Kirsten Dunst on why she rejected American Beauty, doesn’t watch Marvel movies

Kirsten Dunst has been dropping some truth bombs lately. After revealing recently why she prefers to work with women directors, she’s taken another step in that direction and explained why she turned down Sam Mendes’ 1999 Oscar-winning dramedy American Beauty, in an interview with Variety. (Also Read: Kirsten Dunst says it was ‘miserable’ filming Spider-Man kissing scene with Tobey Maguire upside down)
Kirsten was offered the role of the neighbourhood teenager Angela Hayes, who’s the object of desire for the middle-aged protagonist Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey). The role was eventually essayed by Mena Suvari, and the still of rose petals covering her naked body became an iconic shot from the film.
While Kevin won the Best Actor at the Oscars next year, years later, he was called out in the Me Too movement. The disgraced actor is still battling multiple lawsuits of sexual harassment. However, Kirsten reveals Kevin wasn’t the reason she turned down the role in American Beauty. “I think I just turned down the meeting or something. But yeah, I just didn’t feel comfortable with the sexuality,” she said, instead opting for longtime collaborator Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut feature, The Virgin Suicides.
Kirsten is one of the few actors who have been a part of Marvel movies, but haven’t been enamoured by their success. She played the leading lady, Mary Jane, in Sam Raimi’s 2002 superhero movie Spider-Man. However, she didn’t sign any Marvel movie after that and in fact, revealed in the interview very succinctly why she hasn’t caught up with the Spider-Man trilogy or Marvel movies at large. “It’s just not my thing,” she said.
Kirsten and her Spider-Man co-star Tobey Maguire gave one of Hollywood’s most memorable kisses in the film, but it was kind of miserable to shoot. In the film, Mary Jane removes Spider-Man’s (Tobey) mask halfway to give him a “thank you” kiss in the pouring rain as he hangs upside down.
“I remember Sam Raimi giving me a book of famous kisses to be inspired, but also he really wanted to make it special, even though it was kind of miserable actually doing it. It was pouring with rain, freezing, Tobey couldn’t breathe so it was almost like I was resuscitating him,” Dunst said on The Jonathan Ross Show.
Kirsten will be next seen in Civil War.