In this weekend's Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst stars as a conflicted bride anticipating the end of the world only hours after her wedding. So just how did Dunst transform herself from a child vampiress vixen to a Lars von Trier muse?
You can always trace a direct line through a few important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success. As such, let's look at nine pivotal performances that track the evolution of Kirsten Dunst.
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
After making her film debut in the Woody Allen short Oedipus Wrecks (part of the New York Stories anthology), Dunst, a New Jersey-born child fashion model, dabbled in acting before landing her breakthrough role in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire adaptation. To win the prized role of Claudia, the mature vampire trapped inside the body of a ringlet-tressed 5-year-old, Dunst reportedly beat out other recognizable young actresses like Christina Ricci, Dominique Swain and Evan Rachel Wood. The wisdom and rage that the relative newbie conveyed behind a face so cherubic (not to mention that kiss with Brad Pitt, who is nearly two decades her senior) proved that Dunst was not just another child actress. For this role, Dunst was nominated for her first (and only, so far) Golden Globe.
Jumanji (1995)
The following year, bolstered by the one-two punch success of Interview with the Vampire and Little Women (in which Dunst impressed critics with her portrayal of Amy), the actress established herself as a bankable child star in the supernatural comedy Jumanji. As Judy Shepherd, an innocent board game player who unleashes Robin Williams and a jungle's worth of nightmarish images while attempting to play the titular game with her brother, Dunst helped ground a movie packed with Williams's zany energy and a terrifying special effects bonanza. Although it received mixed reviews, Jumanji grossed over $250 million worldwide, ensuring that Dunst was also one of the most exposed young actresses in the mid-'90s.
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Some audiences may argue that The Virgin Suicides marked Kirsten Dunst's crossover into adolescence -- but clearly, they have never seen a greasy high school kid unbutton Kirsten Dunst's jean shorts and impregnate her (offscreen obviously) in the uber-educational and unintentionally hilarious television drama Fifteen and Pregnant." How Dunst went from the above blockbusters to a TV movie in which she stars as Tina Spangler opposite an actress named Park Overall and back to a successful blockbuster franchise like Spider-Man is incredible. If you want to learn more about this movie, I encourage you to head over to the remarkably detailed plot summary on Wikipedia (kudos to whoever completed that), watch the entire movie available on YouTube and then I implore you to use the actual line "sperm doesn't entitle you to much" to your teenage daughter's deadbeat baby daddy next time he shows up at the delivery room with his new girlfriend.
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
After a few forgettable films (All I Wanna Do and True Heart, anyone?), Dunst rebounded with her critical breakthrough in The Virgin Suicides. In her first collaboration with Sofia Coppola, Dunst earned positive reviews for her restrained portrayal of Lux, the most rebellious of the five overprotected Lisbon sisters in this 'dark 70s-era tale of suicidal sisterly despair.
Bring It On (2000)
On the flip side of the restrained Lux Lisbon is Torrance Shipman, Dunst's vivacious Bring It On cheerleader captain who leads her squad in provocative numbers that rhyme, "I jump! You can look but don't you hump. I'm major. I roar. I swear I'm not a whore." In addition to this being a complete 180 from her last project, this '90s pop classic cemented Dunst as a teen queen (after her roles in the previous year's Drop Dead Gorgeous and Dick paved the way) and features the actress's first proper leading role.
Spider-Man (2002)
After trying her hand at singing via her roles in the teen comedy Get Over It and Peter Bogdanovich's drama The Cat's Meow, Dunst returned to the mainstream for the most lucrative project of her career: Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. As Mary Jane Watson, Dunst brought weight and complexity to what could have been a character as two dimensional as the actual Marvel comic. Dunst would go on to reprise the role of Mary Jane for the next two sequels before passing the Spider-Man crush object baton to Emma Stone for Marc Webb's upcoming Amazing Spider-Man.
Wimbledon (2004)
Following solid supporting parts in Mona Lisa Smile and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dunst attempted her first adult romantic comedy, the tennis title Wimbledon. Although a conventional rom-com, the actress pleased critics as an upbeat tennis star on the rise opposite Paul Bettany's tennis pro on the decline. The next year, Dunst would try her hand at rom-coms one more time with the all-around disaster Elizabethtown. In spite of the harsh reviews of the Cameron Crowe film though, Dunst managed to come out unscathed.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Two years later, Dunst explored the dramatic end of the historical spectrum for the first time with the title role in Marie Antoinette. Dunst reteamed with Coppola again for the loosely adapted, stylized interpretation of the life of the fill-fated Queen of France. Roger Ebert called the actress "pitch-perfect" for the role of the self-possessed and spirited -- if lonely -- archduchess. The film, which was shot inside the Palace of Versaille, was a modest box office success.
Melancholia (2011)
From the very beginning of her career, Dunst has excelled at playing conflicted characters, torn by knots of emotion that cannot be worked out through dialogue. The actress returns to that same depthy wheelhouse in this weekend's Melancholia, as a newlywed who welcomes her own (and the planet's) doom with open arms. Her performance earned her this year's Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival and has Dunst in this fall's awards-season conversation as well.
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