Kirsten Dunst says the disparity between her Spider-Man salary and Tobey Maguire’s was “very extreme”
In a profile for The Independent, the actor looks back at the first decade of her career
Aux News Tobey Maguire
When 19-year-old Kirsten Dunst was cast as Mary Jane in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, she was featured prominently.
She was front-and-center in the movie’s most iconic scene: the unforgettable upside-down-in-the-rain kiss. It was a rare role where, instead of just being treated as “the girlfriend,” Mary Jane was rightfully given a personality. In fact, a scene where she stands up for herself while working as a waitress was recently meme-ified. Dunst was also featured alongside Tobey Maguire in one of the posters for the movie. But looking back, Dunst says she was paid far less than Maguire for the role—despite being a well-established actor at that point.
“The pay disparity between me and Spider-Man was very extreme,” she tells The Independent writer Alexandra Pollard in a new profile. “I didn’t even think about it. I was just like, ‘Oh yeah, Tobey is playing Spider-Man.’ But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and ME.”
She also recalls that, for Spider-Man, a producer took her to the dentist without her consent in order to fix her teeth. He drove her there without telling her what was going on, and she realized what was happening when they arrived. “I was like, ‘Mmmmm, no, I like my teeth.” She adds, “Also, Sofia [Coppola] loved my teeth.”
While filming Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola made teenaged Dunst feel comfortable with her perfectly normal-yet-imperfect teeth, which instilled enough self-confidence in the teen for her to challenge producers who wanted to control her looks. Dunst says that her teeth were still straightened in the Spider-Man poster, against her wishes.
In the profile, Dunst also addresses the biggest mystery in her career: why she has never been nominated for an Oscar. When asked how she feels about it, she admits, “I did feel a little like, ‘Huh, I’ve been doing this for so long. Maybe I’m just not… I’d rather carve out my own career path than follow some kind of formula. I’d rather be in that crew.”
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“She also recalls that, for Spider-Man, a producer took her to the dentist without her consent in order to fix her teeth. He drove her there without telling her what was going on, and she realized what was happening when they arrived.”
What, and it’s impossible to stress this enough, the fuck.
I’m sure that kinda sick shit happens a lot, just the actors get muscled into keeping quiet. Very occasionally this practice works for the better; Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall only had his rotting tooth fixed when Lorne Michaels imperiously but casually ordered the show’s staff to make him go to the dentist.
Michael Bay made Ben Affleck get his teeth … I’m not sure. Is it fake teeth? Is it veneers? It apparently cost the studio $20k.
Oh *yeah*! And they were terrible too, it was like a mouth full of Chiclets. $20K for that shit haha
Yeah, Affleck used to have hilariously small baby teeth
Regular sized teeth in a sputnik head.
Wait, they made them . . . bigger?
Yes. Just google Ben Affleck baby teeth. They really were oddly tiny.
Thanks (???) I will never unsee that now.
Or Tom Cruise “Outsiders” teeth.
I think you mean tooth, singular. It’s like that one up front won some sort of battle royale and got to take up residence right there in the middle.
“Legend” too – in fact, “Legend” has the old and the new teeth. I thought the old teeth were sexy, tbh.
Dolphin teeth.
Personally, I’d let Michael Bay pay to fix my teeth!
In fairness his teeth were distractingly small. I’d say what he has now are full crowns.
You have a dead tooth, you realize that right? And I hate it! And it’s annoying!
The weird thing about it, beyond the obvious moral implications of springing surprise medical procedures on people, is that these “imperfections” can often add a lot of character. The first example that comes to mind is Jennifer Grey, who had a stunning and memorable look at the start of her career, and then became immediately forgettable when she got a nose job to “correct” her “ethnic” features . The other one I guess would be Jewel, who is a singer and theoretically her looks shouldn’t matter but entertainment is entertainment and her crooked teeth became something of a signature part of her “look”. It certainly made her memorable. I understand she got them fixed later in her career for an acting role and while I’m sure she’s gorgeous either way, I honestly don’t know if I could pick her out of a line up without her crooked teeth.
I can see why Grey might not want it to be such a prominent feature, but there was a lot of real estate between where she started and ended up that would have preserved her distinctive look.
But this story is just nuts. I can’t imagine being in her shoes.
Fannie Brice had a nosejob. Fannie Brice! Not only that, but in 1923 – when she was already famous! Not only THAT, but it’s considered to be the first one ever!!!
Everyone should be able to decide what to do about their teeth but actually some people should not.
Crooked teeth, whatever. Rotten tooth? Your breath probably stinks and you’re putting yourself at risk for a nasty infection. Get over your dental phobia and get that shit fixed.
The world adjacent to vast sums of money is filled with professionally driven behaviour that is very difficult to accept as normal or excusable (nor should it be). But given the stakes to the people involved, it’s not surprising or even rare. I’m not condoning shit like this, but we’re talking about people being on the hook for how much money ends up going through the money pipe, and in which direction. There’s a much larger range of shitty behavior people will justify to themselves at that scale.
