Kirsten Dunst: Free Spirit

She's Spider-Man's girlfriend on film, Jake Gyllenhaal's girlfriend in real life and will soon play a tennis champ in Wimbledon. You might have caught her recently as an uptight 1950's wife in Mona Lisa Smile. Pretty, blonde Kirsten Dunst has been acting since she was a tiny kid. She was so young when she co-starred in Interview with the Vampire that she wasn't even impressed that she was working with two mega-hunks like Cruise and Pitt.

Dunst is trendy and, when we talked with her at L.A.'s Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, her hair was still in that cute short do. Around her neck were a bevy of very thin gold chains and she was wearing a delicate flesh-colored silk ruffled dress but, since the day was chilly, underneath, was a black long-sleeved top and black tights. Kinda retro-'80's. In her latest film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kirsten plays the assistant to a doctor who runs a mind erasure clinic. Don't like a memory? Come and wipe it from your brain. What does Kirsten think about that and how did she enjoy the freedom of doing a smaller, independent movie after her blockbuster experiences on Spider-Man?

TeenHollywood: So do you think it's a good idea to have someone erased from your mind?

Kirsten: I don't . No, you learn from your past relationships and everything.

TeenHollywood: Did Director Michel Gondry give you a lot of freedom coming up with your character? We understand he just kept the camera rolling.

Kirsten: This is actually the most free I think I've ever felt on a set. The camera would follow us. We weren't really constricted in any way and we wouldn't just change every time and we wouldn't cut and there'd be another lighting set up. We had the best DP (director of photography). Ellen was so awesome and everybody on the crew they really wanted to be there so it was very comforting. You could do whatever and it would be okay.

TeenHollywood: Like dance around in your underwear? You and Mark Ruffalo go a little wild there for a while.

Kirsten: (laughs) Yeah we practiced a lot. We ate so much dessert. We were both depressed because we were both missing our significant others and we were eating desserts all the time.

TeenHollywood: What was it about the script that first jumped out at you? That made you want to do it?

Kirsten: I just read it and I thought it was one of the best scripts I've ever read. It's hard to find movies that are written with human beings in them rather than some cliché of a woman or some writer's fantasy of a girl. I think Charlie (Kaufman) writes real women and I really liked the female characters in this movie. That's why he gets so many good people to fill in all his roles. In all his movies it's always like "whoa, all these people are in this movie?"

TeenHollywood: Mark's hands were flying over the computer keyboard. Is he a techie nerd at all?

Kirsten: I don't think so.He was just like this on the keyboard; 'as long as I press this button at the end of this combination I'm okay cause then it'll blink'.

TeenHollywood: What's it like going from a movie like Spider-Man, a more effects driven movie, to more of a character driven movie?

Kirsten: I think Spider-Man 2 is character driven too and I did it right after I did "Eternal". I had also just come off this movie where it was like period and it took 3 days to shoot one scene. It's so refreshing to come (to the set) and the dolly is somebody in a wheelchair holding the camera. It makes it so much easier when you can give a better performance and keep the momentum going. It really is draining working on some of these movies and then it's also in their control with the editing and the performance. In the big movies, you know they're not going to go the more interesting route with your character. With Michel, I think he has a good intuition for that kind of stuff.

TeenHollywood: A little bit more about Spider-Man 2. Is your character actually going to get to fight or do more in this one?

Kirsten: Instead of just running and screaming? Yeah. She does a lot more in this one.

TeenHollywood: You are also playing a tennis champ in Wimbledon. Are you a great tennis player now?

Kirsten: (laughs) No. I can grunt well that's about it. I had a good back hand but my serve was really bad and Paul (Bettany, her co-star) was a lot better at tennis than I was but he has many more tennis scenes than I do. I did get started practicing on this movie ("Eternal"). Jim (Carrey) got out there and he's good, he's good at tennis.

TeenHollywood: What in the world do you do when you have a romantic scene and you can't stand the guy?

Kirsten: Yeah. Actually, I've been in situations where I've hated the person and you just turn that hatred into passion. You're just like 'I hate you so much' but then you're just like 'hate's love and love's hate'. You can totally use that. I've done it before and people are like 'you kids have the best chemistry' and I'm like 'it worked' (laughs). Everything that I'm feeling on the day, even if I hate the person or I'm angry, I just try to use it all. I just use however I feel.

TeenHollywood: In this film you are asked about a quote that inspires you. Do you and Jake have any quotes you love?

Kirsten: I have quotes in my head that I like but I don't have any love quote. There's a quote on this ring he gave me that says 'mine the darkness and see by the path you leave behind'.

TeenHollywood: He gave you a ring?

Kirsten: Oh! Come on. It was his ring. I'm not engaged, no, no. I'm only twenty-one. It's a ring that I wore around my neck a lot but now I have other things.

TeenHollywood: You and Mark have a hilarious scene where you are jumping all over the bed and Jim Carrey just has to lie there still. That must have been a riot!

Kirsten: Sometimes he fell asleep! We'd be singing songs and he tried to direct me. Mostly he'd just lie there and we'd say 'It's lunch Jim!' He'd be lying there for days and sometimes he would go 'how about if you did it like this' and I'd be like 'okay, go back to sleep'. (laughs)

TeenHollywood: Kirsten, you've worked with every kind of director. Do you prefer a director that's more hands on or one that lets you do your own thing?

Kirsten: It depends on the person because you could have a director who's really hands on or has really great style but you just don't mesh.It depends on the person and how you jive with them. It helps when somebody's a fan of yours and then you want to do anything they want and you totally feel so comfortable. On "Vampire", Neil (Jordan, the director) was so sweet to me. I was treated like a princess on that movie.

TeenHollywood: Were you nervous being on a movie with both Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise?

Kirsten: I wasn't nervous because I didn't know. I was like 'whatever Tom and Brad'.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.