

• Marie Antoinette
• Post-production
• Pre-production

• Rose Gordon

• Sally May (voice)

• Krystal Stubbs
• 10 episodes

• Agatha Christie

• Callister Employee (uncredited)

• Vivian Mitchell

• Peggy Blumquist

• Cecilia Payne (voice)

• executive producer

Personal details

• 5′ 5½″ (1.66 m)
• April 30 , 1982
• Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA
• Jesse Plemons July 2, 2022 - present (2 children)
• Ennis Howard Plemons
• Parents Inez Dunst (Rupprecht)
• Christian Dunst (Sibling)
• Other works Appears in music video "Playground Love" by Air (2000). From the soundtrack of the movie The Virgin Suicides (1999) .
• 15 Interviews
• 28 Articles
• 26 Pictorials
• 69 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

• Trivia Ever since her role in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) , leading man Tom Cruise has sent her a coconut cake every year at Christmas which has become known as "The Cruise Cake" in the Dunst household.
• Quotes I'd like to grow up and be beautiful. I know it doesn't matter, but it doesn't hurt.
• Salaries Spider-Man 3 ( 2007 ) $8,000,000

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The 10 Best Kirsten Dunst Movies, Ranked

Over the years, the Oscar-nominated star has proven to be so much more than her iconic 'Spider-Man' role.

After putting her acting talents to show in her breakthrough role as a child actor (she started modeling and appearing in commercials at the age of 3) in the horror drama Interview With the Vampire , Kirsten Dunst became one of the most popular faces in the industry. Her first collaboration with acclaimed director Sofia Coppola came in The Virgin Suicides ; she was only 16 at the time of filming.

A few years later, at 18, she stepped into the shoes of Mary Jane in the Spider-Man movies, which propelled her to worldwide fame. Despite having partaken in a good number of impeccable movies before, it was not until 2022 that Dunst received her first Oscar nomination for her astounding efforts in The Power of the Dog . To celebrate the star's impressive, genre-defying career so far, we reunite some of the best Kristen Dunst movies, ranking them by greatness .

10 'Interview With the Vampire' (1994)

Director: neil jordan.

Despite its controversial status (mostly thanks to Tom Cruise , who many viewers suggested was miscast, and Dunst's infamous scene opposite Brad Pitt ), Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles endures as a well-known movie in the industry and arguably one of the most memorable vampire flicks . The story follows Lestat and Louis, depicting the beginning of Louis' transformation into a vampire by Lestat in 1791.

In addition to its two leads, this 1994 movie also features Dunst in a breakthrough role as a young girl named Claudia, who is also turned into a vampire. Although she was only twelve at the time, Dunst still managed to steal the spotlight whenever she was on-screen , proving to be a very talented actor from a very young age in this Neil Jordan 's two-time Oscar-nominated movie which was based on Anne Rice 's 1976 novel of the same name.

Interview with the Vampire

Watch on Apple TV

9 'Bring It On' (2000)

Director: peyton reed.

A while later at only seventeen, Dunst took the lead role in Peyton Reed's cult classic Bring It On , a quintessential 2000s romantic comedy in which Eliza Dushku , Jesse Bradford , and Gabrielle Union also star. The story follows a champion high school cheerleading squad that learns that its former captain stole all their routines while preparing for a national competition.

Given Bring It On 's popularity, the film ended up originating a few sequels, though none were as great as the real deal (nor did they feature any of the original cast members). Reed's film is clever and sassy, and Dunst's undeniable charm adds to its appeal . While it may not be a cinematic masterpiece, Bring it On 's straightforward, yet humorous storyline is enough to keep the audience engaged.

Bring It On

Watch on Amazon Prime

8 'Marie Antoinette' (2006)

Director: sofia coppola.

Fans of Sofia Coppola 's visually arresting works know that Marie Antoinette is a must-see, especially as concerns Dunst's incredible filmography so far . The 2006 movie follows the ill-fated queen of France, depicting her rise to the throne at nineteen after her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at only fourteen, and ultimately the tragic end of her reign and the fall of Versailles.

Marie Antoinette wasn't exactly regarded as a "serious" biopic movie when it was released because it wasn't like the more conventional features of the genre. Not only does it include, say, contemporary music, but it focuses on the historical figure's loneliness, particularly as a young girl, surrounded by people who did not understand her. Instead of instructing audiences about the era as historical epics usually do, Coppola's dreamy, pastel-colored film excelled in showing a more intimate and personal side of the life of Marie Antoinette, who was perfectly portrayed by Dunst .

Marie Antoinette

Watch on Pluto TV

7 'Hidden Figures' (2016)

Director: theodore melfi.

Featuring the talented Octavia Spencer , Taraji P. Henson , and Janelle Monáe in the lead roles, Hidden Figures tells the inspiring true story of a team of incredibly bright female African-American mathematicians — Dorothy Vaughan , Katherine G. Johnson , and Mary Jackson — who played a crucial role in NASA's early years of the U.S. space program.

Theodore Melfi 's empowering biography is nothing short of spectacular, featuring incredible acting efforts from its leads and sending out poignant messages about race and gender that are still very much relevant today. Dunst believably plays the strict and pragmatic supervisor (purely a fictional character) of Vivian Mitchell . Some say she represents the... questionable views of some white women in the 1960s and arguably serves as a personification of "choice feminism."

Hidden Figures

Watch on Disney+

6 'Civil War' (2024)

Director: alex garland.

Alex Garland (the mind behind Ex Machina and Annihilation ) makes a comeback with Civil War , a highly anticipated 2024 movie that features Dunst in the lead role. It also stars Jesse Plemons and Priscilla 's rising star Cailee Spaney , among other talented stars. The action movie's plot follows a tram of military-embedded journalists who race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

Civil War 's depiction of a dystopian future America is interesting and will probably draw in fans of the genre. As worldwide critics have said, Garland's beautifully shot movie is not disappointing in the slightest; according to Collider's own Matt Donato's review , it may very well be Garland's best film yet, and the "performances are all great across the board, heightening the sense of instability." This, of course, includes the fantastic Dunst as accomplished wartime photographer Lee Smith .

Civil War is not yet available for streaming, purchasing, or renting.

5 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (2004)

Director: michel gondry.

Michael Gondry 's fan-favorite science fiction romance features Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in two of their most memorable roles. The movie tells the mind-bending story of a couple who goes through a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever after their relationship reaches a bitter end.

The soul-crushing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is like a Black Mirror episode before Black Mirror even existed. The story is touching, well-crafted, engaging, equal amounts thought-provoking, and certainly elevated by great acting efforts. Science fiction and romance enthusiasts alike will enjoy Gondry's movie, which deals with topics of loneliness, memory, identity, and regret. Dunst's role isn't primary in this, but she still brings Lacuna's receptionist and unsung hero Mary Svevo gracefully to life .

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

4 'the virgin suicides' (1999).

In her first partnership with Sofia Coppola, Dunst stepped into the shoes of Lux Lisbon, one of five of the Lisbon sisters with everlasting results. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jeffrey Eugenides and centers around five siblings ( Leslie Hayman , A. J. Cook , Chelse Swain , Hanna R. Hall , and Dunst) sheltered by their religious and strict parents. In the meantime, a group of adolescent boys develop an obsession with their unattainability and mysterious auras.

Set in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s and featuring memorable characters that remain beloved ones these days, The Virgin Suicides is a critique of the unreachable male fantasy. It also explores mental health topics in a haunting, fascinating, and horrifying way, with Dunst's impeccable performance anchoring the unconventional narrative .

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Watch on Hoopla

3 'Spider-Man 2' (2004)

Director: sam raimi.

