The story of how Sofia Coppola “empowered” Kirsten Dunst
American actor Kirsten Dunst has appeared on our screens since she was a child, earning recognition for her role in Interview with the Vampire when she was just 11 years old. She grew up under the spotlight, appearing in successful titles such as Little Women, Jumanji, Anastasia and Wag the Dog through the 1990s.
By the end of the decade, Dunst was a teen icon, starring in many youth-oriented comedies such as Dick, Strike! and Drop Dead Gorgeous. This run of success continued into the 2000s, with the actor appearing in movies like Bring It On before transitioning to adult roles, finding significant acclaim as Mary Jane in Spider-Man.
However, one of Dunst’s most important roles from this period was The Virgin Suicides, released in 1999. The film was Sofia Coppola’s debut, marking the start of an impressive cinematic career. While the movie follows the five Lisbon sisters, Dunst’s Lux becomes the main focus. The beautiful yet bleak tale was the first of four collaborations between Dunst and Coppola, who reunited for Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring (although Dunst only made a small cameo) and The Beguiled.
Discussing her first time working with Dunst, Coppola told Vanity Fair: “I loved working with Kirsten. I mean, obviously, I guess. That’s when we met and had our first connection. We just clicked right away, and she knew what I had in mind… she was really there for me.”
Dunst has since opened up about her love for working with Coppola, who made the young actor feel truly understood and respected when she was still in the early days of her career. Talking to Netflix, Dunst explained that on the set of The Virgin Suicides was “the first time I was seen as, like, a beautiful woman, and have it be a female who gave me that.”
During the filming of The Virgin Suicides, Dunst was on the cusp of adulthood, and she described that as a “weird age” to be in Hollywood. She continued, “It was very empowering for me at that age in terms of the way I felt about myself and my beauty.”
She revealed that Coppola “just gave me a lot of confidence that I carried throughout my career in terms of producers wanting to fix my teeth. People just trying to change and manipulate young actresses in a way to make them the same. She made me feel beautiful for who I was. That was a very pivotal time in my life to feel that way and to be given that.”
The pair have remained close friends since The Virgin Suicides, and the pair will hopefully reunite for another project in the future. Together, they remain one of the greatest director-actor partnerships in modern cinema, bringing out the best in each other, subsequently resulting in some incredible work.
