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SmartLess

"Kirsten Dunst"

55 min episode · 2 min read
·
Kirsten Dunst

Episode

55 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Productivity, Health & Wellness

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Early Career Resilience: Dunst learned at age twelve not to trust award outcomes after being told she would win a Golden Globe for Interview with the Vampire but losing, crying under the table at the ceremony—a lesson that helped her focus on the work itself rather than external validation throughout her career.
  • Dreamwork Acting Method: Dunst uses a technique where she writes questions about her character before sleep, records whatever dreams occur, then discusses them with a coach to implement subconscious insights into her performance. She formally signs out of characters after filming wraps to maintain psychological boundaries between roles and personal life.
  • Audition Strategy After Success: After years without auditioning, Dunst recorded a self-tape improv alone for director Ruben Östlund's film, doing only two takes without reviewing footage before sending. She placed her husband's camera nearby as a symbolic presence, demonstrating how established actors approach auditions with less pressure than emerging talent.
  • Work-Life Balance Reality: Dunst and Plemons alternate film schedules to avoid both working simultaneously, though she admits the arrangement remains difficult with two young boys. She experienced this challenge acutely during a Budapest shoot when her seven-year-old son had emergency appendicitis surgery followed by complications requiring extended recovery time.

What It Covers

Kirsten Dunst discusses her career spanning from childhood Golden Globe nomination at twelve through Spider-Man and Civil War, balancing family life with husband Jesse Plemons, her approach to acting through dreamwork techniques, and upcoming film Roofman.

Key Questions Answered

  • Early Career Resilience: Dunst learned at age twelve not to trust award outcomes after being told she would win a Golden Globe for Interview with the Vampire but losing, crying under the table at the ceremony—a lesson that helped her focus on the work itself rather than external validation throughout her career.
  • Dreamwork Acting Method: Dunst uses a technique where she writes questions about her character before sleep, records whatever dreams occur, then discusses them with a coach to implement subconscious insights into her performance. She formally signs out of characters after filming wraps to maintain psychological boundaries between roles and personal life.
  • Audition Strategy After Success: After years without auditioning, Dunst recorded a self-tape improv alone for director Ruben Östlund's film, doing only two takes without reviewing footage before sending. She placed her husband's camera nearby as a symbolic presence, demonstrating how established actors approach auditions with less pressure than emerging talent.
  • Work-Life Balance Reality: Dunst and Plemons alternate film schedules to avoid both working simultaneously, though she admits the arrangement remains difficult with two young boys. She experienced this challenge acutely during a Budapest shoot when her seven-year-old son had emergency appendicitis surgery followed by complications requiring extended recovery time.

Notable Moment

Dunst reveals she maintains such a small radius around her Toluca Lake home that she rarely leaves the Valley, preferring to stay within the circuit of school drop-offs and neighborhood restaurants rather than venturing across Los Angeles for work or social commitments.

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Episode Transcript

Jason, Will and I mean, Will, Jason and I are the only two people in glasses. Will, Will, will you break glass? That was like a billing. That was like a billing situation. You said Jason and Will. No. No. No. Sorry. I mean, Will and Jason. No. I said Will Will calls you and said, listen. Next time you mention your name along with Jason and billing, you mention my name first. And you also say and introducing. Will and introduce it with b. I prefer the Do you want to say Will and Jason and introducing Will? Yes. No. Say, yeah. You're saying that you're only two in glasses. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say, don't you you usually wear glasses? I do. I wear my reading glasses, but I'm far, back enough now from my screen that I don't. So I look younger than you guys. Well, you know, you don't need to see Will today very well because he's doing an audio show called Smartless. Smartless. And welcome to it. Smart. Let's hang on a second. Yeah? Sean Hayes Is back in town. Back in town. Yeah. No. You just got a little for yourself. Don't start the applause, Sean. We'll start it, and then you can join it. You know, just to have me back. By the way, I have to tell you something. So I would go I went out, out the stage door after a couple shows oh, no. After one show, And people were doing that bit. They're like, no. No. No way. Yeah. In England. Yeah. Yeah. You guys but, The bits travel sometimes. The bits travel. People are listening. But I just got back last night, and I I swear to God, I weighed about one seventy nine, one eighty when I left. I weighed one sixty five. One hundred sixty five pounds. So you lost 15 pounds while you were in Yeah. Well, if you lost it and you're looking for it, I can tell you where to find it. How long will it take to get it back? I swear to god, for breakfast, I just had a bowl of pasta and two pieces of cake because it was Scotty's birthday yesterday. You got a big race tomorrow or something? Wait. Wait. It's 09:30 in the morning right now, and you've already had But to him, it's din din time. Bowl of pasta and two pieces of cake. His belly is saying, feed me. It's dinner time. That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah. It was but but yeah. No. The I got I got back yesterday at, like, one in the afternoon, and I went to bed at 8PM. And I got up at 1AM and then went back to bed. I got up at seven, so I slept, like, twelve hours. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. And you needed it. Did you have to clean the CPAP machine in between? You're not you're on you're still on that. …

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  • upcoming film Roofman
  • her career spanning from childhood Golden Globe nomination at twelve through Spider-Man and Civil War
  • her career spanning from childhood Golden Globe nomination at twelve through Spider-Man and Civil War

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