Not mentioning Spider-Man in such a list would be a huge omission, as Mary Jane Watson quickly became one of the most popular, if not the most popular role in Dunst's career so far . The second Sam Raimi installment follows Tobey Maguire 's Peter Parker as he battles a former brilliant scientist known as Otto Octavius ( Alfred Molina ).

Spider-Man 2 is arguably the best in the OG franchise, making for an overall better film — featuring a great villain and message — than its predecessor. While Dunst's Mary Jane is, generally speaking, not a fan favorite ( her character's writing was kind of flawed and questionable ), her performance in the movies is still unforgettable ; it is difficult to picture the films without her starring in them.

Spider-Man 2

2 'the power of the dog' (2021), director: jane campion.

Dunst was Oscar-nominated for the first time for her astounding efforts in Jane Campion's 1925-set The Power of the Dog , which follows a beguiling, severe, middle-aged rancher, played by Benedict Cumberbatch , who tortures his brother's ( Jesse Plemons ) family. That is until he finds himself unexpectedly exposed to the possibility of love.

Dunst plays her real-life husband's wife in the film, Rose Gordon, convincingly, providing audiences with a tour de force . With an impressive twelve Oscar nominations under its belt (it broke records by becoming the first film directed by a woman to be nominated for more than 10 Academy Awards), The Power of the Dog earned Campion her first and very much deserved Best Director award. Campion became the first woman to be nominated in the category twice and the third to ever take the prize home.

The Power of the Dog

Watch on Netflix

1 'Melancholia' (2011)

Director: lars von trier.

While she wasn't Academy Award-nominated for her efforts in Lars von Trier 's Melancholia , Dunst's performance in the movie remains unmatched . This dark tale of mental health deterioration centers around two sisters, played by Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg , whose relationship is challenged by a new planet that threatens to collide with Earth.

Melancholia is quite an intriguing character study, as it focuses on the two sisters' different perspectives and reactions in the face of adversity and the reasoning behind them. It's not for no reason that Lars von Trier's movie is considered one of the best in the disaster genre . Furthermore, the movie sheds light on depression, with a powerful metaphor about the impending doom that comes with the mental health state at its center.

Melancholia

NEXT: The 7 Best Performances in Sofia Coppola's Movies, Ranked

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Interview With the Vampire review – Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt’s brilliant bloodsucking bromance

Neil Jordan’s horror-comedy features Cruise in scene-chewing form in a film that outrageously explores the vampire’s actually rather complex lived experience

‘Y ou have no idea how few vampires have the stamina for immortality!” Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt bring the staying power in Neil Jordan’s entirely outrageous horror-comedy bromance, produced by Stephen Woolley and adapted for the screen by Anne Rice from her own bestseller, now rereleased for its 30-year anniversary. The histrionic energy and ambition, operatic pathos and dapper, jaunty offensiveness are undimmed. Succeeding decades have only increased the film’s fanbase. I remember a dinner at the Edinburgh film festival with Catherine Breillat, director of Romance and Anatomy of Hell, as she discoursed with passion on how she adored it.

It is now almost mandatory with people of a certain age to claim that a certain masterpiece of their salad days “couldn’t be made now”. But … two hottie vampires who contrive to apply a sexualised bite-kiss to a 12-year-old girl (Kirsten Dunst – a performance for the ages) … and that girl becomes as worldly as any depraved grownup and travels with our two heroes through the night-time fleshpots as a daughter or stepdaughter or (sort of) platonic lover? Erm, which year was that ever OK for, again?

Christian Slater plays Malloy, a journalist roaming around modern-day San Francisco searching out likely looking bohemian types to interview for his life-in-the-city reportage. He chances across an elegant, watchful young fellow called Louis (Pitt) who takes him back to his tiny rented room and (once the tape recorder is switched on) tells him he is a vampire, over 200 years old, a former slave master and plantation owner in 18th-century Louisiana, longing for death after the loss of his wife and child. Perhaps something in the parasitism and spiritual death of slavery attracted the attention of Lestat (Tom Cruise), a sensualist vampire with a cruel twist to his sanguine lips. Naturally, Cruise can’t help making his Lestat hyperactive, super-focused and frustrated at others’ lack of discipline and commitment, and his performance is hilarious, a glorious comic turn of the sort he never tried again. Lestat befriends Louis, intuits his pain, offers him a chance to start again in eternal life, delivers his fangs to Louis’ neck and welcomes him to the vampire brotherhood.

Lestat-Louis is an occult teacher-pupil relationship that Brad Pitt was to duplicate five years later in Fight Club, only with himself in the alpha role. But Louis has squeamish qualms about living off human blood, timidly at first preferring only that of animals, to Lestat’s genial contempt. The two of them are to get in an adorable two-bloodsucking-fiends-and-baby (or rather girl) situation when they find Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), orphaned by the plague, and the poor child gets to be one of them. They find themselves in Paris where a nest of vampires led by Armand (Antonio Banderas) and Santiago (Stephen Rea) run a secret theatre of cruelty, patronised by the beau monde, in which they pretend to be humans playing vampires, killing real victims on stage: meta-vampire snuff horror.

So what is it like being a vampire, Malloy asks Louis? Is it all Dracula, crucifixes, garlic etc? Louis dismisses all this as “the vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman!” (Well really, Anne Rice! Is that any way to talk about Abraham “Bram” Stoker, the creator of Dracula and populariser of the entire vampire genre?) But what the film makes so brilliantly clear is that the vampire’s lived experience is in fact a complex business. It varies from vampire to vampire. Louis himself has a romantic, almost idealist concept of vampirism, entranced, in his pained way, by the eternity of longing; whereas cruel Lestat just lives in a permanent state of greed.

At first it seems as if Louis finds a kindred spirit and even love with Armand in Paris on this basis, but is finally repelled by the abysmal cynicism and disillusion that Armand’s Euro-vampirism represents. Louis is a modern vampire, full of democratic openness, a vampire of the American enlightenment. He even frees his slaves and burns down the big house – to Lestat’s petulant rage. Interview With the Vampire is still horribly exciting, shocking and funny.

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• Kirsten Dunst
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How Tom Cruise Helped Kirsten Dunst Land Childhood Interview With the Vampire Role

Nearly three decades later, kirsten dunst still remembers the way tom cruise made a subtle, but important difference at her interview with the vampire screen test..

In the words of Kirsten Dunst , "Jersey got Jersey's back."

In a newly published interview for The Cut , the  Power of the Dog actress recalled the special way her Interview With the Vampire co-star,  Tom Cruise ,  helped her land the breakout role. "Well, we're both from New Jersey," she said of herself and the Oscar nominee. "And we had this screen test where he had to pick up each little girl."

For Dunst, who turned 12 just before the movie came out, a few helpful words from Cruise might have made all the difference. "I was the tallest one, and he was like, 'Tuck in your legs,' so that I looked really tiny in his arms," she explained to The Cut. "He was trying to help me out since Neil Jordan , the director, wanted to see how each girl looked when Tom picked us up because they wanted the character to look like a bit like a doll, a little girl."

She quipped, "Jersey got Jersey's back." Dunst was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey while Cruise, who was born in New York and reportedly attended many different schools, ultimately graduated from high school in Glenn Ridge, New Jersey.

The acclaimed actors have since made a splash in Hollywood, with Dunst earning her first of three Golden Globe nominations for her performance in the horror film. 

Nearly three decades later, her memories of working on the movie are what you might expect from any kid in those unconventional circumstances. 

"Still to this day, I have not been on a set of that magnitude. But I felt very supported and very loved. And Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were so sweet to me. They just treated me like a little sister," she recalled. "I remember the worst thing I had to do on that film was suck this person's blood from their neck. And the person was sweating so badly, and I was dying. I was like, 'Oh my God, please don't make me. How am I going to do this?' They were just sweating so badly. And I put my mouth on their neck, and I was dying."