So…what THE FUCK then?
These kinds of things are so confusing. Who are they doing that for? Like, what creepy goblins rising up from the sewers want their movie stars to have only the straightest teeth and will boycott the box office in a significant way on that basis?
Well, we certainly don’t lack for creepy goblins outside the sewers these days. For a long time now, I’ve had a general unexamined belief that “Kirsten Dunst has snaggle teeth,” which for all I know dates back to something like Maddox. Any imperfection like that means that an actress is purely unfuckable, and Hollywood won’t survive if audiences can’t fantasize about all the things they want to do to movie stars.Looking at her teeth now, they look considerably better than mine, so I don’t even know what the big deal is.
I really like Dunst but I have absolutely seen casual sniping about her being referred to as snaggletooth(ed) I feel like here or over at Vulture pretty frequently.This seemed to happen even when she transitioned into a lot of prestige indie films and wasn’t just when she was an unusually engaging placeholder woman for lighter and potentially mainstream studio films?I never noticed her teeth really in the past but there is a lot of strange scrutiny over audience expectations. While Shailene Woodley has her own many things going on right now, I remember when she was originally meant to be MJ in Andrew Garfield’s movies there was a lot of protest that her hair color wasn’t the right shade of red or how they didn’t buy her as a supermodel type the character sometimes is in the comics. I can’t tell how much lingering protest there is about Zendaya as MJ in the new series if at all, but I have no idea how successfully they sidestepped it by giving her a different name for the majority of the first movie.
Well, if it were up to me, everybody who actually obsesses over shit like that would be sent to mandatory therapy sessions. Or they can go eat a dick instead. Either one would be fine with me.
homophobes should also go eat a dick
I get your point. Sorry. I always imagined the saying to mean that you literally feast on and devour a penis, which is, I think, undesirable regardless of sexual orientation (the odd Armin Meiwes notwithstanding). But I understand how it can be read like that and will refrain from using that phrase in the future, as to not risk misunderstandings.
“Hey doc, here’s one of the most beautiful women of the early 2000s, fix her face”
Was she sedated and forced into the procedure?
That dentist anecdote made me ill.
I love that little snagglepuss.
I like her teeth. I’m glad she was able to stick up for herself in that instance.
How the hell can that be legal???
Because her face is part of her product.
Fucked up thing about American healthcare is that I can think two very different things at the same time:A.) That is some nightmarish body horror shit that is unacceptable. B.) I wish some movie producer would secret me away to a dentist to have my teeth fixed without my knowledge.
She was wearing a t-shirt in the rain. I have no memory of what her teeth looked like.
I don’t know how extreme the pay disparity was, but I also don’t know the days on set she was required to be there compared to Maguire. I don’t know what, if any, physical training she had to do compared to Maguire. I don’t know if the pay disparity was shrunk for the sequels. I don’t know who their respective agents are/were who allowed this.
‘Oh yeah, Tobey is playing Spider-Man.’ But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and ME.” To be fair, Spider-Man/Peter is on the poster like 4 times to your 1. And is in almost every scene in the movie.That said, I hope she at least got paid a good amount of money for the film. She wasn’t as big of a star as Toby at that point but she is and was then a very good actress.
She got paid 7.5 mil to Tobey’s 17 mil.
“She got paid 7.5 mil to Tobey’s 17 mil.”
That in no way resembles a “very extreme” disparity between the fucking lead and his love interest.
She admits making good money for the first time with Spider-Man when her (gorgeous) home was featured in Architectural Digest. That’s good money relative to the money she’s pulled in the past, and relative to my salary, not Maguire’s.
She wasn’t as big of a star as Toby? I have to disagree. Interview With a Vampire, Jumanji, Bring it On, The Virgin Suicides. She was a household name carrying box-office hits by that point. She just wasn’t making the same Oscar-bait as Maguire.
He was the lead in Cider House Rules and Pleasantville
which were both bigger movies than anything she’d starred in at that
point.
You think Pleasantville is more well-known than Bring it On? Cause it’s not
At the time it definitely was.
Weird, cause I just looked up the box office totals for both and Bring It On made nearly twice as much as Pleasantville.
That has no bearing on how well known a movie is though. A lot more people were talking about Pleasantville at that time than a cheerleader movie that a bunch of teenagers saw.And I’m honestly not sure why you’re even bothering at this point: He got paid like $10 mil more than she did, he was the star of the movie and her complaining 20 years later is really stupid. Do you feel that she should have gotten more money for being a supporting character? I guess there’s an argument that could be made there, but making $7mil for a superhero film in the year 2000 was pretty damn decent
It’s more your bizarre dismissal of box office totals and cultural relevance because a bunch of teenagers were into a movie and you seemingly were not
Ah ok I get it!Have a good evening!
And was in Wonder Boys as not the lead, but a major character nonetheless.
“She was a household name carrying box-office hits by that point.”
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, sure she was.
“Carrying box office hits” neither of these things is true though
Hey now, don’t write off Tobey’s starring role in Walker Texas Ranger!
