Kirsten Dunst has evolved over the past few years, and is opening up about the ups and downs she’s experienced in her late twenties.
“Who you are at 25 and who you are at 29 is a very different thing. For me it feels like a 20-year age gap,” she said when speaking exclusively to British Elle for their September issue.
Dunst recalls her stint at the Cirque Lodge rehab facility in 2008 where she checked herself in, to deal with mental issues she was having. “I have experienced depression, Many people have. Mine was caused by a few things. I felt a lot of stress from all these different areas …” she said.
Dunst shares how her battle with depression translated to her latest role. She portrays Justine, a deeply depressed woman, in the Lars von Trier film, “Melancholia.”
“I brought my own slant [to the role] but I am very much portraying Lars’s experience of depression. We met before I did the movie and talked about how the light goes out of your eyes. People don’t talk about depression, so for me it was really amazing that this was going to be portrayed.’
“Melancholia” was the center of attention at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Partly because of the critical acclaim Dunst received for her portrayal of the character, which won her the Best Actress prize, but also because of the actions of von Tier himself. The film’s creator was banned from the Festival for remarks he made about being a Nazi during a press conference. Dunst was seen during the incident, looking wildly uncomfortable and even uttering the phrase “Oh, God,” before hiding behind her troublemaker director.
Despite the debacle at the press conference Dunst kept a positive outlook simply saying, “Wow, what a week it's been.”
The full photo shoot and interview with Dunst appears in the September issue of British ELLE and is on stands now.
