The performance Kirsten Dunst needs everyone to see: “She was just so alive”
Kirsten Dunst has delivered some unforgettable performances throughout her career, but even the most seasoned actors have their idols. For Dunst, one of the most powerful and enduring inspirations comes from a gritty classic – anchored by a performance that left a permanent mark on her as both a fan and an artist.
Dunst is one of the rare Hollywood stars who has already accomplished a tremendous amount within her career, but will likely still be relevant for many years based on how young she was when she started acting. It’s rare that child actors land roles that prove themselves worthy of being taken seriously, but Dunst’s breakout parts in Gillian Armstrong’s adaptation of Little Women and Neil Jordan’s version of Interview With The Vampire proved that she was a talent who would be around to stay.
One of the many reasons why Dunst seems to keep getting better is that she is a true cinephile who clearly knows her way around classic movies. Although there are many actors who will only watch movies that were released within their lifetime, Dunst said in an interview with Backstage that she drew inspiration from the performance by Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a classic drama that was directed by Martin Scorsese.
“It’s one of my favorite Martin Scorsese movies,” Dunst said. “I wish he would do another female lead. She was just so alive.”
Although Scorsese is occasionally lambasted for not featuring prominent female characters in his films, some of his critics overlook the wonderful performances he got out of Sharon Stone in Casino, Chloe Grace Moretz in Hugo, and Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon. In fact, Scorsese has another female-centric project that he is currently working on, as Jennifer Lawrence is set to star in his next film, What Happens at Night.
Dunst might’ve slightly missed the mark with her take on Scorsese, but she wasn’t wrong about Ellen Burstyn. While the ‘70s gave us plenty of grounded family dramas, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore stood out for its raw, honest look at poverty and single parenthood – told with genuine care rather than cliché. Burstyn’s performance as a struggling mum hit especially hard, made all the more powerful considering it came just a year after her legendary turn in The Exorcist.
Dunst’s praise for the film seems to be not just related to the character, but in the way that Burstyn played it. Although it was a deeply moving story, Dunst indicated that Burstyn’s performance worked because of how palpable her emotions felt.
“The type of acting that I like, that feels real,” Dunst said. “It’s not performative. It comes from a real place, and she’s experiencing real emotions in that moment.”
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is still cited as Burstyn’s greatest performance, even if she is also well-regarded for her work in The Last Picture Show, Requiem For A Dream, and, more recently, Pieces of a Woman. Burstyn is still actively involved in the industry, but it does feel like her talents are not completely being taken advantage of; she last showed up to reprise her most famous role in the legacy sequel The Exorcist: Believer, which was considered to be a massive disappointment and led to a reconfiguring of the entire franchise.
Should Burstyn ever need a younger co-star to work with, it seems like Dunst would be more than willing to oblige. They’re roles haven’t been as far apart as one might think; Burstyn recently appeared in the science fiction drama Lucy in the Sky from director Noah Hawley, who also cast both Dunst and her future husband Jesse Plemons in the second season of the FX drama Fargo.
