Kirsten Dunst was 12 years old when Screen Actor Guild Awards began in 1994. Her performances made a huge impression. “Interview With the Vampire”She was also nominated for a Golden Globe and she was the youngest March sister. “Little Women.”
On Wednesday, Dunst received her first solo SAG nomination for her role as the fraught mother of a teenager in Jane Campion’s 1920s-set “The Power of the Dog.”(Lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch, and supporting actor Kodi Smith-McPhee were also up for consideration. As a member the cast of SAG Ensemble, she received the award for the SAG Ensemble five years ago. “Hidden Figures.”
“It just feels so wonderful to be included and be in a movie that people are watching and people are loving,”Dunst spoke after the nominations were announced. “It doesn’t happen all the time, so I feel very lucky.”
The actress was also able to reflect back on her life almost three decades ago with the nomination. “When you’re younger, you can’t really comprehend these kinds of things,”She said. “I’ve been doing this for so long, and when you’re older, you just enjoy it more. Now that I’m older, I can really appreciate being celebrated by my fellow actors in a different way. When you’re little, playing with Barbies matters more.”
She’s quite familiar with youngsters, however. Dunst is the mother of two boys, one 3-year-old boy and one 8-month old boy. “Power of the Dog” co-star Jesse Plemons. “And one of my children threw up at 4 a.m., so I was actually napping when I woke up to all these texts that I’d been nominated. And I was like, ‘Hold on, gotta give the baby a bottle first.’ It’s a funny balance right now between these two parallel worlds.”
For Dunst, the greatest pleasure of this accolade is that it’s connected to the experience of working with Campion. Dunst had received a letter from the New Zealand director in 2001, expressing interest in working together. “She’s always been close to Sofia Coppola and has loved her work,”Dunst said. “And because of that and ‘The Virgin Suicides,’ she was familiar with mine. I know she really loved ‘Melancholia’ (2011) and so I was on her radar. But with these great filmmakers, they have such specific ideas of who they want to cast. You can’t really influence them in any which way.”
Campion called Dunst in 2019 for the role. Dunst jumpt in joy. “The performances in her movies have always inspired me as an actress,”She said. “You can tell what she wants from her actors is a lot more than what you normally get, especially in terms of the female performances. So this was the ultimate. It was like winning the lottery. I was over the moon.”
And she’s thrilled to be part of a Campion’s legacy. “When I’m old, this will be one of the big highlights of my film career,”She said. “And also, I’m proud that I’ve been able to work in this industry for so long and carved my own path.”
“The Power of the Dog”Netflix streaming available now.
