Kirsten Dunst Says a Male Director Asked Her an 'Inappropriate Question' in His Office When She Was 16
"I remember sitting there and knowing that something was wrong, but with no idea what I should do," Dunst told 'The Telegraph'
Kirsten Dunst is recalling an uncomfortable moment during an audition early in her career.
“A male director had me in his office, by myself, and was asking me about this movie he wanted me for, and then, completely out of the blue, asked me this inappropriate question,” the Civil War actress, now 41, told U.K. outlet The Telegraph in an interview published April 2.
Without naming the filmmaker, Dunst said she's "not even sure he’s still working anymore," and added, “It’s not something I like to reflect on."
"But I will say what he said was nothing to do with acting. And it wasn’t that what he said was just ‘a bit off.' It was totally improper," she said. "And I remember sitting there and knowing that something was wrong, but with no idea what I should do.”
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Related: Kirsten Dunst Says She 'Didn't Even Think to Ask' for Equal Pay Early on in Her Career: 'I Was 17'
Dunst also spoke to Variety about the alleged incident, saying, "I did one meeting once with a director, and he asked me an inappropriate question. And that was the only time."
"I was like, ‘That’s not cool.’ But I didn’t say that [to him]. I was freaked out. I didn’t know if I should answer or not," she added.
The Academy Award nominee shared that her mother and “an acting teacher who was like my father” kept her safety a priority during her younger years in the industry.
Speaking about her experience in her first-ever movie role, for Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks, Dunst recalled to Variety, "I remember they wanted to send a car down to New Jersey to pick me up to play with Dylan [Farrow]."
“My mom was like, ‘I’m not sending my daughter in a town car to go on some play date without me,' " she added.
Related: Woody Allen Says He's 'Always Willing to' Meet with Dylan Farrow but Her Allegations Have 'No Merit'
Despite playing opposite two grown men — Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise — in one of her first movies, 1994's Interview with the Vampire (and even having to kiss Pitt, now 60), Dunst told The Telegraph that "nothing ever felt weird."
"Brad was like an older brother to me," she said. "[I was] treated like a princess. Yes, it was a virtually all-male set, but everyone was very gentle and kind."
As for Cruise, now 61, Dunst had similar praise for his treatment of the then-child actress, who later earned rave reviews for her breakout role in the film.
"One morning, around Christmas, I remember going into my dressing room at Pinewood and he’d set up a beautiful tree in there for me, covered in ornaments," she shared.
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