Don’t Ask Kirsten Dunst to Lose Weight for a Movie
By Yohana Desta. Photos: Getty Images.
Though they’ve worked together on several films, there are still plenty of things Kirsten Dunst won’t do for Oscar-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola. In a wide-ranging conversation between the two, per an interview with Variety, the actress says that she put her well-heeled foot down when the director asked Dunst to lose weight for her role in The Beguiled. In the Southern Gothic film, Dunst plays a woman living at an all-girls school—populated by lithe, wan leading ladies—who helps tend to a wounded Civil War Union soldier (Colin Farrell). But Dunst Coppola’s suggestion to drop weight for the part, noting that the director was quite understanding of her decision.
“It’s so much harder when you’re 35 and hate working out,” Dunst explained, in her best “celebrities are just like you” voice. She added that the film’s shoot in rural Louisiana also compounded the difficulty of losing weight: “I’m eating fried chicken and McDonald’s before work. So I’m like, ‘We have no options! I’m sorry, I can’t lose weight for this role.’”
That sound you hear is the collective groan of a thousand actresses wishing their directors would take similar mercy. Hollywood is notorious for its absurd body standards, for men— especially action and superhero film stars—as well as women, though there’s a lot less leeway for actresses.
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In the Variety interview, Dunst and Coppola are also fairly frank about the other difficulties women face in the industry. Dunst is in the midst of trying to raise money for her adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, which will also be her directorial debut; unfortunately, she’s having difficulty generating financial support. “People are afraid of the name Sylvia and that this is a depressing movie, which it’s not at all,” she says. “It’s always harder for women. Everyone has to work 10 times harder.”
For similar reasons, Coppola considered throwing her hat in the ring to helm the upcoming Wonder Woman movie: “I wanted to see a woman superhero because they’re all guys,” she says. “I’m not really a comic-book person, but I liked the idea. On TV, she was so glamorous to me.”
Speaking of superheroes, Dunst adds that she hasn’t paid attention to Sony’s new iterations of Spider-Man. The actress became a household name after starring in the first three big-screen Spider-Men, alongside Tobey Maguire—but has since lost interest in the franchise. As for the latter films, starring Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland? Dunst is basically pulling an “I don’t know her.”
“I don’t care,” she says of the newer films, which she hasn’t seen. “Everyone likes our Spider-Man. C’mon, am I right or what? Listen, I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones.”
Let it be known that “I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones” is the new “I’d rather be listening to ‘Smooth’ by Santana feat. Rob Thomas.” Dunst should let her shady side fly free more often.
This story originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
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