‘THE OLDER I GET, THE MORE FREEDOM I FEEL LIKE I’VE EXPERIENCED.’ KIRSTEN DUNST
Oh, wow. Fancy! Crudite?” laughs Kirsten Dunst, offering Total Film a raw vegetable stick. No sooner has our chat with the star begun than she’s brought a show-offy plate (on a stand, complete with glass-domed cover) to sate her peckishness. “This looks so dramatic, right? Oh my God. It’s really funny. I needed a snack.”
If this is a highfalutin take on elevenses, Dunst herself couldn’t be more down to earth. TF has rocked up to London’s Corinthia Hotel on the morning of the London Film Festival premiere of Dunst’s latest film, The Power Of The Dog, to discuss a career she has been working [on] for almost her entire life, having started out in commercials aged three, and appearing in her first feature just three years later.
While the circumstances might seem impossibly glamorous, newish mum Dunst is just relieved to be in bed alone for a short time. “I’ve been soaking in the sleeping time the most,” she laughs. “Because I know London, I don’t need to go out to dinner. I don’t need to do much. I’d rather be in the bed!”
The Power Of The Dog marks one of Dunst’s toughest-ever roles, by her own admission. In Jane Campion’s first feature in 12 years, she plays Rose, a “suicide widow” working in a restaurant in 1920s Montana, with her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). She’s soon remarried to kindly George Burbank (Dunst’s real-life fiance and father of her children Jesse Plemons), but she and Peter are mercilessly taunted by George’s charismatic but domineering brother Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) when they move onto the family ranch. Rose’s nerves are so shredded by Phil’s mistreatment, she turns to the bottle for refuge.
It’s a performance of lived-in authenticity that’s attracting awards buzz alongside Cumberbatch’s showier lead role. It’s a great example of the character work Dunst is capable of, further proof of the range she’s been demonstrating since breaking out as the world-weary Claudia in Interview With The Vampire, which she filmed when she was just 10. Early roles included Jumanji and Little Women, before veering into high-school material with films like Bring It On and Get Over It, and crucially, The Virgin Suicides, which started a (to date) four-film collaboration with Sofia Coppola.
Sam Raimi’s box-office-conquering, era-heralding trilogy is Dunst’s major foray into the blockbuster world. Outside of those films she’s tended to grapple with thoughtful drama (, , ), and the occasional comedy ).
