Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette
For Kirsten Dunst, the difference between reading about Marie Antoinette as a student and playing France’s most famous queen in a $40 million movie (opening Friday) was simple.
“From what I learned in school, I didn’t look at her as a human being,” Dunst said. “I didn’t know that she was so young, and just little things, like her having this dog named Mop. These are the things that made her a real person to me rather than a historical figure.”
In Sofia Coppola’s follow-up to “Lost in Translation,” the queen is introduced as a 14-year-old Austrian princess brought to France to wed the dumpy 16-year-old heir (Jason Schwartzman). Before Marie can enter France, she must be stripped naked, leaving her Austrian duds in the dust.
This is not your mother’s “Marie Antoinette.”
“It has a modern sensibility because it’s fresh and alive,” Dunst said. “Sofia really wanted the audience to be there in the atmosphere with us, as if it was as present as possible.”
That doesn’t mean her Marie is an 18th century Paris Hilton.
“I mean, she was the queen of France, which is a totally different thing,” the actress said.
One of the few films to be given access to Versailles, France’s legendary palace of kings, “Marie Antoinette” is not, according to Dunst, “a movie about the sets. It’s more about the people and the history of emotions. Yet I couldn’t imagine making this movie not in Paris. That place was a living, breathing character for all of us when we were making the movie.”
As for next summer’s highly anticipated “Spider-Man 3,” Dunst, who plays Spidey’s love, Mary Jane, said, “I think that it’s going to be, like, huge - there are just so many characters and villains and everything. It’s a lot. I think that I’m going to be surprised when I see the movie.”
While the world expects this franchise to continue past next summer, Dunst says her participation in a fourth film depends on director Sam Raimi. Along with Tobey Maguire and James Franco, she signed on for three.
“I wouldn’t do it without Sam. He’s the heart of the film. He makes that movie unique and so special, and he has such a passion for ‘Spider-Man,’ and, well, I can’t say I don’t think that anyone would do it. But I wouldn’t do it without Sam. He’s our glue.”
