Issue Date: October 9, 2005
No Longer the Girl Next Door
In her new movie, "Elizabethtown," and in life, actress Kirsten Dunst grows up.
By Frappa Stout
Kirsten Dunst is proof: Modesty can be sexy. The actress, with her alabaster skin, wide-set blue eyes and cute, jaggedy smile, is admittedly not the cover girl of choice for steamy men's magazines. Usually portrayed as the girl next door, with sunflowers and lots of yellow and white, Dunst in person is definitely more hippie-chick than sexpot. Her reed-thin body seems curveless under a gray silk sack-dress by trendy New York designer Daryl K, and her long, tan legs are shoved into chunky black vintage boots. She confides that her idea of a bombshell is the boyish and eccentric Diane Keaton.
Despite all that -- and the girlish dimple puncturing her left cheek -- Dunst, 23, has emerged a blossoming siren of her generation.
To wit: This Friday she hits the screen as a flight attendant (ooh, aah) who wows a depressed but sexy Orlando Bloom in "Elizabethtown," guided by the master of awkward romance, "Jerry Maguire" director Cameron Crowe. After landing the coveted part, Dunst is excited yet circumspect about her growing adult appeal.
"I don't feel like a sex symbol, but I'm not going to sit here and go, 'I don't think of myself as sexy,' " she says, her alto voice rising to imitate a ditzy, Jessica Simpson-like pitch. "It's a work in progress for me, how I feel about my sexuality and what that means to me."
That evolution has been pretty public, given that she began her career at age 3 as a precocious, curly-haired munchkin who stole the show in a cereal commercial. Born in Point Pleasant, N.J., the daughter of a medical services executive father and a gallery-owner mother, Dunst has since racked up an incredible total of almost 50 films (including her reprise as Tobey Maguire's girlfriend in Spider-Man 3, not due out until 2007).
When she was 9, the pint-sized actress moved with her mother and brother to Los Angeles. (Her parents later split.) She endured teenage angst between takes on Hollywood movie sets, sitting in her room or trailer for hours, reading Sylvia Plath and writing poems about boys. She finally left her mom's safe haven at 21, buying her own fixer-upper nearby and trying to keep her face on movie screens and out of the tabloids.
"You have control over where you go, and you know where [the paparazzi] are going to be," Dunst says. "I think certain people probably enjoy it."
Still, growing up has meant more unwanted attention, including gossipy updates on her on-again, off-again relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, 24. And then there are attacks by snarky online bloggers who bash her boho style and, of all things, her modest bustline. "I hate when [the media] get involved in body image," she says. "An article's going, 'Oh, she looks so thin,' and [stars] look at themselves, and they're happy to be part of the 'too-thin' group. It's horrible."
Because Dunst literally grew up on-screen, much of her self-esteem naturally developed in front of a camera, as did, even more oddly, her contact with the opposite sex. Her first kisses sound like a preteen's science-class daydream: a steamy moment with Brad Pitt in "Interview with the Vampire" at 11, a full-on make-out session with Josh Hartnett in "The Virgin Suicides" at 16 and that famous Teen Choice Award-winning, upside-down kiss with Maguire in "Spider-Man" at 18. Now, in "Elizabethtown," she smooches pinup guy-of-the-moment Bloom.
It's no wonder Dunst has tried to take her real-life leap into womanhood, with all its pressures and potential power, relatively slowly. Here, she reveals how her leading guys have shaped her:
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Kirsten kisses and tells on the men in her life
We asked Dunst to dish on her impressive list of hunky co-stars.
Orlando Bloom -- "Elizabethtown," opens next Friday
"What people don't know is he's such a dork! I saw your magazine cover [USA WEEKEND, April 29-May 1, 2005], and he looked really cool. I wish people would stop trying to make him that way. He's so sweet and goofy, and he loves his dog. It's the way he walks; it's not putting on airs and acting however he feels. And [filming in Kentucky] there were so many crowds, and mostly girls who wanted to see Orlando. I was like, 'OK, Orlando, I'll be in my trailer!' "
Paul Bettany -- "Wimbledon" (2004)
"He's so wise and so ethereal, too -- it's amazing. He has a delicate way about him. But he's also strong. He made me laugh -- but it's very English humor, which I wouldn't always get. I'd be like, 'What? The bollocks, what?' "
Mark Ruffalo -- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004)
"He's probably my favorite. He brought out so much in me. My vulnerable side ... it's very easy with him. One day we were jumping on the bed in our underwear [for a scene], and it wasn't awkward. We had so much fun."
Tobey Maguire -- the "Spider-Man" movie series (2002, 2004 and 2007)
"I thought Tobey was adorable. We have incredible chemistry. We've been on a long journey, and we're friends. In fact, this [pointing to her necklace, a delicate gold leaf on a gold chain] is Tobey's girlfriend Jen Meyer's new jewelry line. I love it."
Josh Hartnett -- "The Virgin Suicides" (1999)
"I didn't think he was good-looking enough after seeing his head shot. I said, 'Sofia [Coppola, the director, who also cast Dunst to star in next year's biopic, Marie-Antoinette], are you sure?' But then I met him, and I was like, 'OK, very, very good choice, Sofia!' I was a little intimidated."
Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro -- "Wag the Dog" (1997)
"Robert was a little more serious and reserved. Dustin was definitely the more gregarious one, very flirty and fatherly. He kept trying to hook me up with his son, Jake. And [Jake and I] actually went out a little bit."
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt -- Interview with the Vampire (1994)
"Tom [produced] 'Elizabethtown.' He ran up and gave me a big hug; he has always been so proud of me. He acts very protective."
In the movie, Dunst, then 11, kisses Brad Pitt. She later said, "I hated it. It was gross! It was like kissing your brother. His lips were so dry." Today, she balks at the subject. "That's so in the past, and I was so young, and it was so not a big deal to me! When I see Brad, it's like, 'Awww!' It brings back a sentimental thing for me."
Photograph by Melanie Dunea/CPi for USA WEEKEND
Dress by Peter Som;
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