How Did Sofia Coppola Protect Kirsten Dunst? (Photo Credit – Prime Video/Wikipedia)
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Kirsten Dunst wasn’t fresh to the camera when she strolled into Sofia Coppola’s dreamy 1999 directorial debut The Virgin Suicides. The actress has been in showbiz since she was three, starting out as a child model and gradually ascending the Tinseltown ladder. But being young and famous came with its fair share of awkward moments, especially when the scripts started calling for on-screen intimacy.
How Did Sofia Coppola Protect Teenage Kirsten Dunst During A Tricky Scene?
One such moment arrived when Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ haunting novel landed on her desk. Dunst was just a teen. The film called for a scene where her character, Lux Lisbon, smooches numerous boys on a rooftop.
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That could’ve been seriously uncomfortable. But Sofia Coppola wasn’t about to let her star fumble through forced make-out sessions. Instead, she got creative and saved Dunst from a seriously awkward experience.
“There’s a sequence where I’m making out with all these boys on a roof of the house,” Dunst told Variety. “She was like, ‘Don’t worry. You don’t have to make out with any of them. Just cover your hair and nestle into their neck. We’ll make it all work.’” And it did. The filmmaker managed to sell the romance without a single lip-lock.
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Sofia Coppola Said She Felt Protective Towards Kirsten Dunst
When you think of directors, you might picture someone yelling “Cut!” a lot or demanding retakes until everyone’s crying in craft services. But Coppola? She brought a softer, more protective touch, especially toward the Spider-Man star, who was still a teenager navigating intense subject matter.
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Coppola told Variety she “always felt protective towards [Dunst] and sensitive to what it might be like for her and that she was young.” That care paid off. In hindsight, that small but powerful directorial decision made a big impression. One Kirsten Dunst clearly hasn’t forgotten.
