Kirsten Dunst - The Stealth Superstar

She’s been acting since the age of five yet, 44 films later, Kirsten Dunst still hasn’t got used to the limelight. Monica Corcoran Harel gets to hang with the reluctant movie icon.

- Monica Corcoran Harel

Kirsten Dunst is talking about weddings. Not about frothy, white dresses or towering, ten-tiered cakes, but about how they can be uptight and stressful and completely unlike what even the coolest bride may have envisioned. The star isn’t planning a wedding – though rumours of an impending engagement to her boyfriend Garrett Hedlund perpetually pop up. ‘I am someone who wants to get married,’ she says, over a light breakfast at a quiet cafe in her quaint neighbourhood of Toluca Lake, LA. And after we muse a bit on a big, over-the-top affair versus a low-key event, she puts down her tea and makes a decision. ‘If it happens in my mid-to-late 30s, it’s going to be intimate,’ she confirms. ‘Courthouse, dinner party and DJ with friends and family. I’ll treat it like it would be my fortieth birthday.’

Such certainty isn’t really all that surprising. At 34, Dunst seems to know exactly what she wants out of life. Seriously. Ask her anything. Planning to have kids? ‘Two, for sure,’ she says. How does she measure success? ‘I’m trying to build a career. Make films that are unique. I would rather be in something like Melancholia that people study in a film class than be in a blockbuster,’ she says, naming the 2011 Lars von Trier-directed apocalyptic drama that won her Best Actress at Cannes. She also knows her limitations. ‘I’ve always wanted to learn guitar, but I’m lazy,’ she laughs, revealing perfectly symmetrical dimples and the signature quirky teeth she’s reassuringly refused to fix.