As she put it, "You can see that even my funniest memory is something very normal and very kidlike."

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At 11 years old, Kirsten Dunst secured her breakout role as Claudia in Interview with the Vampire —with some help from her co-star Tom Cruise . Based on Anne Rice’s 1976 novel of the same name, the 1994 adaptation follows the mysterious Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) as he details his transformation into a vampire at the hands of Lestat de Lioncourt (Cruise). Rounding out the trio of vampires is Claudia, a young girl who Lestat also turns into a member of their bloodsucking ranks.

Dunst would rack up more child acting credits, including Little Women and Jumanji , before transitioning to leading roles in teen films like Bring It On and The Virgin Suicides . After garnering even more recognition with the first Spider-Man trilogy , Dunst would take on roles in acclaimed dramas like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Melancholia , as well as prestige series like Fargo . She's now starring in  Power of the Dog  alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons, but it was her role as Claudia, a ruthless killer trapped in the body of a seemingly angelic child, that kickstarted the actress’ career.

Related: No Way Home: Will Emma Stone & Kirsten Dunst Return? All Evidence

Now, Dunst tells EW how she was able to nab her breakout role with the help of Tom Cruise. While auditioning for Interview with the Vampire , Cruise took a shine to the young actress, helping her secure the part of his prey-turned-protégé. Dunst recalls how Cruise advised her to shrink her appearance, making the tall 11-year-old seem ever more small and innocent than her competition. Check out Dunst’s recollection below:

"I was the tallest girl [at the last audition]. So he had me tuck my legs under, so I looked shorter when he picked me up. I felt like he was already like, 'I like this kid.'"

The actress goes on to reminisce about her experience on set, noting that her A-list co-stars Cruise and Pitt went out of their way to lighten the mood during the otherwise grim production. " They treated me so sweetly. I was such a princess on that set ," Dunst says. " The darkness was always balanced out by fart jokes by Brad ." With a new Interview with the Vampire series in the works at AMC, audiences can look forward to an updated cast of bloodsuckers, including a new Claudia.

The newest adaptation will premiere as an 8-part series in 2022. Even for an 11-year-old, however, Dunst leaves big shoes to fill for the next Claudia, who is set to be played by newcomer Bailey Bass . Bass will soon star in James Cameron’s Avatar sequels as well, having secured the role of Tsireya. If Dunst’s post- Interview with the Vampire career is any indication, Bass should have a flurry of roles sent her way come 2022. 

More: Every Vampire TV Show Currently In Development

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Interview With the Vampire

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Rent Interview With the Vampire on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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Despite lacking some of the book's subtler shadings, and suffering from some clumsy casting, Interview with a Vampire benefits from Neil Jordan's atmospheric direction and a surfeit of gothic thrills.

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Neil Jordan

Lestat de Lioncourt

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Antonio Banderas

Stephen Rea

Christian Slater

Daniel Malloy

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Kirsten Dunst says Tom Cruise was rooting for her during Interview with the Vampire audition

Dunst’s breakout role was as a teenager in ‘interview with the vampire’, article bookmarked.

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Kirsten Dunst has said Tom Cruise helped her during her audition for Interview with the Vampire .

In a video for Netflix’s Twitter account , Dunst discussed her long acting career that began when she was still a child.

In the clip, Dunst talked about her audition process for Interview with the Vampire , which went on to become her breakout role. She recalled how helpful Cruise was when she was auditioning: “I remember Tom whispering to me, like, ‘Tuck your legs under’ so I’d look as tiny as possible ‘cause I was the tallest girl,” the actress continued. “So I knew he was kind of like rooting for me. We were both from New Jersey, and I think, you know, he was like, ‘Let this Jersey girl have it.’”

Dunst also remembered what she had to do in her audition with Cruise, saying: “I remember I was the tallest of all the young girls. He had to pick each one of us up and, like, carry us around just to see how we looked Tom and who looked the most childlike, I guess.”

Also starring Brad Pitt, Christian Slater and Antonio Banderas, Interview with the Vampire went on to be a huge commercial success and was nominated for two Oscars.

Dunst was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film.

Dunst has since gone on to appear in a number of critically acclaimed films including The Virgin Suicides , Melancholia and Marie Antoinette .

She can currently be seen in Netflix’s The Power of the Dog alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and her fiancé, Jesse Plemons.

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Kirsten Dunst says Tom Cruise helped her beat other actresses to land 'Interview with the Vampire' role

• Kirsten Dunst told Netflix in an interview that Tom Cruise helped her audition for her breakout role.
• Dunst starred alongside Cruise in 1994's "Interview with the Vampire."
• She said that during the audition Cruise advised her to "tuck her legs" whilst he was carrying her.

Kirsten Dunst told Netflix that Tom Cruise helped her during her audition for her breakout role in 1994's "Interview with the Vampire."

Dunst appeared in Netflix's "Playback" Twitter video series to promote her new movie "The Power of the Dog." In the video, she spoke about her 30 years of acting including the audition process for her breakout role in the Neil Jordan horror/romance.

Related stories

She explained that she had to do several auditions for the role of Claudia, a dying orphan girl who is turned into a vampire. Dunst, who was 11 years old when she auditioned for the role, said that Tom Cruise was "rooting" for her during her screen test with him.

—Netflix (@netflix) December 1, 2021

"I remember I was the tallest of all the young girls," the 39-year-old actress said. "He had to pick each one of us up and like carry us around just to see how we looked against Tom and who looked like the most childlike, I guess.

"I remember Tom whispering to me, like, 'Tuck your legs under' so I'd look as tiny as possible 'cause I was the tallest girl. So I knew he was kind of like rooting for me. We were both from New Jersey, and I think, you know, he was like, 'Let this Jersey girl have it.'"

"Vampire with the Interview," which also starred Brad Pitt, Christian Slater and Antonio Banderas, was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes including best supporting actress for Dunst.

In an interview with Vanity Fair last month, Dunst said "it was very weird" when she had to kiss Brad Pitt in the movie, who was 31 at the time.

"At that point, I was a little girl, and he was like a brother to me," Dunst said. "And it was very weird even though it was a peck. I was just very not into it. Other than that I was treated like a total princess on that set."

Dunst's new movie "The Power of Dog" is on Netflix and it stars Dunst alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Dunst's fiancé, Jesse Plemons.

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Kirsten Dunst Recalls Feeling Protected on Interview with the Vampire Production

Kirsten Dunst, who was 11 years old at the time of filming, recalls how she was protected on the set of the vampire movie.

Kirsten Dunst was just 11 years old when she did the filming for Interview with the Vampire . She's looking back at the film and her experience with shooting the movie and how they had kept her feeling protected on the set.

"That was a lot of auditions, a lot of screen tests, and I worked very hard with my acting coach, and he would give me tools to make things look like maybe I had a sexy look on my face," Dunst said in a new interview with British GQ . "He would say, 'You know, pretend your brother's looking for his toy, and you know where it is, but you're not going to tell him.' That immediately gives someone a mischievous look without having to deal with any of the inappropriate things for that age ."

Kirsten Dunst Addresses Possible Return as Mary Jane in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4

On how she was treated by co-stars Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, she added, "I was very protected on set. I don't think I even watched the whole movie . I sat there and my mom would cover my eyes for a lot of that film. I felt like Brad's little sister, and Tom made me feel like a princess . I mean, at Christmas time, he put this gorgeous tree in my dressing room. They just spoiled me in a really sweet way ."

Dunst also shared how she remembers the production being very impressive, and unlike any project that gets made these days. From the outfits to the practical effects and stunt work, Dunst says it was an incredible production to be a part of. As she noted, "It's just, those times of making movies like that, they just don't exist anymore ."

