Kirsten Dunst is an accomplished actress, but that doesn’t mean she was always confident on set. She may have locked lips with Tobey MacGuire in Spider-Man, but the Emmy-nominated performer recently revealed that some of the romantic scenes with co-star Jamie Dornan in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette actually made her ‘nervous’ to film.
In a new episode of Actors on Actors for Variety, Kirsten Dunst and Jamie Dornan reflected on their experience filming the 2006 historical drama Marie Antoinette. The film contained a fair amount of steamy scenes that actually made Kirsten Dunst anxious to film. Why? She explained:
I was nervous too, Jamie. All our stuff was, like, making out. And I was not comfortable with that. It’s never that comfortable, ever. So I was actually very nervous too. Because a lot of our scenes were, you know. I think my first time I even showed my breasts was with Sophia. She never used the take, and I don’t think you were there. But there was a lot of things where I felt overwhelmed too.
Jamie Dornan was nervous to film Marie Antoinette because it was one of his very first acting gigs. But for Kirsten Dunst, she was rather hesitant to bare it all on camera, even though she had already worked with director Sofia Coppola on The Virgin Suicides. She had also already starred in multiple high-profile movies, including Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, but a superhero adventure is quite different from a sensual period piece.
It probably didn’t help that Kirsten Dunst didn’t know Jamie Dornan very well before the film went into production. The actors revealed that they hadn’t actually met before appearing in their scenes together. To make matters worse, Sofia Coppola had asked them to try improvising during their acting moments – a request that is sure to strike fear into the hearts of even the most experienced actors.
Fortunately for Kirsten Dunst, viewers would never know that she was anxious during filming. Jamie Dornan even expressed his surprise at her revelation, since she had “handled it very well” and, in his mind, seemed “in total control of everything.” It just goes to show: no matter how nervous you may be, just make like Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette, fake it ‘til you make it, and you won’t lose your head.
You can catch Kirsten Dunst in Jane Campion’s Western The Power of the Dog, which is now streaming on Netflix. She’s also set to team up with Ex Machina’s Alex Garland for an upcoming project. Jamie Dornan will next star in Kenneth Branagh’s black and white drama Belfast, which is now playing in theaters everywhere. Already caught up? Check out more upcoming movie releases set to make waves in 2022.