Kirsten Dunst On Playing Marie Antoinette: It’s A ‘Lonely Part’

NEW YORK (October 5, 2006) — When it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, “Marie Antoinette” drew boos from French critics.

Kirsten Dunst, who plays Antoinette in the movie, has a laid-back attitude about it.

“I didn’t take it to heart,” Dunst says in an interview in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. “How would we feel about the French doing a movie about George Washington with French actors?”

Sofia Coppola’s costume drama with modern trappings opens in U.S. theaters Oct. 20.

The 24-year-old Dunst, whose screen credits include “The Virgin Suicides” and the “Spider-Man” movies, says making “Marie Antoinette” was a solitary experience for her.

“Sometimes I felt really isolated because it was such a lonely part to play,” she says. “I didn’t really interact with that many people … I couldn’t really rely on other people to get it out of me. I was really thankful when Jason (Schwartzman, who plays Louis XVI) was on set, because then I could unload a little bit on him.”