Kirsten Dunst: “I can’t act in my life”

Her laugh reveals touching dimples on her cheeks. The northern (she says Lapland) oval (she thinks it’s a circle) of her face stretches comically cute. And the nose (she says, “pimp button”) turns pink. And the famous actress Kirsten Dunst becomes like a cartoon girl – white bangs, dimples, pimpochka. Actually, she treats herself like that: without any seriousness. Seeing that I am looking with interest at her exquisite English woolen dress with a floral pattern – black background, yellow and blue daisy flowers, narrow but deep neckline, wide skirt – she throws her leg over her leg, showing me also a black suede low shoe , and proudly remarks: “That’s it! Dressed like a lady!” And she explains that she resolutely raked out all the girlish little things from the closets – shorts, torn jeans, tops with straps, jackets with lurex – and now replaces them with “real clothes”. Because she is soon thirty and there is nothing to perceive her as a “chick with tits.” That’s exactly what he says. Although I personally do not think that even teenagers have ever seen her exclusively as this very chick.

Well, confirmation that she really is something decidedly different will not be long in coming. You just need to ask a serious question.

Dates

• 1982 Born in the family of a German Klaus Dunst, an employee, and his Swedish wife, Inez, an artist.
• 1994 Golden Globe Nomination for his role in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire.
• 1999 “Virgin Suicides” by Sofia Coppola.
• 2002 “Spider-Man” by Sam Raimi.
• 2007 Debut as director of the short film Welcome.
• 2011 Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Melancholia by Lars von Trier.
• 2012 Bachelorettes Leslie Headland; one of the six new projects is the film “On the Road” (“On the Road”) by the famous Brazilian director Walter Salles.

Psychologies: It’s hard to forget the look on your face at that Cannes press conference for Melancholia. How did you feel when Lars von Trier said he understood Hitler?

Kirsten Danst: He also said that Israel is a pain in the ass of the whole world. And that he wanted to be a Jew, but he discovered in himself a “Nazi” … So I was shocked. Not only from what he specifically said. Actually, by that time I was already familiar with his brutal Scandinavian humor, which is sometimes expressed in a genre close to the buttons on a chair. It was just the button on the chair and the Cannes festival jumped. And we lost the party for the whole group, and we wanted to celebrate so much … But I experienced a shock for another reason. I don’t know about the one that this person, who the hell is talking about Nazism. I know an intelligent, sweet, courteous, irritable, freakish poseur, mockingbird… I know any Trier, but not a Trier who understands Hitler. And I was, as in childhood, and ashamed, and funny, and scared at the same time.

So much so that you did not even try to play calmness, equanimity …

K. D. Yes, I can’t play at all. I’m not very good at, for example, light novels. Here, after all, you need to improvise, play along with your partner … And men – they like the game so much. Shadow on the wattle fence, foggy obscurity. And I still want to say: yes, you say it straight, you need me or not! No, so I’ll move on! Don’t delay me! I am completely unable to participate in these games. By my very nature, I am not an actress. I just work as an actress. I love my job and I’m glad it turned out this way. But I definitely won’t die if this job ends.

And what would you do then?

K. D. How cinema is made, I imagine, and there are a lot of other activities in it. I have already become such a small producer and I am thinking about directing – I have already made two short feature films … In my free time I study drawing, painting and design. I take small courses between films. Perhaps in time I will be able to try myself as a production designer. That’s what interests me in cinema – the atmosphere, the images, the visual. You know, I really love Twilight, especially the first part. It was made by a director who started her career as an artist. Do you remember the movie? Black and white, leaden tones that kill the color image. Asphalt shining from the rain – as if wet varnished the entire surface of the film. Fluctuation of lines, transparency of faces… Engraving! Beardsley! And you seem to smell the wet asphalt, a drop of eternal – and indeed in the state of Washington eternal – rain … It’s all done by the production designer! The one who was engaged in the image of the picture as a whole, he made us feel a fine rain on our faces! In the future, I see myself rather in this capacity.

