Kirsten Dunst (pictured) said she would have joined the cast of the latest Spider Man had she been asked
Kirsten Dunst would happily have joined the ‘boys’ in the blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home — had she only been invited.
Instead, the actress can be seen giving a sublime performance in Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog (streaming now on Netflix), as a woman hurled into psychological despair after being shunned by her brother-in-law (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Twenty years ago, Dunst played Peter Parker’s girl Mary Jane Watson in the first three Spidey movies — opposite Tobey Maguire as the teenage webslinger.
Maguire and fellow Spider-Man alumnus Andrew Garfield were magically brought back to life in No Way Home, to join current Spidey Tom Holland, thanks to the sorcery of Doctor Strange … played by her Power Of The Dog co-star Cumberbatch. (And before you squawk, this is hardly a plot spoiler, given that the film’s been out for seven weeks now.)
‘Apparently people flipped out when they saw Tobey,’ Dunst said, adding: ‘I would have participated, if asked.’
She’s not seen the film yet. ‘I saw some clips,’ she said, and decided it looked a little violent for her three-and-a-half year old son Ennis (‘he’s more of a Lego guy’), not to mention nine-month-old James.
Marvel movies always have good actors in them, she commented, ‘and you get paid a lot of money to do them, too’.
She’d love to play a Marvel baddie one day, but feels she’s so enmeshed in the Spider-Man universe that her dream would prove impossible.
Dunst joined the Marvel universe as Mary-Jane Watson in the Spider-Man movies between 2002 and 2007. Pictured: Tobey Maguire and Dunst share a memorable kiss in the first film
Tom Holland as Spider Man and Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Strange in the most recent instalment which also featured actors from past films including Maguire and Andrew Garfield
Dunst isn’t part of industrial Hollywood any more. She’s much happier working with the likes of Sofia Coppola, Lars von Trier (when he’s behaving himself) and Campion.
The latter’s The Power Of The Dog received eight nominations yesterday in the Bafta film awards … including ones for Campion and Cumberbatch — though surprisingly none for Dunst.
Her real-life partner Jesse Plemons, who plays rancher George Burbank, brother to Cumberbatch’s Phil, got a nod, too. George has just married Kirsten’s Rose, who comes to the relationship complete with her grown-up son, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (also nominated).
Dunst told me she dug deep into past ‘pain’ to capture the extreme mental pressure Rose is under, as a result of Phil’s bullying.
Kirsten Dunst’s latest role was in the Jane Campion film The Power of the Dog out last year
Dunst (pictured) plays a woman hurled into despair after being shunned by her brother-in-law
She dredged up old feelings, from her late teens to early 20s: stuff that could ‘make you feel bad, real easily’.
Like the memory of a guy in her life who was controlling, ‘making me feel bad about something, being gaslit, basically. I felt that before — in work and in a relationship — as I’m sure many people have.’
Growing up in the business, she felt actresses — younger actresses in particular — were under pressure to be ‘much more pleasing’ to those in positions of power. ‘It’s please, please, please!’ she cried, in mock despair.
And she had to go into those feelings, ‘and magnify them’, to play Rose.
In the film, she and Cumberbatch barely speak to each other — so they practised that, for real. ‘Jane gave Benedict permission not to be nice Benedict,’ she recalled.
As a result, they wouldn’t interact, on or off set, unless they happened to bump into each other on the weekend, when out with their families. At which point ‘he basically would apologise’.
Pictured: Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon in Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog on Netflix
The austere landscape on location in New Zealand added to the oppressive atmosphere during filming.
Now back in the States, Dunst, Plemons and their children are living in Austin, Texas, while he films a crime drama called Love And Death.
Dunst told me she’s not scared of catching Covid — but needs to be careful, because if Plemons gets it, the TV production will shut down. So when the family eat together, it’s outside. Easier there than here, I imagine.
Next month, she’s headed back to work herself for the first time since setting off on her New Zealand adventure, when Ennis was barely two.
She will star in Alex Garland’s new film Civil War; the plot of which is still under wraps, but which according to the actress is ‘about a civil war that’s basically happening now’.
REJOICE AT THE SOUNDS OF MUSICALS
The new original musical, Operation Mincemeat, that has been playing to packed houses at the fringe Southwark Playhouse, arrived south of the river by way of independent theatre company SpitLip, after it was commissioned by the New Diorama Theatre (located across the street from Regent’s Park) and the Lowry in Salford.
The show is based on a true WWII secret mission, involving the use of a corpse to mislead Hitler over attacks in Greece and Sardinia.
On Tuesday night I shared pizza with Ian McKellen in the Playhouse bar before watching it.
There are efforts to get Operation Mincemeat transferred into a West End house. The difficulty is finding the right one. A big theatre would ruin its intimate atmosphere.
Operation Mincemeat cast: Claire-Marie Hall with Hodgson, Cumming, Roberts and Malone
The Almeida Theatre’s sizzling version of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening
I had a smashing time — as much fun as I had when I saw The Drifters Girl in Newcastle (it’s now packing them in at the Garrick with its toe-tapping re-creations of old Drifters hits).
Both are best musical contenders, in my book — with Mincemeat being a wholly original best musical.
Neither was developed by the mighty duo of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, but emerged from independent producers.
The Almeida Theatre’s sizzling version of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening also needs to transfer.
Gary Goetzman, the Hollywood producer, has the film rights to that show and he’d like the Almeida’s Rupert Goold to direct a movie version, too (though it would require some star casting to get it off the ground).
Suddenly, there’s a sense of hope in the air. Boy, have people worked hard for it.
