Revisiting Kirsten Dunst’s awards races in honor of ‘Civil War’
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“Civil War,” the new acclaimed drama from director Alex Garland, is dominating theaters everywhere, and the film’s star Kirsten Dunst gives one of her best performances in her long and varied career. In honor of her latest movie, let’s revisit her many awards races, including her first Oscar nomination for “The Power of the Dog.”
Dunst’s first role that brought the actress lots of awards attention arrived in 1994 in Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire,” starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Dunst’s performance as the young outspoken vampire Claudia earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress, up against Sophia Loren in “Prét-à-Porter,” Robin Wright Penn in “Forrest Gump,” Uma Thurman in “Pulp Fiction” and Dianne Wiest, who won the trophy for “Bullets over Broadway.”
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Occasionally the academy will reward a great child performance with an Oscar nomination, the way they did with Keisha Castle-Hughes for “Whale Rider” and Quvenzhané Wallis for “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Just five years after “Interview with the Vampire” came another well-reviewed genre movie “The Sixth Sense” that got into the Academy Awards, including young Haley Joel Osment in the Best Supporting Actor category. So it’s possible Dunst got close to her first Oscar nomination for “Interview with the Vampire,” but it was arguably Jennifer Tilly who took her slot for her comedic performance in “Bullets over Broadway.”
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Dunst’s next performance that stirred up plenty of Oscar buzz was her role of Justine in Lars von Trier’s genre-bending drama, “Melancholia.” Dunst won the Best Actress prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was later named Best Actress from the Kansas City and National Society of Film Critics. Unfortunately the movie hit some snags with its awards traction and unfortunately Dunst didn’t make it into any of the major televised ceremonies like the Golden Globes, SAG Awards or Oscars.
In 2017 she won her first SAG Award with the cast of “Hidden Figures,” and she also around this time earned another Golden Globe bid and her first Emmy Award citation for her performance in Season 2 of “Fargo.” She got a third Golden Globe nom in 2020 for another TV series, “On Becoming a God in Central Florida,” but with dozens of credits behind her, when was Dunst going to receive her first Academy Award mention?
The moment finally arrived in early 2022 when Dunst made it into the Best Supporting Actress category at the Oscars for her acclaimed performance in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” also starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons. This western drama was a big hit with critics and audiences following its premieres at the Venice, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, and Dunst’s performance was singled out in no time. Brian Truitt in USA Today wrote, “Dunst dives deep as the tortured Rose,” and David Ehrlich in IndieWire said, “Dunst is excellent in a role defined by desperate regression.”
SEEJane Campion (‘The Power of the Dog’) becomes 3rd woman ever to win Best Director Oscar
“The Power of the Dog” was such a popular end-of-the-year drama that it was nominated all over the place during the 2022 awards season, and Dunst came along for the ride, making it into Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, SAG Award, and finally, Academy Awards. After three decades of good work on film going back to the 1990s, Dunst was finally an Oscar nominee for “The Power of the Dog.” The question is, did she have any chance at winning the gold trophy?
Sadly for Dunst, there was a clear frontrunner in the race that year — Ariana DeBose for Steven Spielberg’s musical reinvention of “West Side Story.” In the role that won Rita Moreno an Oscar for the 1961 version, DeBose made the character of Anita her own and blazed through the film with remarkable presence and energy, ensuring her front-runner status in the Supporting Actress category early on. DeBose ultimately swept the season, and every other person in her category was just happy to be there. At the Academy Awards, DeBose and Dunst in Supporting Actress were joined by Jessie Buckley for “The Lost Daughter,” Judi Dench for “Belfast” and Aunjanue Ellis for “King Richard.” I always felt Dunst was in second place at each televised ceremony for “The Power of the Dog,” but even though she never won any major prizes for her performance, she did get to attend the ceremony with her husband Plemons, who was also nominated for the same film in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Dunst’s first movie since Campion’s Oscar-winning drama has arrived in “Civil War,” which has received positive reviews from critics and is doing well at the box office, too, marking A24’s biggest opening weekend ever at $27 million. Will Dunst have a shot at her first Best Actress Oscar nomination next year for Garland’s dystopian drama? Unfortunately, “Civil War” has been divisive with enough people that the academy may not reward it in early 2025. However, Dunst has wrapped an upcoming indie drama, “Rhubarb,” which could bring with her some awards buzz in the months to come.
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