Now which is more prestigious, Walker or Touched by an Angel?
“She was a household name”
Sure she was.
Actually, she was a bigger star in that she was more well-known in 2002. Tobey is the star, and absolutely should have gotten more, but here should have been a sizable fraction of his, comparable to Dafoe’s, even though he was far more well-known. I am not sure what she means by “far less”
He was the lead in Cider House Rules and Pleasantville which were both bigger movies than anything she’d starred in at that point.
They might’ve been more “prestige-y” but they didn’t exactly kill at the box office. Neither made as much as Bring it On (Cider House was close, Pleasantville lost a ton of money). By the time Spide-Man came out, way more people had seen Bring it On than those other two movies combined.
“They might’ve been more “prestige-y” but they didn’t exactly kill at the box office.”
And Nic Cage was cast in The Rock because of his box-office clout rather than his critically acclaimed roles.
“By the time Spide-Man came out, way more people had seen Bring it On than those other two movies combined.”
I was a teen when Spider-Man came out, and I absolutely knew who Dunst was. I had no clue who McGuire was.In terms of who was more bankable for the movie’s target audience, it was no contest.
Dunst was bankable because of one teen cheerleader movie, huh?
OK.
I was a teen when Spider-Man came out and pretty much everyone knew Pleasantville.Edit: Sorry, early 20s when it came out but still.
I had seen it at the time, but I definitely couldn’t have told you Maguire’s name.
Not sure what to tell you about that. And sorry I realized I was like 22 when Spider-Man came out actually.
“I had seen it at the time, but I definitely couldn’t have told you Maguire’s name.”
Yes, you could have.
In addition to Bring It On, the other big movie of which she was a part was Interview With A Vampire. Small Soldiers did about as well as Cider-House Rules at the box office
She didn’t star in Interview or Small Soldiers.
Lol Interview with a Vampire made more than both of those movies combined. Bring it on made twice what Pleasantville did. In fact almost every movie Dunst was in before, and around Spider-man made more than anything Tobey was in, and by a lot.
She didn’t star in Interview and yes I was wrong Bring it On made more than both of them. My point still stands that what she made in a supporting role was perfectly reasonable compared to what he made as the lead.
Though to be honest The Virgin Suicides was a better movie than any of the ones that either of them starred in before Spider-Man.
She didn’t star in InterviewMaybe not billing wise, but she was definitely a star in that movie. One of the more memorable characters and she had a bunch of screen time. Everyone knew who she was after that movie.
These comments about Kirsten Dunst not being a big star and box office draw are truly delusional. Like, just say you don’t pay attention to anything teen girls might like and go.
Bring It On was a much bigger movie than both of those films.
She made a reasonable amount of money for her star power at the time, my point is correct.
You can say that without lying about Maguire’s star being bigger. By no measure were Pleasantville or CHR more popular than Bring It On, not in 2001 and certainly not in the intervening years.
People were talking about Pleasantville for years after it came out, not so much Bring It On until a number of years later as far as I remember. Box office for Cider House Rules was like $2mil less than Bring It On.
What? I get you’re a guy but I have three daughters and believe me NO ONE is talking about Pleasantville. Whereas “Bring it on” (and it’s terrible spawn of sequels) is still circulating and playing.
On local cable, you’ll catch “Bring It On” about 6 to 1 times over Pleasantville. It’s not even close the cultural relevance that cheerleader film has over Pleasantville.
I’ll make a wager with you: I’ll bet you we can go to any mall/food court/fair/NYC and I’ll bet you 75% of the folks we quiz will remember and talk about Bring It On more than Pleasantville. It’s not even close.
“I have three daughters and believe me NO ONE is talking about Pleasantville.”In the year 2021, you mean? Right? Because that isn’t what we’re talking about.
Also my main point was that I hope Dunst got paid a good amount, though she definitely shouldn’t have gotten paid as much as the guy who had more major starring roles than her and also played Spider-Man. Turns out that she DID get paid a good amount for the film, so yay!I get that a lot of people have strong feelings about Bring It On for some reason, but having people try to correct me about which movie was more popular 20+ years ago while entirely disregarding my actual point is…very online, that’s for sure.
I have…meh feelings about it? If anything I prefer Pleasantville. And again, even in the year 2001 or whatever year you’d like, I’ll still take odds more folks hear of a box office hit than a box office dud.
I also agree with you that Dunst didn’t deserve the same pay in regards to Spidey vs MJ. Just disagree with both the financial, cultural and long term impact of each film.
I actually agree that it makes total sense for Maguire to be paid significantly more, as he was Spiderman.What I find quite bizarre is why you feel the need to justify it by pretending that, prior to 2002, he was a bigger star than Dunst. That’s just not true, by any measure.(For what it’s worth she’s also a bigger star than him now. Basically for exactly those years of the Spiderman films he was arguably a bigger star than her, and that’s it. Both before and after she’s had way more cultural relevance than him.)
“You can say that without lying about Maguire’s star being bigger.”
He was the bigger star.