'Kind of Miserable:' Spider-Man Star Shares the Less-Than-Romantic Side of the Upside Down Kiss

Directed by Neil Jordan, Interview with the Vampire is written by Anne Rice, and it is based on Rice's original novel of the same name. The 1994 feature film focused primarily on the transformation of Louis (Brad Pitt) into a vampire courtesy of Lestat (Tom Cruise). The movie also sees the two turning young Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) into a vampire. Meanwhile, in the present day, Louis tells his story of his vampire history to a reporter (Christian Slater).

Interview with the Vampire Has Been Rebooted

A new adaptation has since been made for Interview with the Vampire . It was made into a TV series for AMC which debuted in 2022. Season 2 is arriving very soon, set to premiere on May 12. The show is also just one part of a larger franchise for new TV shows based on the literary works of Anne Rice. That includes Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches , which debuted in 2023 and also has a second season that's currently in development.

Interview with the Vampire is currently available to watch via Hoopla .

Interview with the Vampire

A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.

Interview With the Vampire’s Vamp : Movies: Kirsten Dunst takes a starring role opposite Tom Cruise in stride, while still maintaining the innocent outlook of a 12-year-old girl.

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Kirsten Dunst is a remarkable little girl, but not for the obvious reasons. Not because she’s had a thriving career as a performer since the age of 3, or because she landed the female lead in Neil Jordan’s “Interview With the Vampire” when she was 10. No, she’s remarkable for being a 12-year-old who makes comments like this:

Question: So, were you intimidated to be starring with Tom Cruise in a film?

Answer: Why would that intimidate me? I love his acting, but he’s a human being and I wasn’t put on earth to please Tom. Why should I be nervous around a person doing the same job I’m doing?

Q: In a sense, this is a film about the dark side of romantic love; have you been in love?

A: I’ve had crushes, but I’m not sure what you mean by “in love.”

Q: Have you ever cried over a boy?

A: Why would I cry over a boy? I would never waste my tears on a boy. Why waste your tears on someone who makes you cry? I want to say a bad word here, so I’ll say “sugar”--if they say sugar on you, I just say sugar on you, too.

At times like this Dunst seems wise way beyond her years. She seems exactly her age, however, when you ask her what the hardest thing about making “Interview With the Vampire” (which opens Friday) was and she wrinkles her nose in a look of total disgust and groans, “Kissing Brad Pitt! It was horrible and I hated it. Brad and Tom were like my big brothers on the set, so it was like kissing your big brother--totally gross! He said, ‘How do you think I feel? I have to kiss a little girl.’ It was awful!”

When it’s suggested that hundreds of girls would love to have been in her shoes, Dunst declares, “They’re nuts.”

Thus reminded that Dunst is still at an age when cooties are a driving concern, one returns to the task of unraveling the story of how a little girl born in New Jersey, the elder child of a man who sells medical equipment and his wife, a painter, came to star in one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year.

“When I was little everyone said I should model, so I did a lot of that, and then I did tons of commercials,” Dunst says over lunch in the restaurant of a Hollywood hotel. “One of them’s still on the air--it’s for a stuffed animal that purrs called Kitty-Kitty Kittens. I don’t want to do television anymore though because TV’s crappy nowadays and movies are more fun because you get to change characters.”

With 70 commercials under her belt, Dunst, who also stars in Gillian Armstrong’s “Little Women,” which is slated for release later this month, moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1992. Having made her film debut in 1989 in Woody Allen’s “New York Stories,” she went on to small roles in “Bonfire of the Vanities” and “Greedy.” Then she landed the part of Claudia, a girl who survives a New Orleans plague to be chosen to become a surrogate vampire child of vampires Cruise and Pitt in “Interview With the Vampire.”

“We started looking at 6-year-olds, which is about Claudia’s age in the book, but the role is too demanding for a 6-year-old,” says producer Stephen Woolley of the casting of Dunst. “We needed a child with a mind capable of grasping the fine points of the difficult monologues Claudia has, and Kirsten was the first actress we saw. She gave a wonderful reading but we thought it was too good to be true, so we saw thousands of other girls. In the end we came back to Kirsten--she’s quite extraordinary in the part.”

Says Dunst about the character of Claudia: “What interested me about her was that she was an adult trapped inside a child’s body--she’s a very sad character, though. How would you feel if you could never grow up, if you were doomed to always stay a little girl and nobody would ever look at you as a woman? It’s a very painful idea.

“My favorite scene in the film is the one where I waltz at the Paris Opera House with Brad--that was really fun--and it was fantastic working with Neil Jordan.”

Dunst is equally excited about the prospect of working with Robin Williams. She leaves next week for New Hampshire to star opposite him in the Joe Johnson film “Jumanji.”

“I can’t wait to meet him,” she says, then adds with concern that there’s talk of dying her blond hair for “Jumanji.”

“My mom told them, ‘No way, Jose,’ ” she reports. “I don’t want to dye my hair--I love my hair and think it’s a beautiful color.”

Much of the early word on “Vampire” has centered on its disturbing elements of sex and violence, but Dunst dismisses that. “I finally saw the film a few nights ago and it didn’t scare me at all because it’s not gory. I laughed at the scenes where there was fake blood squirting around--it just didn’t seem scary to me. It’s not sexual in terms of making love or anything like that, either. There are some homosexual undertones with the guys in it, but that’s about it--there’s no sex.”

Currently sharing the cover of Premiere with Cruise, Dunst is also slated for an upcoming cover of Us magazine and is the subject of an article in People. She seems aware that she’s in the process of letting a mercurial tiger out of its cage.

At several points in an interview, she requests that something she said not be included in the piece; surprisingly press savvy, she has an intuitive feeling for verbal red flags and casual comments that could invite things she’d prefer to avoid.

“The prospect of becoming famous doesn’t make me nervous--in fact, it will probably bother me if it doesn’t happen because I’ve worked kind of hard,” she admits, demurely wrestling with a huge sandwich. “If it happens, I’ll just wear dark sunglasses.”

Describing her daily life as “just a typical life when I’m not shooting movies,” Dunst likes to swim and ride horses, and as soon as this interview ends she plans to head for the mall across the street. What are you shopping for? “Anything,” she replies. What do you need? “Nothing.”

She thought “The Flintstones” was “cute,” she prefers VH-1 to MTV because she hates rap, and she’d like to meet and work with 13-year-old actor Elijah Wood. She’d also like to work with Jodie Foster and Meryl Streep, and was crazy about “Thelma & Louise.” “I loved that these women ran off from their idiot husbands and had fun,” she says with a laugh.

As is the case with most 12-year-olds, fun is still a high priority for Dunst, who points out that “just because I’ve been working doesn’t mean I’m growing up faster than other kids my age. I’m not like Claudia at all--she’s in a lot of pain and I’m enjoying my life, and she’s a lot more seductive and mature than I am.

“And plus, she’s a vampire and I’m not.”

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Kirsten Dunst

Actor Kirsten Dunst has appeared in the Spider-Man movies and received an Oscar nomination for The Power of the Dog .

1982-present

Kirsten Dunst Now: Actor Stars in Thriller Civil War

“I was standing out on the street when I got the call, and I thought, ‘Oh s—. Now, now we’re in trouble,’” Garland said. “And so I went to the rehearsal and said, ‘Bad news, guys, [the other actor] can’t do it.’ And Kirsten said, ‘What? You should ask Jesse.’ It was a stunning bit of good luck.”

Civil War earned more than $25 million in its first weekend, topping the U.S. box office in a record debut among films from distributor A24, and has grossed more than $60 million worldwide.

Quick Facts

Young kirsten dunst, fargo and other tv roles, husband jesse plemons and kids, mental health experience and advocacy, who is kirsten dunst.

