Kirsten Dunst:

Flying High

by Lynn B

Let’s say you are a guy flying to a family event and the flight attendant just won’t leave you alone. She wants to chat, bring you stuff and practically sit in your lap. Well, if she’s hot Kirsten Dunst maybe the guys wouldn’t mind the extra attention. Kirsten plays just such a friendly, optimistic, in your face gal in the new romantic comedy Elizabethtown. The guy she’s “bothering” is Orlando Bloom.

Happily, Kirsten has been in our faces a lot recently from her first turn as Mary Jane in Spider-Man to playing an up-tight 1950’s housewife/student in Mona Lisa Smile and a tennis pro in her last romantic comedy Wimbledon. We can see her next year as Mary Jane again in the new “Spidey” film. She starts shooting that in January, 2006.

Kirsten looked very demure for our recent talk in L.A. in her blonde bob, grey sheath dress and wearing no jewelry except for a square charm on a long chain. Let’s hit the road…or the friendly skies, with this 23-year-old actress and learn what really makes her Elizabethtown character Claire and Kirsten tick….

AGW: Orlando takes a long road trip in this film which your character plans. Are you a road trip kind of gal?

Kirsten: No. The most I've done is like up north [in California], and then like from Boston to New York. I haven't really taken major road trips in my life.

AGW: After this film, did anyone try to talk you into taking one like Orlando did?

Kirsten: Well, not really. I think they mentioned like, ‘oh you should come on the road trip with us’, when they filmed the scenes, and I was like, ‘actually I'm gonna go home [laughs]’. I'd rather do it with my personal friends or something, you know what I mean? On a movie, it’s not really a personal experience.

AGW: Did you have to work on a southern accent for the film?

Kirsten: I didn't have a dialect coach or anything, so I think I just kind of made my version up a little bit. I laid it on thicker in certain areas, and toned it back when I felt more myself kind of. When I was there, not all the kids even had accents, it's so slight.

AGW: If you ever do take that personal road trip, what would you listen to on the way?

Kirsten: Um, well now that we have iPods, everything. But I like The Sundays. I like that song, 'Where the Story Ends.'

AGW: Do you think love can happen in the most unlikely places?

Kirsten: Of course. That’s part of the excitement of life; new people, new experiences and, when things go wrong, something comes out of it, and to be aware of all those things I think Cameron [Crowe] really captures that in his movies, and he's super aware of those moments, taking pictures of everything. I think it's important.

AGW: Your character talks about people being substitutes in each other’s lives. Do you think you’ve ever been one?

Kirsten: I don't really see myself as that, I think that that's more like her way of getting a response out of him [Orlando’s character] in a way. I think that's just Claire’s theory, to help her feel comfortable not having to be vulnerable with somebody.

AGW: I think there is a quote in the press kit where you say that both you and Orlando are “dorky”. How so?

Kirsten: Well, not really ‘dorky’ but he's just not afraid to be open to things, and he's very innocent the way he sees things a lot of the time, and he can be goofy and like a little boy - I don't know, he doesn't take himself seriously. Too seriously. So that's refreshing in a male actor, around my age. They're all like brooding in the corner usually, with like a cigarette and a coffee.

AGW: Your character is always “up” in the film. Is she the most optimistic character you’ve played or is that just a cover for her?

Kirsten: Yeah. I was really sad during this movie, because you're constantly giving and giving and giving and you're getting nothing back. It’s not really what makes you happy. You've gotta take care of yourself first.

AGW: Do you ever feel in your own life like you aren’t getting anything back from acting?

Kirsten: Sometimes. And sometimes not. It depends on the day, the person you're working with, the environment that you're in, it's like, it's always different.

AGW: Cameron gave a lot of people a mix tape for get them in the mood for the film. Did he give you one?

Kirsten: No, he didn't. I'm familiar with most of the music, though, that he is into. So it wasn't like new to me, or you know, I'm not like the Britney Spears generation, you know [laughs], I know other music.

AGW: When did you feel like you really had Claire down? Was it in rehearsal?

Kirsten: Oh, that doesn't really happen [laughs]. A lot of times there's a little high you get sometimes during a scene, where you just know like that felt really right, but also, you can be totally wrong in thinking that too, in some cases. But I guess from the very beginning, reading the sides, when I auditioned, I really felt comfortable with the music of her words and her attitude, and you know, I just, I felt like I could play her.

AGW: Personally, when something doesn’t work out, do you brood or pick yourself up and just go on?

Kirsten: Personally, I think I can hold on to things for a while. But I'm so young, it's what's supposed to happen [laughs].

AGW: Do you have a process for getting over upsetting things?

Kirsten: I don't have a specific process. Eating, and being depressed, and surrounding myself with friends and movies. I watched 'Overboard' twice on TNT yesterday [laughs], it was a back-to-back viewing. I watched from like middle to end the first time, and then I watched the beginning to middle the other time. I don't know, it's just a great movie.

AGW: Your mom was a flight attendant. Did you consult with her on your character at all?

Kirsten: My mom lived a much different airline experience. She was working in Lufthansa first class, so it was like, caviar. So Claire was a little bit more blue collar. But, the one thing that I did think of is that Claire imagines her life being as glamorous as my mom's airline life was.

AGW: Why do you think these two people [Claire and Orlando’s character Drew] end up together?

Kirsten: She needs him and she knows what he needs. She knows the lessons he needs to learn, and she needs someone, and that someone became him. You don't really know who you're going to fall in love with at what time in their life. They can be like the worst off they've ever been in their lives, but you can't help who you fall in love with. And he's not hard on the eyes [laughs].

AGW: Would you ever have a conversation with a stranger like she does?

Kirsten: There are some times in my life where I've been really into doing that. And then there's been times when I was just like, ‘stop it!’ I don't know. I can't remember why I was like that but I think actually it might have happened during this movie maybe or after it, I think after it, I picked up that for a little while, but then it went away.

AGW: Could you stay on the phone all night with somebody?

Kirsten: If it was somebody I was interested in, yeah.

AGW: Is Claire a control freak?

Kirsten: don't think so, I don't think she's a control freak. I think that she thinks she knows what's best. I think she's just anxious to give the advice, because she wants other people to experience that, that joy that she feels when she does something.

AGW: You’ve been acting now since you were a kid. Is it still great for you? Are you changing?

Kirsten: It's changing for me. I'm not the same. It feels like a whole other life, and thing for me now. I see moments in this movie of myself where I feel my most real and connected with all of the elements of what's going around me. I'd like a whole performance like that someday. For me, a scene like that was in the bathtub, for some reason. I think it helped too, like having the sensory feeling of being in the bath. I was talking to John our props guy, so it doesn't really matter who you're talking to. But it just felt the most alive and the most me, and I think that's what your goal is in doing movies. You want it to be as real as possible.

AGW: Was growing up an actress hard for you?

Kirsten: I didn't really start working until I guess like I was eleven but everyone has issues in their life. Mine's no more special than anyone else. My best friend has complicated relationships with her mother, and I do, too. It's like everyone has their stuff. I just grew up differently, but I don't think that like Hollywood has destroyed me [laughs], I had it pretty normal - went to normal schools and always had friends that didn't really care about it.

AGW: Was there chemistry between you and Orlando from the beginning?

Kirsten: It was a growing friendship. So, because I cared about him, as a person, I think that that's what helped. Everyone has a different acting style and you kind of like to figure it out together.

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