“Bring It On was a much bigger movie than both of those films.”
Do you genuinely think that being the star of a cheerleader movie means someone should be paid more for a supporting role than the person who was cast as the titular hero?
I hope it’s not in the “Michelle Williams $1,000 vs. Marky Mark $1.5 million” realm but now that I know that a discrepancy that embarrassingly huge is even a possibility, I assume when someone says it’s bad that it’s bad.
It’s apparently $17mil vs $7 mil, so it was exactly what I was saying: She got paid a good amount of money to play MJ compared to Spider-Man who was on the poster 4x more than her and who the movie was named after. Sounds fair to me, nothing even close to the Michelle Williams/Marky Mark bullshit which I agree is horrible.
but wait, did Tobey get a bigger Moonman than Kirsten when they won their MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss??? or if it was 1 Moonman, who got custody of it?!?! these are the important questions, and did Kirsten ever get to star alongside a Kirk Lazarus film??
Good questions. Everyone out there owes it to themself to refresh their memory: Justin Timberlake hosting, Adrien Brody & Queen Latifah presenting, Kirsten accepted the award solo. Also the MTV Movie Awards are a popcorn, the Moonman is for the VMAs.
“Actually, she was a bigger star in that she was more well-known in 2002.”
Sure, lets pretend that she was. SHE WAS STILL A SUPPORTING CHARACTER IN SPIDER-MAN.
Read elsewhere that she made $7 million to his $17. Which, given the relative screen time, actually seems about right.
If that’s accurate, that seems fine to me. A little lower than she should have received in relative terms, but not what I would call “far less”
I wouldn’t be surprised if she got dramatically underpaid because that’s what Hollywood does, but the name of the movie was not Mary Jane.
Eh, maybe on paper, different when actually living through the era. Besides film fans, Dunst was always more popular and well known.
She was a much bigger star than Toby Maguire when the first film was made. IDK what their salaries were for that first film though.
Well, you see, he was Spider-Man and you were Mary Jane. Notice which one the movie is named after?The dentist thing is pretty fucked though
She should have received hazard pay to compensate for how insufferable the writers made her character in the later movies.
Her constant flip flopping and then leaving her fiance at the end of Spider-Man 2 is a baffling choice. It would have worked if they gave Peter any meaningful scenes where he actually spoke his emotions. Spider-Man 3 is just a clusterfuck the whole way through
I think the scene between her and John where they recreate the famous kiss in the original was an adequate way to explain her “flip-flopping”.Her ridiculous actions in the 3rd movie, though? I got nothing.
I guess they could’ve hammered that internal conflict into her character a bit more, but then I guess they would have just made a straight up drama
I rarely like to go the CinemaSins “what they should have done” route, but seriously, the character choices in Spider-Man 3 are baffling.
HARRY: Break up with Peter or I’ll kill you both.
MJ: Uh…sure…
(Meets Peter)
MJ (whispering): Listen, Harry got his memory back. He’s over there hiding behind the trees. Pretend to break up with me then go kick his ass.
(PUNCH!!!)
Dunst is an actress I have come to admire tremendously. She is bad in the third movie but no one could play the part they wrote her. “Your character has been publicly shamed for being bad at her dream job, your love interest is suddenly an unbearable jackass, and one of your oldest friends threatens you. Now be charming!”
If we list all the movies where the leading actor got paid significantly more than a supporting actor we’ll be here all day.
She was a lead, just not the lead.
“Lisa this lamb, not A lamb”.
No, she was A supporting actor.
I feel like I want to watch a movie now called “Mary Jane and Me”. That basically follow Mary Jane from stupid “but I’m a part-time actor” jobs and auditions. With every now and then, her boyfriends pops in through a window and says “hi” in costume.
In the DC comics world they literally have a comic about Jimmy Olsen, the photographer for the Daily Planet who is just a guy who works with Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Although they often have him get into adventures that Superman and friends need to help in out in rather than just sticking to his presumably normal life.
Actually, I think the Jimmy Olsen comic is just an “unreliable narrator” story told by Jimmy Olsen to cover up the fact that he has a secret identity of putting on a spider costume to fight crime at night in his neighborhood, as newspaper photographers usually do.
It’s not exactly what you’re talking about but there was a comic book which was literally all about Mary Jane’s life as a teenage school girl, where Spider-Man just popped up every so often.It was pretty good IIRC.
Mm.. no. It’s definitely a supporting role, and further from a lead than it is from a cameo. 7 vs 17 million seems generous, if anything.
Seriously. Why discuss anything, for that matter?
Yes, but I was already planning to be here all day, anyway.
Millionaire got paid less millions of dollars than other millionaire.
And free healthcare!
Eat your vegetables, there are starving kids in Africa!
