\nSofia Coppola directs Kirsten Dunst on the set of “The Virgin Suicides.” (Paramount Classics)<\/p>\n
Kirsten Dunst didn\u2019t want to kiss anyone. She was 16 and had been playing a young innocent on-screen for a decade. Now, on the set of Sofia Coppola\u2019s \u201cThe Virgin Suicides,\u201d she was supposed to film a scene in which she made out with a handful of guys. And she was riddled with anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Sof was just like, \u2018Bury your face in your hair,\u2019\u201d Dunst, now 35, recalls. \u201cSo I didn\u2019t really have to make out with them. It was an older part for me \u2014 the first time I was seen in a sexual way. And I\u2019m so happy that transition was in Sofia\u2019s hands, because it could have been really different with another director.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience instantly bonded the actress and the filmmaker, forging a connection so strong that the pair went on to make two more movies together. The latest, a remake of 1971\u2019s \u201cThe Beguiled,\u201d debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last month \u2014 where Coppola became the first woman to be named best director since 1961. Set in Virginia during the Civil War, the movie, which hits theaters June 23, tells the story of a group of women (played by Dunst, Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning) who take a wounded Union soldier (Colin Farrell) into their sheltered boarding school. The arrival of the hunky soldier turns the house upside down, as the women begin vying for his attention and sneaking into his room to try to win his affection.<\/p>\n
\nSofia Coppola directs Kirsten Dunst on the set of “The Virgin Suicides.” (Paramount Classics)<\/p>\n
Though Dunst had a one-day cameo role in Coppola\u2019s 2013 film \u201cThe Bling Ring,\u201d \u201cThe Beguiled\u201d marks the first time the two have really collaborated since 2006\u2019s \u201cMarie Antoinette.\u201d In the new movie, Dunst plays Edwina, a chaste schoolteacher who is perhaps the most affected by the advent of the soldier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked the idea of seeing her play a character that\u2019s so different from her,\u201d says Coppola, 46. \u201cThe character is so innocent and vulnerable, really repressed \u2014 and Kirsten\u2019s not repressed at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their friendship, at least, Dunst certainly appears to be the more gregarious. Coppola is not verbose. There\u2019s a gentleness to her speech, and she often swallows the ends of her sentences. Her style is also more conservative than Dunst\u2019s. She tends toward pants and high-neck blouses and carries quilted Chanel handbags. Dunst, meanwhile, usually opts for dresses and isn\u2019t afraid of showing decolletage on the red carpet.<\/p>\n
\u201cKirsten is some sort of alter ego I connect to in myself,\u201d says the director, sharing a couch with Dunst. \u201cAlso, because you\u2019re so opposite. When I met her, she was this all-American, blond cheerleader. But there was something else going on that contrasted that. And yet we already shared a sensibility and sense of humor that helps a lot. Kirsten just gets me and what I\u2019m trying to do. We don\u2019t even have to talk. I\u2019ll just look at her and she\u2019ll go, \u2018OK, got it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCoppola, photographed in Beverly Hills. (Christina House \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
Youree Henley, a producer on \u201cThe Beguiled,\u201d says the kinship between the two became obvious the moment they showed up for an early costume fitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a great shorthand and real appreciation between them, and that carried through into making the movie,\u201d he says. \u201cSofia likes to go back to things she trusts \u2014 like working with Kirsten, or Elle Fanning again after \u2018Somewhere.\u2019 Because she knows what she can do with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond her trusted stars, there are other classic Coppola stamps on \u201cThe Beguiled\u201d \u2014 namely its gauzy, pastel-heavy visual aesthetic. Filmed at a historic plantation house in Louisiana, the movie is filled with moody nature \u2014 Spanish moss and Southern live oaks. And the women are all meant to look delicate and ultra-feminine, with crown braids, corsets, bows and brooches.<\/p>\n
\nA scene from “The Beguiled,” set in Coppola’s gauzy, delicate world. (Ben Rothstein \/ Focus Features)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been visually driven \u2014 that\u2019s how I relate to the world,\u201d Coppola says. \u201cI think about how you fill the frame, and we wanted this to feel claustrophobic, so we picked a tighter aspect ratio. Everything is in service of the story, so that the audience is disarmed by this pretty, delicate world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have impeccable taste, Sof, you do,\u201d Dunst says. She describes how beautiful Coppola\u2019s home is in New York\u2019s West Village, where the director lives with her husband, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars, and their two children. \u201cThough it was funny to go there after she had kids, because I was like, \u2018This is not Sofia\u2019s house.