Horror Actressing: Kirsten Dunst in "Interview With the Vampire"
Monday, November 11, 2019 at 3:00PM by Jason Adams
All of the best moments in Interview With the Vampire belong to the eleven-year-old. Re-watching the film now here on its 25th anniversary there's a lot to like (Tom Cruise allows himself to be camp in ways that he usually is but this time purposefully, and Neil Jordan floods everything with opulent blood-red atmosphere) and there's a lot to hate (it's a slog and Brad Pitt is awful) but there's really only one thing to love, and that thing is Kirsten Dunst every single second she's on-screen as the immortal vampire trapped in a little girl's perpetual curls.
The story goes that Dunst was the first girl that they auditioned for the role of "Claudia" but that she auditioned twice -- her agent supposedly told her she was terrible the first time through and forced her back into the room to do it all over again. "How avant-garde," indeed. Still that gambit worked, and one of our greatest actresses got her start by slashing up multiple nannies and kissing Brad Pitt on the mouth -- an experience Dunst maintains was "gross," speaking for exactly zero other people aged eleven to one hundred and eleven...
It's nigh impossible to cherry-pick a single favorite moment out of this preternaturally creepy and comedic performance, which balances the thirteen colliding tones that Jordan's aiming for with a deftness that makes you wonder if there really wasn't an immortal lurking behind those cherubic eyes. The hair-cutting scene is rightfully remembered, having finally given a voice to those of us who come back from the barber thinking we've done something spectacular that really just amounted to a number two on the clippers instead of a number three.
I think Dunst's finest moments in the film are two somewhat quieter scenes though -- there's the one where she lures Lestat into a deadly trap with a pair of laudanum-laced twins, and the scene later on where she begs Louis to give her a new companion, a mother to replace him as he entertains the thought of being Antonio Banderas' fuckboi (hey we've all been there). Both moments require her to foreward-face her innocence, first for deception and second for love and anguish, and to watch an eleven-year-old nail every complication and heart-breaking gray of these two poisonous monologues, making of sweetness an existential shriek, remains a real something.
Reader Comments (21)
Thanks so much for this,underrated from day 1,I certainly think she is better than 93's winner Paquin but genre killed her chances.
Banderas is sublime in this too sexy,sly,sad he and Dunst are operating on a different level than the 2 nominal usually charisma beacon stars.
I remember even liking Christian Slater in this.
Dunst is truly wonderful in this otherwise slog of a slog. Agree that Brad Pitt was a huge part of the problem.
As soon as this series started, I thought of this performance. Thanks for getting around to it! :)
I want some more!
QUEEN Glenn Close is auctioning memorabilia on Instagram, you guys.
fuck Glenn Close this article is not about her.
Real Classy Bey.
Agree completely about Banderas. Totally wrong physically for the part but otherwise absolutely ideal. As soon as he approached Pitt with that “settle down young man” hand I knew we were gonna be OK.
But yeah, Dunst Dunst Dunst. Not a step wrong. Every audience member exiting that upper east side theater said some variation on “the little girl stole it from everyone.” I saw it again a couple weeks ago and still enjoyed it — the Goldenthal score, the Theater of the Vampires show, all the blood — and Pitt was somewhat better than I remembered. His scene with Cruise and the courtesan right before he makes Claudia is one of my favorites. That said, my friends and I still bust out randomly into imitations of his “DUDE THIS PLACE IS CURSED” speech, like he’s Louis Spicoli or something.
I’ve often wondered what kind of movie we’d have had if the three leads were the gents from Velvet Goldmine.
She is so very very good in this film
@beyaccount Fuck You. Everything's related to Glenn Close.
Fuck all of you
Been a long time since I've seen it but I don't remember Brad Pitt being bad; Brad Pitt played the character Anne Rice wrote. Louis is an annoying self serious whiny fuck.
Also consider it was 25 years ago, before Brokeback Mountain and before it was cool for straight actors to play gay. I think you'd get a much richer, more complex performance out of Brad Pitt today when he wouldn't be afraid to lean into the gay subtext like he was in 1994. Of course, homophobe and now full on nut case Cruise would probably be much worse.
But yes, Kirsten Dunst walked away with the movie. She truly made you believe there was an adult mind behind the child's eyes.
Hey guys, I'll just say it once: keep your class and level, PLEASE! Respect this blog.
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2019/10/31/101-days-til-oscar-how-will-disneys-fare-fare.html
I always thought, that had there been no Anna Paquin in 1993 with The Piano, Kirsten Dunst would have won the Oscar for Supporting Actress for this performance. But awarding two children in a row in the same category? Probably they skipped her, despite the obvious challenge she faced (and in which she succeeded). Making matters even worse, the previous year, ALSO Christina Ricci gave another of the best child performances in a completely unrelated genre (comedy, dark comedy, unless we consider Interview with the Vampire a dark comedy, which at moments, it is) for the always underrated Addams Family Values.
Irony being, most people thought Ricci would translate into the bigger adult career, Dunst would probably do so, and many wondered about Paquin. All three became great actresses, there was no need for a competition.
She was absolutely robbed of a Best Supporting Actress nomination/win. Not to mention, she had Little Women the same year. Already, she showed such impressive range.
Absolutely should have been her first nomination. Whenever they remake this (and they will, they will) let's hope they push this "tragic gay love story" the way it should have been.
Allegedly during her second audition, Tom Cruise told her to tuck her foot under her chair so she looked smaller. Cruise knew she was the right choice.
I like the film (but I’m always quite partial regarding Jordan) and I like Cruise as Lestat but I agree that Dunst/Claudia is the Best in Show. When she received the Golden Globe nom I kept thinking that the Academy would have followed the path, but unfortunately...