I just rewatched all 3 of these and I forgot how much she’s in them. She definitely tries her best with the very weak romance threads that Spider-Man 2 has
She was definitely the bigger star of the two of them at the time, coming right off of Bring It On. Maguire was mostly an indie actor at the time who had a couple of mild hits, but nothing huge. He definitely should have been paid more since he’s the star of the film, but it sounds like they didn’t give her what she was owed.I also have to say that Dunst has proven herself to be a pretty great actress in recent years. Her work in Melancholia is excellent and I thought she definitely deserved an Emmy for Fargo. Maguire, on the other hand, basically disappeared after Spider-man and hasn’t been in a movie since Pawn Sacrifice in 2014. ALSO, from everything I’ve heard, he’s a fucking piece of shit dickbag. So, Dunst wins in the end.
she seemed kind of like an airhead for a while there (and I detest Coppola’s Marie Antoinette) but Dunst has repeatedly picked good projects and been good in them. Melancholia being the highlight. I’m looking forward to Power of the Dog.
Coppola’s Marie Antoinette is amazing as is Kirsten Dunst in it! That’s one movie I’ll always stand up for, especially since it’s such a cultural reset even for todays Gen Z! You can be all style and all substance, it doesn’t have to be either or!
I’m not a fan, I found little substance but may revisit it at some point—but I have a question: do you think it influenced The Favorite/The Great and other contemporarily intentionally anachronistic retellings? Except the problem is that A Knight’s Tale kind of beat them to it
I do think it influenced The Favorite/The Great in a bigger way than a Knights Tale. The Knights Tale may have done it first, but I think Marie Antoinette did it in a totally different way by really contextualizing the bizarre expectations of children leading a country through the constant anachronistic retellings. The stylistic and superficial choices by Copolla is deliberate in that the monarchy is literally rotting away under a very sickly sweet veneer, and you can’t help but feel a sense that the empty extravagance of the French courts are a reflection of todays levels of extreme wealth and shallowness that needs a reckoning of its own.
“You can be all style and all substance”
No. By definition you cannot.
What did she do to come across as an airhead to you?
Oh, coming across like an airhead, I suppose
Literally nothing except be a blonde woman and appear in a couple of teen movies. Of all the ways to describe Dunst, airhead doesn’t typically come to mind, especially based on her off-screen persona; what a weird comment by them.
Yeah, that comment reeked of misogyny to me
She also exhibited an Oscar-worthy performance of being totally baked in that one scene in The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.
You mean when she’s not being straight up racist?
“You mean when she’s not being straight up racist?”
What’s racist about singing a song and wearing a blue wig?
Usually I’d agree but apparently the video was produced by Takashi Murakami for an exhibit at the Tate Modern in London about Pop Art & Materialism. Murakami is arguably one of the most prolific Japanese artists alive so you’d have to extend that to tell Murakami that he’s also being racist since it’s likely this project was more or less his idea.
If there’s some kind of hidden meaning I’m not seeing I’d be very curious to know what it is? And I’m not usually one to jump on people for celebrating others’ cultures but this sure seems like she’s using Japan purely as a fashion accessory. She’s contrasting herself against a slew of Asian faces as background scenery to set herself apart (and above) them.Also, pay disparity is very real but as others have pointed out this is a poor example of it. I’m fairly certain you could write the very same article but gender swapped about Brie Larson making more than Jude Law on Captain Marvel.
Yeah I’m following you, in this case the video seems to be Murakami’s idea/project and Stewart is just starring in it.
And I’m not usually one to jump on people for celebrating others’ cultures but this sure seems like she’s using Japan purely as a fashion accessory. She’s contrasting herself against a slew of Asian faces as background scenery to set herself apart (and above) them.She is not doing any of those things in that clip. She is an actress working in service of a creator’s vision. The creator in this case is the world-famous Japanese artist who staged the entire exhibition at which this video premiered. It’s fine if you have an issue with this video, but your ire should be directed primarily at Murakami, not Dunst.It’s a little funny that in your rush to prove that Dunst is “racist” against Asian people you are dismissing the work of the Asian man who created the video and giving full attribution to the white star who appears on screen.
What appears on the screen is the message. The director isn’t on the screen. Dunst is and as an autonomous professional adult had complete control over her portrayal. She actively chose to be a part of this specific project. Like, I said, I’m all for being educated as to what that message is, but I also took semiotics in a fancy dancy art school and understand that perception is everything to an audience. If this is meant to be a clever subversion of racism I think it fails because if there’s no clear difference between reality and satire then it isn’t satire.
Literal lol at your weird hot take. This isn’t some home-made video she posted to her fucking Instagram— it’s a performance she was directed to perform by a POC creator. Do you really think that Murakami didn’t know any Japanese actors who he could’ve asked to play the part if that was his vision? Again, this is not Dunst deciding to do any of this…
Actually I kind of prefer her take on the song.
“but it sounds like they didn’t give her what she was owed.”She was owed what she signed up for and agreed to.Color me “shocked” that the star of the movie was paid more than her….
Because movie studios have a long history of being fair to their talents, amiright?
But you’re right, it’s not like she played a main character in the Spider Man universe.
