Kirsten Dunst Says Brad Pitt 'Was Like an Older Brother to Me' on “Interview with the Vampire” Set

"Yes, it was a virtually all-male set, but everyone was very gentle and kind, and nothing ever felt weird," Dunst told 'The Telegraph'

Kirsten Dunst had some major support early in her career.

Speaking with U.K. outlet The Telegraph amid the upcoming release of her new movie Civil War, the actress recalled her Interview with the Vampire costar Brad Pitt being "like an older brother to me" on the set of the 1994 gothic horror film.

"[I was] treated like a princess," said Dunst, 41. "Yes, it was a virtually all-male set, but everyone was very gentle and kind, and nothing ever felt weird."

As for their costar Tom Cruise, Dunst had similar praise for his treatment of the then-child actress, who later earned rave reviews for her breakout role in the film.

"One morning, around Christmas, I remember going into my dressing room at Pinewood and he’d set up a beautiful tree in there for me, covered in ornaments," she shared.

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Related: Kirsten Dunst Recalls Tom Cruise 'Rooting for Me' During Her 'Interview with the Vampire' Audition

Based on Anne Rice's book of the same name from a screenplay by the late author, Interview with the Vampire starred Christian Slater as a young journalist named Daniel interviewing Pitt's character Louis de Pointe du Lac, decades after the start of the movie.

It also featured Cruise, now 61, as Lestat, and Antonio Banderas as another vampire, Armand. Dunst earned a Golden Globe nod for best supporting actress in a drama, for her performance as newly turned child vampire Claudia.

During a 2019 appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host asked if she remembered feeling how big of a deal it was to act opposite Cruise and Pitt, now 60.

“I did, but I was also very innocent,” Dunst said of starring with the heartthrobs as a preteen. “I feel like I watched Brad in A River Runs Through and Tom was in Far and Away, which I loved."

She continued, "They treated me like a little sister. It was very sweet, I was a very innocent 12-year-old. I was just doing my job, and they were very sweet to me.”

Related: 20 Former Child Stars on the Ups & Downs of Growing Up in the Spotlight

Dunst had to kiss Pitt in the film, and she was asked about it while she was promoting the movie back in 1994. More recently, the actress was shown a clip of her reacting to the kiss by Entertainment Tonight  — and she stood by her initial reaction.

“Yeah, it was gross! I stand by that. It would have been so much creepier if an 11-year-old was like, ‘It was great.’ You’d be like, ‘There’s something wrong with this child,' ” she told the outlet in August 2019, after watching the video of her younger self saying the kiss was “gross.”

“They were so sweet to me,” she added of Pitt and Cruise. “I mean, listen, that production, that film, was like nothing else I’ve ever experienced — maybe Marie Antoinette, because of where we shot. Other than that, they just don’t make movies like that anymore.”

In a more recent interview with Variety, published Wednesday, the Oscar nominee was asked about getting to kiss Pitt for Interview with the Vampire — to which she quipped in response, laughing, "How about Brad Pitt got to kiss me?"

Civil War is in theaters April 12.

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