Our favorite young vampire-head cheerleader-French queen-pageant contestant-tennis professional-comic book character turns 30 today. Even at such a young age, Kirsten Dunst has already done so much and just last year won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her great work in Lars Von Trier's Melancholia. She got plenty of critical notices for that role. With that said, despite working tirelessly for nearly two decades already, you'd have to go as far back as 1994's Interview with a Vampire for similar kinds of critical buzz. Sometimes I still can't believe she hasn't gotten nominated for an Academy Award or at least get her second Golden Globe nomination after her nomination for Interview with a Vampire. It's only a matter of time though. She's plenty young, is well liked, and more importantly has paid her dues.
As for my favorite films of hers, it's not that straightforward. While technically I would rank Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind above any of her films, I do have a special place in my heart for Bring It On. Plus that film is more a "Dunst film" than the Jim Carrey-Kate Winslet drama anyways. I've also been a big fan of her early comedic satire work especially in Drop Dead Gorgeous and Dick. I'm upset at Hollywood for not giving her more roles such as these or at least reuniting her with Michelle Williams. In terms of slight guilty pleasures I have to cite her work in Wimbledon, Elizabethtown, and Marie Antoinette which are all flawed in their own way but contained things I love aka tennis, Orlando Bloom, and French royalty respectively. Finally, I can't forget to mention her serviceable role as Mary Jane in the Spider-Man flicks which I liked, LOVED, and disliked respectively.
I'm hoping she does a few more films like Melancholia and Dick to keep challenging herself. But then again with the career she's already had, what hasn't she done? Of course if I had the money to bankroll any film for her to do, I'd probably waste it on a Bring It On sequel... so what do I know?
That's a lovely picture of her too.
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