Kirsten Dunst has grown up in the public eye. She first caught the attention of audiences as the child vampire in Interview with the Vampire alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. She soon went on to memorable performances in Little Women and Wag the Dog before making the transition from child actress to burgeoning adult star with 1999's directorial debut of Sophia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides. A critical success, the film was soon followed with a large commercial hit for Dunst, the cheerleader comedy Bring it On. In 2002, Dunst gained international recognition playing the part of Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man.

Now, at only 22 years old, Dunst is becoming one of the most recognized stars in Hollywood. She continues to dabble between indie roles like this year's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and larger fare like Mona Lisa Smile, which gave Dunst a change to show her villainous side.

As Dunst's star status continues to shine brighter and brighter, she is now returning to the Mary Jane role for the second time. At the press day for Spider-Man 2, we got to speak to Ms. Dunst again at the Culver Studios in Culver City, California. She appeared mellow and relaxed despite the media hoopla surrounding the film. At a casual buffet breakfast for press before the interview, Dunst came out in jeans and a t-shirt and ordered an omelet for herself, chatting casually with press.

When we first met Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's inaugural Spider-Man film, she was the unattainable hottie girl next door that Peter Parker had no chance with. Now Peter's a superhero (although she doesn't know that) and Mary Jane has grown up a bit, moved to Manhattan and launched an acting career. "Well, you know, it's been two years since the last movie [was released] so of course, [when] anybody goes from 18 to 22, you change a lot. I've grown up; of course Mary Jane has grown up. I think that's reflective in the movie and you see that she's kind of very much more mature than Peter. He's stayed, I think, kind of juvenile because he really doesn't have any social life. The last movie, he kind of was the decision maker in, 'We can only be friends' and in this movie, she decides for them which I'm really happy about. She's kind of the one pushing him to do things and it's often the man in movies that often pushes the woman. 'I love you, c'mon.' I remember seeing the first Shrek and even in that movie, the ogre has to convince her that she loves him! I just talked a lot with Sam about writing her to be a very strong, independent woman. She's moved to New York so she's changed a lot, like New York does [to you]."

Along with the growth of her character Mary Jane, Dunst has also grown closer and more comfortable with the cast and crew of the production. "I feel like all my relationships develop so much more on this one. I just felt more comfortable. Sam and I got to know each other better and I change a lot from how I was in the first movie and how I approached my work and my relationships with them. It just grew and I felt I could be more creative and open. He trusted me a lot and he knew my work so it just made it for a very comfortable shoot where you can say anything and everybody knows you. It made it nice just going to work and know who's going to be there."

With the phenomenal success of the first film, Dunst's career has taken off. She says that the changes in her career have not affected her own life. "Not personally. Now, I'm known worldwide I guess. I can finance movies, money, and production, when you think of it that way. It's changed a lot for me. Now, it's not a question whether I can get whatever people to come see a movie that I'm in so that all helped me and I get paid more now too."

During pre-production, a back injury looked like it might sideline Tobey Maguire and force the filmmakers to recast the lead role. During that time, one of the actor's names that was floating around was Dunst's real-life boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal. "That was really a complicated time, of course. I'm just so thankful that Tobey ended up doing the movie because he is Spider-Man and it wouldn't have been good. I think Jake can do any movie because I think he's one of the best young actors and he probably would've done an amazing job. But Tobey is Spider-Man, so I'm just happy it all worked out..."


With a room full of press talking about a comic book movie, the requisite question of Dunst's preferable super-power comes up. "I knew I'd get these questions. With the state of our country right now, I would, maybe, kick our president out of office. The political superpower, I don't know, I would rearrange pretty much all the circumstances in the world right now if I had a superhero power."

Dunst decided to scale back her stunt work for Spider-Man 2, deciding it might be better to live to see the third film. "The first one, they could take advantage because I was so eager and I was like, 'I'll do it!' On this one, I was like, 'When you really don't have to use me, then please don't.' Because it's just things where my hair would cover my face anyway and I don't really need to do and if Tobey's not doing it, why do I have to do it? I did most everything, but there are certain things that I just don't have to do and on the last movie, I did so many things that weren't even put in the movie, so I didn't let them take advantage of me like on the first one."

For her next film, Dunst does get physical for a part that involves sports instead of superheroes and supervillains, a tennis film with Paul Bettany called Wimbledon. "Well that was more physical than Spider-Man 2! Actually, romantic comedies are the hardest to do. It's just hard to not dig into it too much and realize sometimes what you're saying. Don't try to overanalyze if the scene doesn't work. It's so much easier to make a dramatic scene work. It's just hard to be in that momentum of love everyday when sometimes, you're in a horrible mood... It's an adorable movie. It's just hard to keep those romantic scenes fresh and feeling great and fun on take 40. It's hard to keep that freshness of flirting when you're on take 20 and it's a different person's close-up and you're still delivering these lines that are cute and this and that and have to be sexy or whatever. It's hard to keep pumping those things out and feeling in the moment with what you're saying."

With Spider-Man 3 already announced, Dunst says that will be the final stop for her in the Spider-Man series. "Three's enough. Don't wear out a good thing... I'm only contracted to three and I don't see myself signing for a fourth or a fifth."

If the series does indeed continue beyond a third film and Dunst doesn't return, the question arises of whether they will re-cast the character or write her out all together. Dunst offers some suggestions: "It would actually be really interesting if Spider-Man died. Why doesn't the superhero ever die? It would be so sad and beautiful. He's so human too. I think if Mary Jane was alone and pregnant and he died, she could give birth to a spider baby and carry on the series with another young boy or something like that. I doubt Tobey would come back for a fourth or a fifth either. I was going to get really morbid there for a second. (Laughs) But I don't know what will happen in the third movie. I hope she doesn't die. I don't know, I just think that's kind of an obvious way to go. We have to end it, so let's just kill her.

"I just think three's a good number. I think Mary Jane is a huge, important piece of this film. It's all about the love story. You want to stop it while it's still great. You don't want to keep going. Sam wants to move on too. His whole life has been this movie for so long now. You gotta refresh. You can't do it too much..."

Dunst's next project is Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown. "It's going really great. It's a hard movie to talk about because we just started and Cameron's very private and I know to respect him... I'm not really going to talk about it yet. It's so early for me. I'm just rehearsing and I'm still figuring her out for myself... It's not a drama. It's not a romantic comedy. It's just life. I don't know how to really say it, but you know Cameron's movies. It's like Say Anything, it's more about people and that's it."

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