But for now, you’ve won the Cannes Film Festival award for best actress.

K. D. Yes, and I am infinitely grateful to the jury that they did not judge “Melancholia” by a press conference! Mom and brother said they cried when they found out about the prize. Dad called as soon as I left the stage – obviously he was on the Internet and was waiting for the results. This is really valuable.

Do you care what your loved ones think about your roles?

K. D. This is the only way I measure my successes – whether they mean something to those I love. By the way, that’s why “Melancholia” scared me a little – in the same place I have a completely “naked” scene. I warned my younger brother, Christian. Well, this is not serious, he said: “Okay, Kiki, I’ll close my eyes.” Notified the German grandfather and uncle. They were not embarrassed, they said that they would evaluate the film as a whole, and not a separate scene. What I feared most was my father’s reaction. He is a disciplined and strict person. He has a Protestant code of conduct in life, a Protestant work ethic. But then he just blew me away. He said that he was not embarrassed by any “naked” scene, because he trusted his daughter, and his daughter certainly could not participate in any vulgarity. I was childishly proud.

Do you make gifts for yourself?

K.D.: Well, I love clothes, I like beautiful things… By the way, there was a story: one guy was working on the set and started stealing things from the group. Someone has an expensive mobile, I have a bag. I had to speak in court … Disgusting! Because of some nonsense, the rag guy went to jail …

Do you admit that not everyone will agree that “rag nonsense” is your bag from Balenciaga, as the fashion press wrote, for one and a half thousand dollars?

K.D.: Yes, but these are not adequate things – a prison and a bag. Prison and some mobile! According to this logic, freedom costs money. I can’t reconcile myself with such logic … In general, no, I don’t understand much about money. But I am aware that it is quite a dangerous path not to understand how reality functions. You know, I see so many people, stars, who the more famous and richer they become, the more they isolate themselves from reality, build filters between themselves and reality – a shopping assistant, a healthy eating assistant, a fitness assistant, a parenting consultant … They are more don’t want to face life. A kind of acquired autism syndrome … I hope I avoided this.

But still, depression could not be avoided – in 2008 you were treated at the clinic …

K.D.: Yes, I know melancholy. And not just “Melancholia” … Just then, four years ago, I suddenly felt that I had no strength to live. I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed in the morning, go out of the house for milk, I couldn’t talk to other people… It’s strange, isn’t it? Now I think, in a way, that was my way of growing up. I started playing so early that I probably didn’t notice how I began to look at myself through the eyes of other people – spectators, agents, producers … I began to indulge this image of myself, created outside of me. And I could not understand what I really am – I did not know what I want and what I should strive for. When I went to rehab, the tabloids, of course, wrote: alcohol and drugs. Funny! It’s just that one fine day you need to deal with your existential questions … Depression was also because I had a bad discharge. I had to learn to let off steam.

Have you learned?

K.D.: I stopped denying myself some important desires. I like to dance. I can go to the club at night – and until you drop! Traveled with friends in a car across America. And by the way, I learned that our people live simply and often poorly. America is simple. Everyone knows this, but I found out closer to thirty. She moved from Los Angeles to New York – bought an apartment in Manhattan, in Tribeca. Quite small, but very New York. She did it herself – no designers. After all, it’s for me to live in it, not for the designer! And then, I stopped attaching so much importance to the opinions of others. Even this story with Lars and the press conference… Before my new, “adult” life, I probably would have run out of the hall out of shame. From indignation at the stupidity with which Lars also ruined the holiday for all of us. And now I think: sometimes it happens. Sometimes you can forgive yourself or another for some stupidity.

Four things Kirsten Dunst doesn’t (always) like

The assertion that it is natural for a woman to rely on a man.