Actor Kirsten Dunst is best known for playing Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man movie trilogy from the 2000s, as well as starring in Marie Antoinette . The New Jersey–born child model and actor had her breakout role was in the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire , starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt . After appearing in several crowd-pleasing box-office hits over the next decade, she began to excel in more artistic projects. She earned Golden Globe nominations for her TV roles in Fargo and On Becoming a God in Central Florida . In 2022, Dunst received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in The Power of the Dog . She is married to fellow actor Jesse Plemons, with whom she shares two children.

FULL NAME: Kirsten Caroline Dunst BORN: April 30, 1982 BIRTHPLACE: Point Pleasant, New Jersey SPOUSE: Jesse Plemons (2022-present) CHILDREN: Ennis and James ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus

Kirsten Caroline Dunst was born on April 30, 1982, in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Her father, Klaus, is originally from Germany, while her mother, Inez, is an American of Swedish and German descent. As a result, Kirsten has American and German citizenship. Klaus worked as a medical services executive, and Inez is a former Lufthansa flight attendant.

Raised alongside her younger brother, Christian, Kirsten grew up in Brick Township, New Jersey, and attended the Ranney School, a private preparatory school. A self-described “very extrovert kid,” Dunst said strangers would often compliment her cheery demeanor as a young child. “Every time [my mom and I would] go to the grocery store, everyone would come up to her and say, ‘Your daughter is so animated, she’s such a happy child, she has such a light. You should put her in commercials,’” she said in 2012 .

Sharing the enthusiasm of her fellow shoppers, Inez chauffered 3-year-old Kirsten into New York City and helped her begin a child modeling career with the baby division of the Ford agency. After Kirsten performed well in print campaigns, her family soon booked her first commercial for Kix cereal. The precocious Dunst continued to appear in TV advertisements for products such as the board game Trouble, Pillsbury baked goods, and Crayola crayons.

At age 6, Dunst graduated to dramatic roles, starting with an uncredited part in Woody Allen ’s 1989 anthology film New York Stories . A year later, she played the young daughter of Tom Hanks and Kim Cattrall’s characters in the satirical movie The Bonfire of the Vanities , also starring Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman .

Following her parents’ separation, an 11-year-old Dunst moved to Los Angeles with her mother, who was determined to cultivate Kirsten’s promising career. Despite her childhood success, Dunst has said she had no dreams of becoming a Hollywood star. Later in her life, the actor admitted she held animosity toward her mother for pushing her into show business so quickly. “I’d never put any daughter of mine through acting because, while I loved acting and was happy working as a child, looking back, my happiness always came from pleasing other people—always,” she told People in 2007 . “It came from satisfying the director, or my mother or my acting coach, not from pleasing myself.” Still, plenty of people were happy with Dunst’s abilities and ready to offer her more demanding parts once she was on the West Coast.

Breakthrough: Interview with the Vampire and Jumanji

After a few smaller roles for television in 1993, including a two-episode appearance on Sisters and a one-time turn on S tar Trek: The Next Generation , the year 1994 kickstarted Dunst’s movie career in earnest. Then 12 years old, she had her breakout role in the gothic horror Interview with the Vampire , based on the novel by Anne Rice . Dunst played Claudia, a young girl raised by vampires played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt .

Dunst has since revealed her mixed feelings about the movie. “They treated me like a little sister. It was very sweet,” Dunst said of her co-stars Cruise and Pitt during a 2019 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert . “I was a very innocent 12-year-old. I was just doing my job, and they were very sweet to me.” However, she has also lamented her onscreen kiss with Pitt, who was 30 at the time, telling Vanity Fair , “it was very weird even though it was a peck. I was just very not into it.”

Even so, Vampire proved crucial for Dunst. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, and another hit movie followed in 1995: the adventure comedy Jumanji starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt.

The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette with Sofia Coppola

Dunst tackled a variety of film genres over the next few years, including the World War II dramas Mother Night (1996) and The Devil’s Arithmetic (1999), the political satire Wag the Dog (1997), and the action comedy Small Soldiers (1998).

Then in 1999, Dunst played Lux Lisbon in Sofia Coppola ’s movie adaptation of the Jeffrey Eugenides novel The Virgin Suicides . Having described herself as “overwhelmed and kind of a young 16-year-old” at the time, Dunst said she began to feel at ease and knew the project, about a group of sisters in suburban Detroit in the 1970s, would be a success because of Coppola’s direction. She was right—although the movie made just over $10 million worldwide , it has since become a cult classic.

The Virgin Suicides also began an enduring friendship and working relationship between Dunst and Coppola. They have since collaborated on Marie Antoinette (2006) and The Beguiled (2017).

Spider-Man Trilogy

Dunst appealed to younger audiences and comic book fans at the start of the aughts, first playing cheerleader Torrance Shipman in the 2000 teen comedy Bring It On . However, the success of that movie paled in comparison to 2002’s Spider-Man , in which she played the titular web-slinger’s neighbor and eventual love interest Mary Jane Watson.

The movie, featuring Tobey Maguire as the Stan Lee –created superhero, became the first in history to make more than $100 million at the box office in its opening weekend. All told, Spider-Man grossed more than $821 million worldwide and marked what many consider the start of the comic book film craze of the new millennium. Dunst reprised her role in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Dunst was a bona fide star by this time—also appearing in Mona Lisa Smile (2003) and Wimbledon (2004)—and, despite receiving lucrative offers, began to prioritize creative aspects when choosing her next roles. “When I was younger, in my 20s, I didn’t have the best guidance, I would say,” she told Variety . “I get offered the most money on things I don’t want to do. As soon as I took the reins and started to develop my tastes and who I wanted to work with, everything shifted.”

Later Roles: Melancholia , The Power of the Dog , and Civil War

As a result, Dunst moved away from big-budget crowd pleasers and began to appear in more artistic movies. One of those was 2011’s Melancholia , directed by Lars von Trier, in which Dunst played a woman suffering from depression as an apocalyptic event approaches Earth.

Over the next few years, Dunst appeared in movies such as the fantasy romance Upside Down (2012), the thrillers The Two Faces of January (2014) and Midnight Special (2016), and the biopic Hidden Figures (2016) about Black women pioneers at NASA Katherine Johnson , Dorothy Johnson Vaughan , and Mary Jackson .

Dunst then took a four-year break from the big screen, coinciding with the birth of her two children. In 2021, she made a triumphant return in the western drama The Power of the Dog , alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and her now real-life husband Jesse Plemons. Dunst and Plemons each received Academy Award nominations for their supporting roles, and Jane Campion won the Oscar for Best Director.

Most recently, Dunst played photojournalist Lee Smith in the thriller Civil War , which released in theaters in April 2024 and depicts a fictional second American civil war.

Dunst was active on television throughout the early part of her career, appearing in Touched by an Angel , The Outer Limits , Gun , and six episodes of ER during the mid-1990s. Much later, she lent her voice to the 2014 scientific docuseries Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and made an appearance on the comedy Portlandia that same year.

However, Dunst’s most acclaimed TV role was playing Peggy Blumquist, a small-town beautician with big-city dreams, in Season 2 of the FX crime anthology Fargo in 2015. The actor has called it “one of the best parts” she has ever played. “Some things are meant to be. It came into my life at a time when I was very depressed about the kinds of roles that were out there for me to play,” she told the Los Angeles Times . “I feel very fortunate that I got to be a part of this and that she was such a great character.”

Critics agreed, and Dunst received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television in 2016.

She was back at the Globes only a couple years later as a nominee for Best Actress for her 2019 role in the Showtime dark comedy On Becoming a God in Central Florida .

