Kirsten Dunst
Interview By: Steve Moreau
SteveMoreau@TheCinemaSource.com
In a town like Hollywood, where young beautiful starlets are a dime a dozen, Kirsten Dunst seems to keep rising to the top. She has done it all. Big budget action movies like Spiderman, the fluff stuff that we all secretly love like the high school cheerleading movie, Bring It On, and the artsy, respectable stuff like Virgin Suicides and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But with her new film, Elizabethtown, she explains why she chose to work with Crowe, how she met sensitive stud and current teen heartthrob Orlando Bloom, and reveals to TheCinemaSource.com why she can never travel alone.
Don't think that Dunst has always just gotten lucky with scoring major movie roles; she has known what she wanted to do since childhood. Since the tender age of 3, she began in show business by doing commercials, and at the age of 7 had made her feature film debut in Woody Allen's New York Stories. Not bad for her first movie. Her breakout role in Interview With A Vampire by the age of 11 had her very first big screen kiss, with Brad Pitt no less, a supporting role in a major studio film that did well critically and commercially, and cemented her staying power in Hollywood.
In Elizabethtown she plays the quirky Claire Coburn who meets Bloom's character, Drew Baylor, on a flight to Louisville, Kentucky en route to his father's funeral. Although, Dunst almost missed out on her chance to play the plucky flight attendant having already been attached to M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. She auditioned for Cameron, who made her listen to It'll All Work Out by Tom Petty (which winds up on the soundtrack) before the audition. "It's a beautiful song. We all know Tom Petty, but that song I have never heard before," Dunst confesses, who auditioned for the role of Penny Lane in Almost Famous several years back, along with Kate Hudson, for Crowe. The two hit it off and he cast her as Claire. She dropped out of The Village, a role that eventually went to Bryce Dallas Howard, and began to rehearse for Elizabethtown.
"We rehearsed so much on this film, Cameron likes to rehearse a lot," Dunst gushes. "We did a good month [of rehearsal] in LA for 2 weeks and in Kentucky for 2 or 3 weeks. It worked for this movie, but a lot of movies I would have been pulling my hair out probably." The movie does have its share of lengthy scenes that are very dialogue driven, but what makes Elizabethtown different than any of her other work is the story. "I think because there are so many relationships that are so complicated, Cameron's movies are kinda written like plays almost," Dunst admits. If you look at Crowe's other work like Jerry Maguire, you immediately garner a sense that he likes to combine the essence of a romance with a deft sense of humor. He always makes the leads always so relatable. Dunst further explains, "There is too much thought involved to just go on set and go be like, 'what are we doing''"
When preparing for a part, Dunst usually would have had to research a role, but this film came a bit easier for the young thespian. "My mom was an airline stewardess for 10 years for Lufthansa Airlines. She had the more glamorous stewardess life, champagne, caviar, they just had a ball. Claire's idea of what it is she does is probably more glamorous [than what it actually is]," Dunst reveals. Just how much of the role is actually the real Kirsten' "I put all of myself into her, to make her as real as possible. I can relate to the whole 'people pleasing' thing, growing up [an actress] doing what I did."
At this point in her career, Dunst has her choice of roles. She has played everything from a valley girl cheerleader in Bring It On to a gorgeous wannabe prom queen in Drop Dead Gorgeous. Although, it was Crowe's writing that attracted her to the script. "[In Cameron's films] the guy's the one who is always in distress, and a woman comes in and she's an amazing woman." Dunst pondered on who just might be Crowe's muse. "Nancy [his wife] must be amazing and motivate his life in a huge way. It's reflective in all of his movies. He writes his female parts so well, and so carefully." Although, perhaps it was the prospect of working with Bloom that really attracted her to the project. "This was the first time I met Orlando," Dunst confesses, "We hadn't read together before this. He seemed very open, sweet, vulnerable, someone I could definitely work with, get to know, and appreciate. We are still friends."
The two began working together, and instantly the sparks flew. Some reports had the twosome hooking up off-screen, but those reports were never reported to be true. "When you care about somebody, and take the time to get to know someone, you automatically care. Whoever I work with, you have to get to know the person, and your working relationship should be more of a team."
The two definitely heat up the big screen, but in the beginning of the movie, there isn't a whole lot of interaction between the two. In fact, some of the best scenes happen while they have a steamy phone call that last into the wee hours of the morning. Crowe apparently made a cut of about 15-20 minutes of footage after a screening at the Toronto Film Festival, with much of that being the steamy conversation. Dunst mentioned that there will be a lot of DVD extras of the phone conversation because it was the most improvised part of the film. He did keep his priorities in check, and made a killer soundtrack that includes wife Wilson, Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, My Morning Jacket, and Crowe soundtrack staple, Elton John. It truly reflects the somber moods and resilient moments of the star crossed lovers, and has some toting it as the best soundtrack to any Crowe movie ever.
Although, if the tables were turned, and Dunst was meeting someone as talkative as Claire for the first time, things may not gone as smoothly as it did with Bloom's character. "I don't like traveling by myself, so usually I'm sitting with someone I'm with. If I was on a plane with someone who came up to me and wouldn't stop talking I would be annoyed," Dunst relays. "It's the vibe you put out, sometimes you are in a chatty mood and sometimes it's like headphones' Do not disturb."
Expect other big movies from Dunst, who will begin shooting Spiderman 3 with Tobey Maguire and new bad guys Thomas Hayden Church and Topher Grace in January. She is also working on her own production company with her mother, Wooden Spoon Productions. But perhaps the most eagerly awaited project by Dunst is a film she already has in the pipeline for next fall, Marie Antoinette, directed by her former Suicides helmer Sophia Coppola. It is based on the life of the former Queen, and was filmed in spring of 2005 in Paris and Versailles. Just don't expect a history lesson! "It's not a history piece. It's not like that really, all the characters are there, and it's really about a woman and her struggles to be a woman. She's very childlike."
"You know Sophia's movies are pretty much about women who are leads in their not prettiest forms, in their sadness and loneliness," Dunst explains further, The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, and Marie Antoinette - it's kinda like a trilogy; a part of Sophia that is a running theme for her."
Dunst summed up the film with, "Sophia does things cool, so it will be good."