“A person, regardless of gender, must be his own support. If you cannot be responsible for yourself, earn for yourself and have your own opinions, then neither a man nor the Lord God himself will help you. Whatever gender this person may be.

The saying “To live with wolves is to howl like a wolf.”

According to Dunst, she received the best advice from one famous artist: “In life, you need to keep your head straight and look in front of you. Only without looking around, you can remain who you really are.

Los Angeles.

Here is a vivid description of it, given by Kirsten: “This is a city of vampires! And not romantic vampires, but banal bloodsuckers. Moreover, they become bloodsuckers there, and without having a natural disposition for that. There everyone is trying to unscrew something at the expense of others. I moved to New York because here … well, it’s just that no one cares about anyone. But at the same time, they will help you exactly at the moment when you need it. ”

Watch movies with you.

“It’s like listening to your own answering machine record – you don’t learn anything new, but once again you are convinced that your voice is rather nasty.”

Did your parents trust you since childhood?

K.D.: Absolutely! But at the same time, my mother never let me out of her sight. She somehow balanced between my freedom and her responsibility for me. And, you know, in the end, by giving me freedom, she managed to instill in me the ability for adequate, it seems to me, self-esteem. And self-confidence, even if I fail at something.

When you were a teenager, your parents divorced. How did you take it?

K.D.: I don’t remember this event as dramatic. Everything was leading up to that. And somehow intuitively I felt that together they were unhappy. You can experience unhappiness, but you cannot live in the circumstances of unhappiness, in the process of unhappiness. It was obvious to me that, having parted, they would become happier. Therefore, there was no injury. And that’s why dad was present in our life with my brother just as much after the divorce from mom as before. And so now we’re all having a great time together. Their breakup wasn’t a breakup, you know? It was a natural divergence of life routes. I would love to be able to leave like this.

Can’t you?

K.D.: No, I can’t. I can’t be friends with those I love. For me, a gap is… It’s a hole. Hole. And all this I drag in the role – and novels, and parting, and quarrels with friends … That’s why I say that I’m not an actress. Actors, they act, but I act in a different way. And I can always restore by roles what exactly happened in my life when the film was being shot. Sometimes I look and remember: yeah, of course, I smiled so seductively at Paul Bettany at Wimbledon, for example, because I trained a smile that was supposed to charm a completely different person … I imagined him in Paul’s place … It generally seems to me that this is the best property acting profession – roles document you. What do other people have – wedding videos and prom photos? And we have everything removed. How we are changing. And I can show my future children how their mother grew up. Advantage!

But isn’t it the only one?

K.D.: Not! Basically, there are two of them. The second is fees. (Laughs.)

And you started earning, if I’m not mistaken, at the age of three. What is the attitude towards money in a person who earned it himself from early childhood and never needed it?

K.D.: I didn’t start it, it’s my mom. It’s just that when she walked with me, she was constantly told: “What a girl you have alive! Well, right for advertising baby food! or “Your girl builds such faces – an actress!” And my mom decided we could give it a try—why not start saving for college? And somehow she took up the arrangement of my acting classes. Telling ourselves we’re making money for college. And she was ready to stop at the moment when she felt that I did not like it. But I liked it! And every year more and more. As a result, it has already become my mother’s concern that I keep my usual way of life, be a normal child. And I was – I studied at a regular school, my place at the table at the school breakfast was waiting for me from the shooting. My best friend Molly is my classmate. That is, my life was normal, with this one exception – I don’t really know what money is.

But do they mean something to you?

K.D.: I see them as a way to help others. This is probably the most enjoyable. From the first decent fee, at the age of twelve, it seems, I updated my mother’s kitchen. She didn’t ask, she thought the 12 year old had more fun things to do! My mother and grandmother now live in a luxurious house. My brother is studying at New York University. If the German grandfather and uncle, my father’s father and brother, did not accept with hostility my proposals to improve something in their lives – Protestant ethics! they have to earn everything themselves! – I’d go for a walk here.