Was the name of the movie Mary Jane or Spider-Man…I forget?! Yeah, she was playing a big role. She wasn’t the star. A better question is what was her salary like as compared to say James Franco? But that won’t get clicks or get the commentariat worked up will it?This isn’t Nam, she wasn’t drafted against her will. She was offered a contract and she agreed to it. GTFO with your bs.Fin.
“She was definitely the bigger star of the two of them at the time, coming right off of Bring It On.”
Yeah, he had only done little nothings like Wonder Boys, The Cider House Rules and Pleasantville. She was in a CHEERLEADER MOVIE though!
Dunst deserves to be so much more famous and sought-after than she is. She should be fielding Oscar-worthy scripts left and right. Maybe the upcoming The Power of the Dog will elevate her to the spot she deserves. I hope so, because she was dynamite in all the stuff you listed. She’s fucking mind-blowing in Melancholia. She was the perfect horrible white lady in Hidden Figures. I could easily have seen another actress making that role into caricature, and Dunst really brought out the banal apathy of the woman. And I’m still bummed that the pandemic essentially killed On Becoming a God in Central Florida. It was so funny, and it worked because of Dunst’s stellar performance. Kirsten Dunst for everything.
Don’t forget Bachelorette. What a great film.
““but it sounds like they didn’t give her what she was owed.””
Did she EVER say she wasn’t paid the amount that was agreed-upon when she signed the contract?
Even as a kid she made a name for herself in Jumanji
No, she didn’t. Just because you remember her being the movie now doesn’t me she made a name for herself.
Kristen Dunst filmography from the early 2000’s borders on nuts. They’re not all winners but she does a damn good job in her roles.
Before being Spiderman, Maguire was the star of The Cider House Rules, which was nominated for Best Picture. It also made about the same amount of money as Bring It On. I think he was likely considered the bigger star.
And just before that had Virgin Suicides and, perhaps the finest work of her career or anyone else’s involved in the project, Drop Dead Gorgeous.And all that was after a prolific and high-profile career as a child actress (Jumanji, Interview with the Vampire, Little Women…um, Bonfire of the Vanities).
I mean prior to 2002’s Spider-Man, I think Maguire definitely had the higher profile coming off of The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys, both critically praised and scooped up numerous awards, if not necessarily a box office hit.
Exactly. Dunst had been in a bunch of earlier stuff, but her profile was Bring it On and Dick. Not to slight those films, but they don’t say “This is an actor!” in quite the same way.
for a summer blockbuster like spiderman than she is kind of the pull in that era because she was already in some big profit films.
The pull was Spider-Man in a movie that didn’t look embarrassing like the old TV show had. Plus Dafoe was going to be awesome as the Goblin.
Dick, btw wasn’t a big-profit film, it made less at the box office than Dunst got paid for Spider-Man (only $6.5M box, on a $13M budget).
she was legit the teen queen at the time, I think the casting was pretty deliberate to pull in other young female audience members, so I don’t know why people are defending the studio for underpaying her lol.
“she was legit the teen queen at the time”
She sure wasn’t, and you saying so doesn’t make it any truer.
“for a summer blockbuster like spiderman than she is kind of the pull in that era”
No.
She had proven she was a great talent in her teens, she was really underrated then. Strike!, The Cat’s Meow, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Virgin Suicides, Bring It On and Dick all showed her range and assuredness and were made before she even turned 20.
“I can’t believe Spider-Man was paid more for playing Spider-Man!”
Okay, but…Maguire was also, you know, the lead. Wouldn’t the more relevant question, given the similar size of their roles and similar levels of fame at the time, be whether Dunst made less than James Franco?(The dentist story is legitimately gross, though.)
If Dafoe got paid more than Maguire and Dunst combined for the third movie, I would have supported that wholeheartedly. I just don’t think it’s just the size of the role or who’s on the poster.
Dafoe was a legit star who brought a lot of credibility to the production so yeah, he was worth more than his relative screen time for sure.
I would expect her to get less, but if it is “extreme” than that’s some straight up bullshit.
“but if it is “extreme” than that’s some straight up bullshit.”
Yeah, straight up bullshit, because “extreme” definitely means a specific amount.
I think Maguire deserved to make more as he’s THE lead and had to do many more physical scenes (or scenes in general) but she says the gap was extreme. There’s being paid more, and there’s being paid disproportionally more
Maybe she needs a better agent.
Yeah, comparing her pay to Franco would be a much more apt comparison than to the guy playing the lead who is in practically ever scene.Or Defoe. But I imagine he made the most despite probably being fourth in screen time.
she was a lot more of star than Franco at the time.
She was a bigger star than Tobey Maguire at the time! She’d already done most of her major roles at that point, including The Virgin Suicides and Bring It On. Tobey’s only significant role before this was Pleasantville; his career wouldn’t peak until later. And James Franco obviously was pretty much unknown.I don’t think she should have made as much as the lead, but the pay difference shouldn’t have “extreme,” either. Among the younger cast, she was the draw; they intentionally cast a much more famous actress as Mary-Jane because Tobey didn’t have much drawing power yet.
yes exactly, plus she was legit on the cover of every teen magazine at the time, she was definitely the star power attached to draw in the teen female crowds. Especially because these movies were a big reset around what a superhero movie is, they needed a familiar face attached to it and she wasn’t compensated appropriately.
