Kirsten Dunst Says She Was Given the Nickname "Girly-Girl" on Set of SPIDER-MAN, and She Hated It

Kirsten Dunst started out her career as a child actress in hit movies like Interview With the Vampire, Little Women, and Jumanji. She starred in teen movies like Bring it On and Crazy/Beautiful. She went on to make many more movies and shows, including an incredible season of Fargo, and the film The Power of the Dog, which garnered her an Oscar nomination, but for many comic book fans, Dunst will always be known as our first Mary Jane Watson from the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man movies that introduced us to that world on the big screen.

While Dunst has found her footing now, deeply feeling the roles she chooses for herself, back when she played Mary Jane, she wasn’t quite as comfortable. Dunst told Marie Claire, "I mean..." she exhales, pauses, then resumes speaking more softly than before. "It was a joke, but on Spider-Man, they would call me 'girly-girl' sometimes on the walkie-talkie. 'We need girly-girl'"—she imitates the cloying tone—"but I never said anything." The memory fires her up a little bit—"like, don't call me that"—but she quickly recovers. It took time to realize her self-worth, especially as a young woman in pre-MeToo Hollywood. "You didn't say anything," she says of being minimized. "You just took it."

Every woman has a story about how she was made to feel uncomfortable before she was able to speak up for herself. Luckily, it sounds as though Dunst has grown into the ability to stand up for herself, and maybe that’s part of what shone through in her performance in Fargo. I look forward to seeing what Dunst does in the future.