Kirsten Dunst Remembers Tom Cruise Decorating Her Dressing Room for Christmas on the "Interview with the Vampire "Set

11/11/2024 09:00 AM

The actress was 11 years old when she starred in the hit 1994 film adaptation of Anne Rice's gothic horror novel about vampires

Released in theaters on Nov. 11, 1994, Interview with the Vampire was a box office hit, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt leading an all-star adaptation of Anne Rice's gothic horror novel about the famed vampire Lestat. 

Among the ensemble that also included Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Thandiwe Newton was a 11-year-old Kirsten Dunst, who delivered a breakout performance as the child vampire Claudia, who is looked after by Lestat (Cruise, now 62) and Louis (Pitt, 60) while the latter reflects on his time spent in New Orleans with the former during an interview hundreds of years later with a reporter (Slater, 55).

The role was such a hit with fans and critics alike that Dunst even earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for best supporting actress in 1995 — a category rounded out by formidable talents, including Dianne Wiest, Robin Wright, Sophia Loren and Uma Thurman.

In the 30 years since Interview with the Vampire's release, Dunst, 42, has opened up about making the movie, reflecting on the supportive bond she created with her older male costars and having to share a "gross" on-screen kiss with Pitt. 

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A budding child star at the time, Dunst followed Interview with the Vampire with small roles in Woody Allen's New York Stories (1989) and Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990).

"I auditioned many, many times for this role. This was also a huge deal for me. This was my, you know, breakout role," Dunst said in an interview with Netflix, adding, "And then I had another screen test after that with Tom Cruise, and I remember I was the tallest of all the young girls. He had to pick each one of us up and, like, carry us around just to see how we looked against Tom and who looked the most childlike, I guess."

She continued by recalling, "I remember Tom whispering to me, like, 'Tuck your legs under' so I'd look as tiny as possible 'cause I was the tallest girl. So I knew he was kind of, like, rooting for me. We were both from New Jersey, and I think, you know, he was like, 'Let this Jersey girl have it.' "

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While speaking with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, Dunst shared what it was like to work with Cruise and Pitt at the time — especially considering their superstar status in Hollywood during the '90s. 

Revealing that she was aware of who they were, she said she was "very innocent" about it. "I feel like I watched Brad in A River Runs Through and Tom was in Far and Away, which I loved. They treated me like a little sister. It was very sweet, I was a very innocent 12-year-old. I was just doing my job and they were very sweet to me," she said. 

In another interview with the Telegraph she did while promoting her 2024 role in Civil War, Dunst remembered how Pitt felt "like an older brother to me." She added, "[I was] treated like a princess … Yes, it was a virtually all-male set, but everyone was very gentle and kind, and nothing ever felt weird."

Related: 'Interview with the Vampire' Author Anne Rice Dies at 80 Due to Complications from Stroke

She also recalled how Cruise helped her celebrate the holidays while filming the scenes for the movie in London's Pinewood Studios. "One morning, around Christmas, I remember going into my dressing room at Pinewood and he'd set up a beautiful tree in there for me, covered in ornaments," she shared.

Speaking of Christmas, Dunst has since revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she is "still getting [the] Tom Cruise cake" in the years since, referring to a $126 white chocolate coconut bundt cake made by Doan's Bakery in Woodland Hills, Calif., that the Top Gun actor sends to his famous friends. 

She previously shared on the Graham Norton Show that "we call it the Cruise cake at my house. It's the best coconut cake I've ever had in my life," adding that her husband, Jesse Plemons, also "gets the cakes, so we double up on our cakes." 

While she largely had a positive experience on set, Dunst has since reflected on how creepy it was that she had to kiss Pitt, who was 31 at the time, while she was still a preteen. "Yeah, it was gross! I stand by that. It would have been so much creepier if an 11-year-old was like, 'It was great.' You'd be like, 'There's something wrong with this child,' " she told ET after watching a video of her younger self saying the kiss was "gross."

In a separate interview with Vanity Fair, she noted that scene was one of the more awkward moments during filming. "At that point, I was a little girl, and he was like a brother to me, and it was very weird," she said. "Even though it was a peck, I just was very not into it."

That said, Dunst — who went on to star in several Sofia Coppola films, the Spider-Man franchise and earn an Oscar nomination for Power of the Dog — noted to ET that Pitt and Cruise "were so sweet to me." She added, "I mean, listen, that production, that film, was like nothing else I've ever experienced — maybe Marie Antoinette, because of where we shot. Other than that, they just don't make movies like that anymore."