The thing is also, if Kirsten Dunst refused to come back for Spider Man 2 it would have been a loss but another actor could have replaced her as Mary Jane. It would have been a little weird but the series could have survived.On the other hand Maguire as Spider Man (in that series) was pretty much irreplaceable, they would have had to have scrapped it and started over if he walked.
They had Jake Gyllenhaal already on standby since Maguire claimed to have back injuries, which was perceived by many as him wanting a pay hike. Suddenly, he quickly recovered. Allegedly, of course.
To be fair, there is also a huge disparity between Maguire’s pay and most other MCU actors that are not RDJ as well. None of the Chrises make that much bank or even half that
After all these years and all the revelations, it just seems like child abuse to try to have your kid be famous and in show business.
Just want to call out that she did a phenomenal job with the character in the first movie. It’s hard to explain, but she played the popular girl type so well. She comes off as a genuinely fun and decent person who is at the same time aware of her looks and how Peter sees her. The way she teases him playfully throughout the movie is just perfect, I fall for her every time I watch it.Plus, the scene where Pete describes how he feels about her at the hospital. The dialogue is a little corny, but man does her face sell it.People talk about Dafoe and Molina, but Dunst deserves some props for breathing a lot of life into a role that could have been generic as hell in lesser hands. Incredibly underrated performance and actress all around.
well said, and her running away from the altar in the second movie was so fucking joyous. She sold a scene we’ve seen again and again and did it so unforgettably.
And on the Usual Suspects poster, Steven Baldwin is the same size as Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Spacey, but he didn’t get paid as much! It’s insanity!
And he’s on ALL the posters!
Tobey needed that money to fund his poker schemes.
Look, I get that it’s fucked up, I do, but I could not be less surprised that in 2001 gender pay differences were bad.
She’s a couple years behind on the “I didn’t make as much as him” thing.
I couldn’t stand her as MJ and she was not really the #2 bill on every movie as Goblin and Ock had bigger parts than her really in part 1 and 2. She was clearly #3 in each of those 2. Part 3, I guess she was 2 billed but that was such a cluster fuck of 4 people below Spidey.That is fucked up they tried to force her to get her teeth fixed. Seriously what a dick move to not tell her where you were taking her.
She deserved an Oscar nomination for Interview with the Vampire. She is a revelation in that otherwise dreary slog.
“But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and ME.”
I bet every person on the poster of Avengers: Endgame was paid the same, because that’s how it works.
“I did feel a little like, ‘Huh, I’ve been doing this for so long. Maybe I’m just not…”
Yep. Maybe it’s that.
Which movie should she have won an Oscar for?
What was the “extreme” pay difference in actual $$$?That is beyond fucked up re: the dentist trip though.
I definitely knew who Kristen Dunst was more than I knew who Tobey Maguire was at that time. Also I remember Tobey Maguire being interviewed on the Saturday morning youth program here in Australia and they attempted to cajole him into singing the Spider-Man theme but he didn’t want to. Fair enough, I wouldn’t want to either, but he referred to himself in the third person “Tobey Maguire doesn’t sing the spider man theme”.You can’t tell me that someone who says that is deserving of more cash than Kirsten Dunst.
Elmo from Sesame Street is a star and refers to himself in the third person. Elmo is red and Spiderman wears a costume with a lot of red on it. So it fits.
It’s a fair comment but for the fact that Elmo sings the Elmo theme song all the damn time. That’s a key point of difference.
elmo deserves more money. so does kilgore.
As a person, probably not. In a movie literally called Spiderman and he’s playing Spiderman? Absolutely!
Wow, there’s some wild conjecture going on in this piece, so much so you’re attributing more of your own opinions to Kirsten Dunst than posting her actual quotes. For starters, “…a producer took her to the dentist without her consent…” makes it sounds like she was thrown in the back of a van and carted off for Jigsaw to give her some underground dental work. Sure, it’s pretty shitty for a producer – and a dentist – to try to coerce an impressionable young actress into physical changes she might not want. She went voluntarily, and apparently made her wants pretty damn clear when she got there. They “fixed” her teeth on the poster against her wishes? I’m not sure what poster everyone else is looking at, but you have to squint to see what teeth of her’s aren’t obstructed by her hair. The entire poster is so airbrushed it’s basically a painting. And actors aren’t always given final approval over marketing materials. As for pay, Hollywood isn’t fair to women, but I’m curious what “very extreme” means. Tobey Maguire played the title character and appeared in almost every scene, and actually underwent a pretty significant physical transformation for the role. At the time, Dunst was a child actress best known for Bring It On while Maguire was coming off Cider House Rules. They were not professional equals, nor were their roles. Gender no doubt played a role in the wage disparity between the two, but that stands well enough on its own without all the inferred speculation. The worst part about this article is that – in an effort to expose gender inequality – Tenreyro makes Maguire sound like a villain and Dunst sound like a diva, and I don’t get the impression that either sees the other that way.