In 2016, Dunst began dating her Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons. Dunst confirmed their engagement in June 2017 during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . The couple eventually married in June 2022.

Prior to tying the knot, Dunst and Plemons welcomed their two sons: Ennis, born in May 2018, and James, born in April 2021.

Dunst told Access Hollywood in 2021 she considers Plemons a “creative soulmate” in addition to her life partner. The two have worked together on Fargo Season 2 (2015), as well as the movies The Power of the Dog (2021) and Civil War (2024).

In August 2019, Plemons introduced Dunst when she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “Seeing the kind of mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and cohort you are is why I and all of your friends and everyone else are here today and why we all love you. It’s for the incredibly generous and amazing person that you are,” he said .

Dating History

Prior to dating Plemons, Dunst was in a four-year relationship with actor and musician Garrett Hedlund from 2012 to 2016.

Earlier in her career, Dunst dated her Spider-Man co-star Tobey Maguire after meeting him on the movie’s set in 2001. They kept their relationship secret from the rest of the cast and crew, including director Sam Raimi. They broke up a little over a year later, even as their onscreen relationship continued in the other trilogy movies.

Dunst also dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal for about two years and musician Johnny Borrell in 2007.

Dunst has been candid about her past struggles with depression, particularly during her 20s. In May 2008, she revealed she had checked into the Cirque Lodge treatment center earlier that year. The actor went public with her diagnosis to dispel rumors she sought help for chronic drug and alcohol abuse. “I was struggling, and I had the opportunity to go somewhere and take care of myself,” she said . “I was fortunate to have the resources to do it. My friends and family thought it was a good idea, too.”

Dunst has said becoming a mother improved her mental health and helped her feel “really free.” In a 2021 interview with The Sunday Times , she encouraged anyone suffering from depression to be comfortable discussing symptoms and open to medication. “I was afraid to take something, and so I sat in it for too long. I would recommend getting help when you need it,” she said.

According to Celebrity Net Worth , Dunst’s total fortune is estimated around $25 million as of October 2023.

• I saw the power in women very young. I think that’s helped with… not needing male attention in my career.
• You really can’t explain the things you do. I can’t anyway.
• I write myself a note before I go to sleep on what I want to understand about who I’m playing. And if I don’t dream that night, I’ll just rewrite it again the next night until I do get a dream.
• I think a lot of a career is just your own personal taste really and what, as an actor, you want to do next and not fall into some trap of repetition.
• Ultimately, I want my children to grow up and be proud of me and not be embarrassed, you know, that, you know their mom kissed Spider-Man or something like that. I just hope that my career doesn’t embarrass them at all.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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Kirsten Dunst Says Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt Treated Her 'Like a Little Sister' on 1994 Movie Set

Dunst worked with Cruise and Pitt when she was just 12 years old on the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire

Kirsten Dunst is looking back to the special bond she formed with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt on the set of their 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire .

The trio starred in the thriller as vampires 25 years ago, and Dunst recalled her time with the blossoming A-Listers while appearing on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday. After Colbert asked if she remembered feeling how big of a deal it was to act opposite the two stars, Dunst, now 37, was quick to point out the age difference between her and Pitt, now 55, and Cruise, now 57.

“I did, but I was also very innocent,” Dunst said of starring with the heartthrobs at just 12 years old. “I feel like I watched Brad in A River Runs Through and Tom was in Far and Away , which I loved. They treated me like a little sister. It was very sweet, I was a very innocent 12 year old. I was just doing my job and they were very sweet to me.”

Dunst earned a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in a drama for her work in the movie.

The film also starred Christian Slater as a journalist interviewing Pitt’s character decades after the start of the movie, and featured Antonio Banderas as another vampire.

Dunst also talked about returning to work on her new show On Becoming a God in Central Florida while on the Late Show . The actress started filming the Showtime series five months after welcoming son Ennis with actor Jesse Plemons in May 2018.

“I was okay cause I had my mother-in-law, and family and friends would come visit so I always had people around me,” she said of being away from her baby. “It wasn’t so bad. It actually was a bit of a break from cleaning bottles.”

Dunst and Plemons, 31, began dating in 2016 after meeting on the set of season 2 of the FX series Fargo, where they played a married couple. News of their engagement surfaced in January 2017, when Dunst was spotted with what appeared to be an engagement ring at the Golden Globe Awards .

In June, the actress admitted expanding her family was definitely something she had in mind. “I’m at a stage in my life where I’m like, ‘I’ve been working since I was 3. It’s time to have babies and chill,’” she told Marie Claire U.K. for their July issue.

“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,” she added.

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When Kirsten Dunst revealed the special gift Interview With a Vampire co-star Tom Cruise sends her every year

Kirsten dunst and tom cruise share a love for coconut cakes and he sends one to her every christmas.

Actor Kirsten Dunst is back on the big screen with her latest release Civil War. Over the years she has starred in a bunch of popular movies such as the Spider-Man series, Marie Antoinette and other but she began her acting career very young. One of the earliest movies she starred in was Interview with a Vampire (1994). She starred with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the movie and once revealed how the former still stays in touch. (Also read: Kirsten Dunst reveals that her son ‘does not care’ about Spider-Man )

'Cruise Cakes'

During her appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2016, host Graham Norton asked Kirsten if 'Tom Cruise kept in touch since then.'

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Graham Norton Show (@thegrahamnortonshowofficial)

She replied, “Yeah, he gives me a cake every Christmas. We call it the Cruise cake at my house. It's just as coconut cake. It's the best coconut cake I've ever had in my life from Doan's bakery in the valley so sorry everybody, in England you can't have it unless you go to California. It's really good. And yeah, we get it every Christmas. Like all our family's like Cruise cake is here, it's like a major thing. That night we're like oh, thank you Tom. Yum love it.”

Kirsten and Tom's sweet beginnings

In 2021, Kirsten spoke to The Cut about how he was brought onboard the film with Tom's help. "Well, we're both from New Jersey. And we had this screen test where he had to pick up each little girl."

"I was the tallest one, and he was like, 'Tuck in your legs,' so that I looked really tiny in his arms," she explained to The Cut. "He was trying to help me out since Neil Jordan, the director, wanted to see how each girl looked when Tom picked us up because they wanted the character to look like a bit like a doll, a little girl."

Interview with the Vampire follows Louis, a 200-year-old vampire recounting his life story to a reporter. Turned into a vampire by Lestat, Louis struggles with his humanity, thirst for blood, and immortality. Their journey is complicated by Claudia, a child vampire with a mature mind, leading to conflicts and tragedies. The narrative explores themes of loneliness, morality, and the essence of human nature, set against a backdrop of different eras and locations.

About Civil War

Civil War, directed by Alex Garland of Ex Machina and Annihilation fame, revolves around a team of military-embedded journalists who embark on a risky journey across a dystopian future US to reach Washington DC before rebel factions attack the White House.

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Nick Offerman, the film will hit Indian screens on April 19.

Dedicated professionals who write about cinema and television in all their vibrancy. Expect views, reviews and news. ...view detail

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Kirsten Dunst Recalled Shooting “Interview With The Vampire” At Age 11 And Explained How Her Acting Coach Taught Her To Make “Sexy” Facial Expressions Without Being “Inappropriate”

It comes decades after then-12-year-old Kirsten described her controversial onscreen kiss with Brad Pitt — who was 31 at the time — as “weird” and “gross.”

BuzzFeed Staff

Last August, Kirsten Dunst’s past comments about her uncomfortable kiss with Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire resurfaced online.

Kirsten was just 11 when she starred as Claudia in the 1994 Neil Jordan movie, alongside Brad Pitt , who played Louis de Pointe du Lac, and Tom Cruise , who portrayed Lestat de Lioncourt. Both Brad and Tom were in their early 30s when the gothic horror was filmed.

