In yet another milestone on the very strange road to adulthood my two sons are walking, they were witness to an exceptionally chipper Kirsten Dunst talking about her “boobies” as we settled in for a quick conversation last weekend about her new film “Melancholia.”
This was a very busy morning for us. I was also doing interviews for “The Muppets” at the same hotel, so I had both of my sons with me. Toshi actually did one of those interviews, and you’ll see that here next week sometime. They’ve both come to junkets with me before, and they know that they have to sit quietly when I’m doing the actual interview. As fans of Spider-Man, they are aware of Dunst from the covers of the movies they’re not old enough to watch yet, and they knew that she used to be Spider-Man’s girlfriend.
When we were just sitting down, I complimented Dunst on her work in “Melancholia,” and she thanked me, then asked what the boys were doing with me. I explained about “The Muppets,” and she got interested immediately, asking them how they liked the film and asking me if they got the movie right. She then asked the boys if they had seen “Melancholia” with me, and laughed when they both said no.
“Well, that’s good. They haven’t seen my boobies, then.”
The best reaction to that was the camera guy behind Dunst, who looked like he almost swallowed his tongue at the comment. I just laughed because that sort of comment means so little to the boys at this point, and the surreality of having the uber-adorable Dunst make that sort of joke in front of them seems to perfectly sum up how weird my job is overall.
It’s good that we got the levity out of the way, though. “Melancholia” is a tough film, but thrilling because of just how gorgeous and huge it feels. Her work in it is as good as anything she’s ever done, and made me reassess her as an actor. I think it will turn out to be an important turning point in the way directors think of her, and there’s very little chance that you will not see the film on my year-end list of the best things I saw in 2011.
It seems like it was just yesterday that she made her first screen appearances in films like “Interview With The Vampire,” but she’s a grown-up now, a point that was really driven home by her demeanor during our conversation. And even this many years into a career, it’s good to see that she’s able to keep pushing herself and rising to the occasion.
“Melancholia” is on VOD now and you can also look for it in limited theatrical release.