They were not professional equals. Dunst was a much more bankable star.
But virtually nobody goes to a Spider-Man movie for the actress playing MJ.You could certainly have a Spidey movie w/no MJ, but you can’t do one w/no Spidey.
She was not bankable, nevermind that bankability has nothing to do with anything when you’re making a SPIDER-MAN movie.
Nobody was drawn to that movie because she was in it. They were drawn in by Spiderman. Played by a lesser known actor, but also in almost every scene of the movie. She was the female lead, but also just popped in at different points.
Yeah, but she was a supporting character and not Spiderman. In a movie about Spiderman.
“…a producer took her to the dentist without her consent…” is absolutely a fair summation of her words.
“For starters, “…a producer took her to the dentist without her consent…” makes it sounds like she was thrown in the back of a van and carted off for Jigsaw to give her some underground dental work.”Also, I don’t think you can fix any cosmetic dental problem in one visit unless that one visit is hours and hours long. Cosmetic dental problems take multiple visits. Maybe she didn’t consent to the second (and third and fourth) visit either?
My kids and I watched the first two Raimi Spiderman movies and my 9-year old said “she is a terrible actor.” I am not even paraphrasing. And I agree. She was terrible in these movies though completely competent in plenty others. One can make the argument that she should give money back for the Spidey performances.Second point. I gladly had my teeth straightened once I had dental coverage. I had a girlfriend kindly suggest it and I got the point. It didn’t feel like she was body shaming me one bit. In fact, it was the best thing I did for my dental health and I still have the same dentist that fixed my teeth 16 years later.
These pay gaps are facts and well-documented, but they’re better viewed in the macro than individual cases. Kinda like the Bechdel test – it’s a great guideline in the macro but isn’t really meant to be applied to any specific movie. There are just so many factors here – the disparity of the parts (one being a title role and one being the female lead), the buzz each had at the time, the quality of their agent, what they got relative to similar actors in similarly budgeted movies, etc. I’d be curious in something like X-Men what the pay gaps were between male and female X-Men. As an ensemble cast that might be more instructive. That dentist story though – yikes and a half.
the movie was NOT called “Mary Jane”
Cheers to Kirsten Dunst’s very cool and awesome teeth and Jeers to Tobey Maguire who I like less and less the more I hear about him.
The pay disparity sucks. She was in Interview with the Vampire when she was still a little girl. I hope she got a better deal for the two sequels. Anyone know?
Of course Tobey got paid more, have you seen the movie? He had to literally jump off of buildings to see if he had spider powers and could have fallen to his death. Then there were pumpkin bombs going off everywhere from Dafoe and he had to jump on giant Macy’s Day balloons again risking him falling to his death with a mask on. He’s risking death every time he swings through the city streets on that web fluid stuff and he isn’t making bank?!?
i’m still waiting on my oscar nom too
All I know is, only one of them was in Dick, which automatically justifies a pay increase. That movie was great.
I was not able to find accurate info on what she made for spiderman 1, but she made 17 million total for spidey 2&3. And it turned her from a barely known to a household name.
Tobey got 4 million for spiderman 1. If she was paid 1/4 of his salary for her supporting role, thats a great deal for her.
I wouldnt be surprised if she has 20% of the screen time that he did in the first movie.
Kirsten Dunst has had such a wild and interesting career. I’m a big fan of her late 90s made-for-TV movie period where she’s generally the best part of the unintentionally hilarious histrionics she’s appearing in.
In other news, duh. It’s called Spiderman, not Spiderman and Mary Jane.
Actually, it’s called Spider-Man, Spider-Man & Mary-Jane.
its actually called “Three Spider-Men And A Baby”
My favorite Lon Chaney Jr. performance!
Oh my fucking god! THIS IS OURAGEOUS.
The pay gap is such a non-story. Title character paid more than secondary character isn’t news.
Being forced to change her teeth? Awful.
Getting paid less than Spider-man in a Spider-man movie? Understandable.
The simple fact was that she was NOT the star of the Spider Man film. It does not matter what her prior credentials are. They hired who they thought people would want to see, and paid them according to what it would take to get them to take the role. This happens all the time. Due to her credentials she could have sought more, and they could have decided to agree to that or pass. That is just how the job works. I like her a lot in her roles in general, but there is not much here as a story goes. If William Defoe had decided he wanted a bunch more for his role, they would have either paid it or said “ehh, let’s get Cillian Murphy instead” or some such.
I don’t know if I’m in the minority but I LIKE her teeth, the same way I like Jewel’s. It’s the little imperfections that work for me. I don’t want a Julia Roberts mouth of perfect teeth blinding me I guess…
There is absolutely a pay gap between men and women, I’m not disputing that. But um. . . of course you’re gonna get paid less than Spiderman in a SPIDERMAN MOVIE!I bet that Sam Jackson got paid less than any of the Avengers leads, too.