At one point in the film, Claudia kisses Louis on the lips — something that has been deemed wildly controversial over the years, given the stark age difference between then-31-year-old Brad and 11-year-old Kirsten.

Ever since the movie was released, Kirsten has repeatedly maintained that she found it “weird” kissing Brad.

Shortly after filming had wrapped in 1994, Kirsten candidly said that she “hated” the kiss and found it “gross.” She told  Entertainment Tonight , “I hated [the kiss] so much because Brad was like my older brother on set and it's kind of like kissing your brother. It's weird because he's an older guy and I had to kiss him on the lips, so it was gross.”

A few years later, she once again noted that she was “so uncomfortable” while kissing Brad. “Kissing Brad was so uncomfortable for me. I remember saying in interviews that I thought it was gross, that Brad had cooties. I mean, I was 10,” she told  Interview magazine .

More recently, in 2021, Kirsten said that kissing Brad was one of the “worst” things she had to do in the film. “I was a little girl and he was like a brother to me and it was very weird even though it was a peck. I was very not into it,” she  said .

While Kirsten has clarified her thoughts on the controversial kiss, she has also maintained that she felt comfortable on set and was treated “like a princess.”

And now, Kirsten has looked back on her experience shooting Interview with the Vampire again in a new interview.

Sitting down with British GQ this week, Kirsten recalled how her acting coach taught her to make “sexy” facial expressions without being “inappropriate.”

“I worked very hard with my acting coach, and he would give me tools to make things look like maybe I had a sexy look on my face,” she said.

“He would say, ‘Pretend your brother’s looking for his toy and you know where it is, but you’re not gonna tell him.’ And that immediately gives someone a mischievous look without having to deal with any of the inappropriate things for that age,” she explained.

Kirsten went on to note that she felt “very protected on set.”

“I felt like Brad’s little sister, and Tom made me feel like a princess. At Christmas time, he put this gorgeous tree in my dressing room. They just spoiled me in a really sweet way,” she said.

You can watch Kirsten’s full British GQ interview here .

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Kirsten Dunst Still Gets Tom Cruise’s Coconut Cake 30 Years After ‘Interview with the Vampire’

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Kirsten Dunst and Tom Cruise have not worked together for three decades, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still have a sweet connection.

In fact, Dunst, 41, is one of the lucky celebrities who Cruise, 61, famously sends a $126 white chocolate coconut bundt cake to from Doan’s Bakery each year.

“I’m still getting that cake,” the actress revealed during a Tuesday, April 9, interview with Entertainment Tonight .

She added that her husband of two years also gets the tasty gift, explaining, “ Jesse [Plemons] gets the cake, [too], so we’re doubling up on our cake.”

Cobie Smulders, Kirsten Dunst and More Celebs Who’ve Been Gifted a Coconut Cake From Tom Cruise

Cruise also sends the coconut cake to his other famous friends, including Tom Hanks , Jon Hamm and Rosie O’Donnell .

This isn’t the first time Dunst has raved about receiving the dessert. In 2016, she spoke about it while she was on the Graham Norton Show .

"He gives me a cake every Christmas," she explained. “We call it the Cruise cake at my house. It's the best coconut cake I've ever had in my life."

Dunst and Cruise first worked together on the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire , which was based on Anne Rice 's 1976 novel of the same name and tells the story of what it might really be like to be a vampire that’s lived hundreds of years.

At the time of the project, Dunst was just 11 years old and she’s previously stated that Cruise helped her land the part of Claudia.

"I auditioned many, many times for this role. This was also a huge deal for me. This was my, you know, breakout role," Dunst recalled in a 2021 interview with People . "And then I had another screen test after that with Tom Cruise, and I remember I was the tallest of all the young girls. He had to pick each one of us up and, like, carry us around just to see how we looked Tom and who looked the most childlike.”

24 Movies We Can’t Wait to See in 2024: From ‘Mean Girls’ to ‘Dune: Part Two’

Dunst says she was nervous she wasn’t short enough for the part until Cruise gave her a tip that changed everything.

“I remember Tom whispering to me, 'Tuck your legs under' so I'd look as tiny as possible 'cause I was the tallest girl, so I knew he was kind of like rooting for me. We were both from New Jersey, and I think, you know, he was like, 'Let this Jersey girl have it.’”

Dunst not only ended up getting casted for that part, but she ended up earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1995. Though she lost to Miranda Richardson for her role in Fatherlan, Dunst has gone on to star in many projects including the upcoming movie Civil War , which hits theaters, Friday, April 12.

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How Long Do People Get Tom Cruise's Famous Christmas Cake? Kirsten Dunst Gets Candid After Working With The Actor 30 Years Ago

Is there an expiration date to receiving a holiday gift from Tom Cruise?

The tale of the famous Tom Cruise Christmas Cake is a Hollywood legend, but unlike most legends, this one is actually true. Every year around Christmas time, Cruise sends out white chocolate coconut bundt cake to some of his former co-stars and friends as a holiday gift from the Mission: Impossible actor. It’s an honor to get on the Christmas cake list, with celebs celebrating when they get the honor. However, many have wondered how long your name lasts on the list, and if there is an expiration date for how long you will receive a cake after working with Cruise on a movie. Kirsten Dunst worked with the actor 30 years ago, and is offering some insight.

It’s been three decades since Tom Cruise and Kirsten Dunst collaborated on The Interview with the Vampire. Dunst was only 11 years old at the time, and it was one of her first big on screen roles. Due to this collaboration, even before her teenage years, the Marie Antoinette actress earned a place on Cruise’s Christmas cake list. As it turns out, this is the gift that keeps on giving. The Oscar nominee told Entertainment Tonight that even after all these years, she is still receiving the cake each December, saying:

Still getting that cake

I guess there is no bounds for how long someone can continue getting that dessert, so excited co-star Glen Powell who recently made the cake list can expect to receive a package from Cruise every year with no end in sight. Years may pass between Top Guns and other potential collaborations, but time doesn’t seem to get you kicked off the cake list. Once you are on the exclusive list, you are on it for life. For Dunst, it must act as a nice reminder of some of her early acting days, and the experience she had at the beginning of her career. Also according to Tom Hanks, the cake is delicious, so who wouldn’t want to still be included?

Dunst also revealed that she is amongst one of Cruise’s luckiest former co-stars, as her household not only gets one but two Christmas cakes from the Jerry Maguire actor. Dunst’s husband is frequent collaborator Jesse Plemons, who she just worked with a third time on Alex Garland ’s Civil War. Plemons has an impressive filmography of his own, and additionally worked with Cruise on American Made . This earned him his own Christmas cake, and therefore, their household receives double the cake around the holidays. She said:

Jesse gets the cakes so we double up on our cakes.

This is a pretty cool flex. While A-listers like Michael Bay and Hayley Atwell can get excited about gorgeous bundt cake delivered year after year, not many can claim that they get two sent to their house. This makes me think if there is any other doubling up happening on the cake front. Cruise has worked with couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz individually as well, on Collateral and Vanilla Sky respectively, so I’d love to hear if they are also getting multiple cakes. With such a prolific career like Cruise, I wonder if he’ll ever draw a line in the sand. However, after that impressive Top Gun: Maverick payday, there is probably enough cake money to go around.

When Kirsten Dunst isn’t receiving gorgeous Christmas cakes from former co-stars, she is starring in some of the best movies in recent memory . You can see her in her latest film, Civil War, which is getting great reactions from critics and is currently playing in theaters nationwide. For more information on other exciting titles hitting the big screen later this year, make sure to consult our 2024 movie release schedule .