\u2019 I went to the bathroom and there\u2019s, like, explosions of toys. I think kids change the aesthetic quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunst, who lives in the Valley with her fianc\u00e9, \u201cFargo\u201d co-star Jesse Plemons, describes her own style as more relaxed. In her downtime, she says, she wears sweatpants and a little makeup, \u201cbut that\u2019s only because I don\u2019t like my skin tone. It\u2019s so red.\u201d On \u201cThe Beguiled,\u201d when Coppola mentioned that the characters should look like they were \u201cdwindling away\u201d due to a lack of food in the house, Dunst made it clear that she would have trouble looking like she \u201chadn\u2019t been fed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were so many fast-food restaurants where we shot \u2014 Cane\u2019s Chicken, McDonald\u2019s \u2014 and no healthy options. So I was like, \u2018I can\u2019t, really.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDunst has starred in three of Coppola’s films — and even had a cameo in “The Bling Ring.” (Christina House \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
But Dunst values Coppola\u2019s opinion, and is planning on seeking her guidance when she directs her first film next year, an adaptation of Sylvia Plath\u2019s \u201cThe Bell Jar\u201d starring Dakota Fanning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like making low-budget films, just because I can have total control, and I wouldn\u2019t want to make a movie that I couldn\u2019t make exactly how I wanted,\u201d Coppola advises Dunst.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine not having final cut,\u201d the actress replies. \u201cWhat would be the point?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t ever do that. Don\u2019t ever do that,\u201d the director insists. \u201cI never have, but I almost did, and I\u2019m so thankful I didn\u2019t do it. When I get input, I like being able to say, \u2018Oh, thank you,\u2019 but then do it the way I want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coppola seems to be referring to \u201cThe Little Mermaid,\u201d a live-action version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that she dropped out of due to creative differences in 2015. Instead, she went on to make \u201cThe Beguiled\u201d \u2014 which, though not a massive studio film, still proved a challenge for the director. Unlike her previous work \u2014 sparse, dialogue-light movies like \u201cLost in Translation\u201d and \u201cSomewhere\u201d \u2014 \u201cThe Beguiled\u201d has more language and a propulsive plot line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was kind of an experiment, and I liked trying a different style of filmmaking,\u201d Coppola says. \u201cI\u2019ve never used a lot of dialogue before, because in real life, people don\u2019t express themselves that way. They show things through gesture. Nobody can show their feelings. I try to make things based on my impression of how they are in life, which is not as tidy and organized. More impressionistic, to give you the feeling of something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nColin Farrell as John McBurney and Kirsten Dunst as Edwina in “The Beguiled.” (Ben Rothstein \/ Focus Features)<\/p>\n
\u201cI always think movies have too much dialogue. No one talks that much,\u201d Dunst agrees. \u201cI like how your films allow you to have your own experience of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farrell, who had never worked with Coppola before \u201cThe Beguiled\u201d but was a longtime fan of her work, describes it as \u201cemotional dislocation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a master of mood,\u201d the actor says. \u201cShe ran the most calm and relaxed set that I\u2019ve ever been on in 20 years of making films. Her direction was very, very gentle \u2014 she\u2019d have you leaning into her and nearly whispering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since winning the directing prize at Cannes, Coppola says she\u2019s been overwhelmed by the warm reaction from industry peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in my neighborhood \u2014 when I walk my kids to school, strangers on the street will be like, \u2018Yes! Congratulations!\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom was so proud of you,\u201d Dunst says. \u201cShe cried when she heard. I mean, it\u2019s a long legacy of us working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally? That\u2019s sweet,\u201d the director says. \u201cI still haven\u2019t gotten the trophy. But Quentin [Tarantino] told me he was bummed he never got the director award, because it\u2019s actually bigger than the Palme d\u2019Or. I\u2019m excited for it. It can go in my house with all of those Calico Critters.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0latimes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kirsten Dunst didn\u2019t want to kiss anyone. She was 16 and had been playing a young innocent on-screen for a decade. Now, on the set of Sofia Coppola\u2019s \u201cThe Virgin Suicides,\u201d she was supposed to film a scene in which she made out with a handful of guys. And she ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":65518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\n