Mary Jane's come a long way from the first Spider-Man movie and so has the actress who plays her onscreen. Kirsten Dunst has kept busy in front of the cameras since the early 90s when, at the tender age of 11, she captured the attention of audiences by starring opposite Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire. Two dozen or so movies later, Dunst is wrapping up (maybe) the most recognizable role of her career thus far with Spider-Man 3.
Kirsten Dunst on the Lasting Appeal of Spider-Man: “Spider-Man is every man. If he can be a hero, you can be a hero. It’s always had very relatable story lines in this fantastical world, yet Sam manages to ground it with the people he’s cast. That’s always attracted interesting actors to play our villains. It’s an international story. Who can’t relate to falling in love? Getting into fights with your best friend? Or feeling like your work is killing you? That’s why.”
The Evolution of Mary Jane: “On this one, they’re finally together and she is successful in what she’s doing, and he’s been embraced by the city of New York and getting all these accolades. It’s blown his head up a little bit. Slowly, we start to unravel Mary Jane. Their relationship, they’re already ignoring things within that. It doesn’t help that he takes on this other darkness that envelopes his character, and brings out all the things he’s not dealing with in his life, all his anger really heightens that.”
Kirsten Dunst has also evolved during the last six years of working on the Spider-Man movies. “Well, for me, I think on the first movie I was so much younger, impressionable and insecure so I didn’t have the confidence that I have as an actress today,” said Dunst. “I cared what people thought and I was performing more for other people instead of myself. We’ve grown up. With each film, we’ve become more and more collaborative. This last one has been three individuals coming together as equal adults collaborating on a film. You’re not that when you’re a teenager; you’ve got to grow into that.”
Walking a Fine Line: Dunst never wanted her performance to be over the top. “You’re in fantastical situations, but I hope I didn’t. It gets sticky when you get to the blue-screen stuff; I just forgive myself for bad acting when it comes to those things. If I’m good in that, it’s just incredible, because those things are hard to do. I had no idea what was going to be in the film, and some of those lines are hard to pull off, too.”
Cutting Loose on the Dance Floor: Dunst didn’t really need any lessons for Spider-Man 3's dance scene. “I can do the twist. I dance. They brought me all the way down to Culver City and I was like, ‘Why are we here? Twist lessons. Are you kidding me? You brought me all the way down here to do the twist?’ It’s not the hardest dance in the world. I did a twist lesson with James [Franco], helped him out a little bit.”
And speaking of dancing, watching Tobey Maguire dance in character provided some light moments on the set. “It was so funny and I had to have a reaction to Peter of, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ But I couldn’t even do it because when I’d see Tobey, I’d laugh when he was dancing. It’s so ridiculous. And I had to be in a shocked, what’s-happened-to-Peter mode. Meanwhile, he’s doing all these pelvic twists and thrusts. I couldn’t watch him do it anymore.”
Red is Just as Much Fun as Blonde: “It was nice. I liked the color. I like the man who did my hair, Manny. He’s a real connoisseur. I like that Mary Jane doesn’t look perfect, and her hair’s grown out. Manny is specific and it’s nice to have people around that let you do your thing but are also supportive.”
Kirsten Dunst Doesn’t Dream of Being a Superhero: The fact she never got in on much of the superhero action doesn’t bother Dunst in the least. “Honestly, I have absolutely no interest in being a superhero. I got to throw a cinderblock in this one, which was fine. That’s enough action for me. If I were to do any superhero-esque film, I’d do some werewolf, avant-garde in-the-streets-of Paris or something.”
Spider-Man Heads to Broadway: The news broke that Spider-Man was going to hit the stage while the cast of Spider-Man 3 was busy on their press tour. Reacting to the news, Dunst said, “Yeah, that’s amazing. I heard about it today. U2? That’s incredible. That’s the coolest ever. I mean, Julie Taymor directing? I was shocked because usually when they do that kind of reinvention thing, they get a little cheesy. But that’s incredible.”
The Success of the Spider-Man Movies: Dunst believes she knows why the Spider-Man films have been so well-received. “We never rested on our laurels. We are all passionate for this franchise. The producers, the heads of Sony, all of us want to make a great movie. Of course, it’s about box office for the studio at the end of the day, but we don’t want to produce just to produce. We really care for it. These people are so important to us. Sam was working up to the last second giving over to the film. Sam is such a hard worker.”
The End of the First Spider-Man Trilogy: “This is definitely the end to this trilogy. We’ve closed this chapter. But if Sam and Tobey and I were to come back together, we’d definitely be doing another movie.”
Dunst says she hasn’t yet had a chance to sit down and discuss the possibility of Spider-Man being over with either Sam Raimi or Tobey Maguire. But Dunst does know for sure that without Maguire, she won’t be returning. Dunst’s MJ needs to remain with Maguire’s Spider-Man. “Right,” agreed Dunst. “Hands down, yes.”
On Her Dream Role: “I really want to make a Roman Polanski-esque Repulsion or Rosemary’s Baby. But there’s nobody making those movies. The Others was the closest you got to it. If I had one dream director it would be Roman Polanski.”