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After Kirsten Dunst Complained It's Hard To Find Gigs That Aren't 'Sad Mom' Roles, She Signed On For A Doozy With Keanu Reeves

K irsten Dunst has been acting since she was a child . In that time she’s played a lot of different parts. Today, however, the actress has said that a lot of the roles she’s been offered have been very similar. Maybe that’s why the movie she most recently signed on is one of the more unique ideas we’ve heard about in a long time. 

Kirsten Dunst has been a vampire, Spider-Man’s MJ, and Marie Antoinette, and her last role, The Power of the Dog , earned her an Oscar nomination . Many stars see their offers increase following awards nods like that, and that may have happened with Dunst, but the actress says she turned down many jobs because the roles were all the same. 

What Kirsten Dunst Said About Only Being Offered “Sad Mom” Roles 

When Kisten Dunst returned to the screen as part of the 2024 movie release Civil War , it was the first movie she had made in a couple of years. She made clear that the reason she hadn’t worked wasn’t that she hadn’t been offered roles, but that a lot of those roles were very similar, and that they weren’t the sorts of roles she wanted to take. Dunst told Vanity Fair …

I haven’t worked in two years. Every role I was being offered was the sad mom.

Many actresses have complained that when they hit a certain age, the sorts of roles they get offered change significantly, and the variety of roles that were once there seems to dry up. It seems that Dunst has found herself in that situation. Alex Garland’s Civil War was a unique movie, which enticed Dunst to get involved, and it seems the same thing has happened with her newest project.

Kirsten Dunst Has Joined Cast Of New Keanu Reeves Film 

Ruben Östlund, the director of Oscar nominee Triangle of Sadness will next helm the movie The Entertainment System Is Down . The movie is a social satire that will be set on a long-haul plane flight where the internal entertainment system will fail, forcing the passengers to confront their boredom or to interact with each other.

Keanu Reeves was already reportedly on board the unusual film, and Deadline now reports that Kirsten Dunst and Daniel Brühl have also joined the cast. While no details of Dunst’s character are known, it seems unlikely she’s set to play a “sad mom.” Although a mom on a long plane flight with no entertainment system to entertain her kids would certainly fit in such a story. 

Clearly, Dunst is willing to say no rather than take roles she's not interested in, so we can be sure when we do see her it's in performances that interest her. The Entertainment System is Down certainly sounds like an intriguing choice. the film is set to go in front of cameras early ext year. 

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Kirsten Dunst lands next movie role following Civil War success

She's joining Keanu Reeves in a chaotic satire.

The Spider-Man and The Power of the Dog actor will be starring alongside John Wick and The Matrix 's Keanu Reeves and Captain America: Civil War 's Daniel Brühl in The Entertainment System is Down .

The film will be a social satire from Triangle of Sadness director Ruben Östlund and it'll be set along a long-haul flight where, well, the title of the film happens and chaos ensues.

Related: Kirsten Dunst wasn't asked back for Spider-Man: No Way Home

Deadline , which reported Dunst and Brühl's casting, states that further big-name casting is expected to be confirmed ahead of its production in early 2025, and that a full-scale plane will be used for the film's set.

The outlet also reported that the director was inspired by a Virginia University study. The study found people were so unhappy being left alone in a room with nothing but their thoughts for between six and 15 minutes, two thirds of men and a quarter of the women surveyed claimed they would rather subject themselves to painful electric shocks.

Civil War has made around $110 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest films released by studio A24, on top of receiving a positive critical reception.

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That wasn't always a given, however, as Dunst admitted in an interview with Digital Spy that she thought people could have easily hated it .

"I've had a lot of anxiety about this movie coming out and being reviewed, because it could go either way. You put yourself out there," she told us earlier this year.

"I feel like without risk there is no reward, and Alex [Garland, the director] is really a provocative filmmaker and someone who I wanted to work with for a long time. I was relieved when the reviews came out, let's put it that way," she added.

Civil War is still showing in cinema.

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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer and resident Welsh person at Digital Spy , having worked there since 2016. 

In his time he's covered a host of live events, interviewed celebrities big and small and crowbarred a countless amount of great/awful (delete as appropriate) puns into articles. 

A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe's main interest is in video gaming. Although particularly a PlayStation gamer, he plays across Xbox, Nintendo and PC/Steam Deck, and likes to keep tabs on many games he's not got the time to play.

Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish (which you really should do).

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Remote improv and drunk bbqs: how kirsten dunst, daniel brühl got cast in ruben östlund’s new film.

The stars joined the 'Triangle of Sadness' director in Cannes to pitch 'The Entertainment System Is Down,' in which they play a couple caught on a long-haul flight with no onboard entertainment.

By Scott Roxborough

Scott Roxborough

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Kirsten Dunst said she “sobbed like a happy child at Disneyland” when Ruben Östlund cast her to star in The Entertainment System Is Down , the Swedish director’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated The Triangle of Sadness . “Who doesn’t want to work with Ruben?” the Civil War actress said, speaking at a press event for the film in Cannes .

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“I’m pretty sure that if we took away entertainment from our society, the divorce rate would go up very drastically,” said Östlund, “that’s part of what we’re going to investigate.”

Dunst said she got the role after sending Östlund an improv scene involving her as the bored woman trying to unlock her husband’s phone while he is asleep on the flight.

“It turns out she doesn’t have the code, so she tries to unlock it with face ID,” said Östlund, recalling the scene. “But he has his mouth open. So she has to very carefully close his mouth. She manages to unlock the phone. And then, of course, finds out he’s been having affairs with younger women, so they are going to deal with this during this ride.”

For Daniel Brühl the key to getting cast in Östlund’s new film was getting himself, and the director, very drunk. After meeting Östlund at an event in Cannes a few years ago, Brühl invited him to a barbeque at his home on Majorca.

“I got the best wine, the best fish,” recalled Brühl, “and I was preparing all the clever things that I could say to this great auteur. [Then] within a second, I lost all my restraints, and we had the most wonderful conversation. Along the way, Ruben said: ‘Maybe you could be in my film.'”

“Daniel got very drunk and started to open up about his family life,” corrected Östlund, who said it was the German actor’s emotional honesty that convinced him he was right for the role. “It was really like, no, bullshit, you know? Because we all know what it’s like to be in a relationship, when even if you love somebody, the struggles that come with that,” he said, “we were able to talk as human beings and say ‘seriously, let’s cut the bullshit.'”

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Tom Cruise  and Alejandro González Iñárritu are making a splash in Spain -- literally.

The Mission: Impossible star and The Revenant director were spotted shirtless in picturesque Mallorca while enjoying a swim at Formentor beach in Pollensa, one of the most famous beaches on the island. The photo, taken Saturday, shows them having an animated conversation but in a super fun way. They're both sporting shorts and wet hair during a swim break. The duo had been aboard a large sailboat enjoying some downtime.

It's unclear at this moment if they're working on a project in Spain, but the outing comes some three months after Deadline  reported that Iñárritu was close to inking a deal with Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment for an upcoming as-yet-untitled film starring Cruise.

Iñárritu is set to produce and direct the film. He also co-wrote the script in 2023 with Sabina Berman, Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolas Giacobone. Cruise is also producing. According to multiple reports, the plot and any other information is being kept under tight wraps.

Whatever the case, this project would mark Iñárritu's first English-language movie since the 2015 action drama, The Revenant , starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which earned Iñárritu an Oscar for Best Director and DiCaprio one for Best Actor. Iñárritu also directed 2014's  Birdman , which received Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.

Cruise's collaboration with Iñárritu at Warner Bros. will mark his first with the studio since he struck a lucrative -- albeit, not an exclusive -- deal with the studio back in January, according to The Hollywood Reporter . For the better part of a decade, Cruise has been working on his Mission: Impossible and  Top Gun  franchises at Paramount.

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