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Kirsten Dunst: I struggle to get roles in Hollywood

posted 7 years ago by TMC-4 (20304)
39 replies | jump to latest

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/kirsten-dunst-i-struggle-to-get-roles-in-hollywood.1227642/

Thirty-five-year-old Kirsten Dunst has spoken out about the difficulties women in Hollywood face when trying to get work throughout their thirties. The actress, who recently appeared in a supporting role in Hidden Figures, chatted with Nylon magazine about the lack of roles available for women in her age bracket (which is CRAZY) and the impact of that:

“You’re almost better off being older,” she told the mag, explaining that “good” roles for women are few and far between and when they do appear, they are given out to the actress who are of the moment.

Once you reach your thirties in Hollywood, you’re no longer able to play “the young girl who’s just, like, beautiful and things are happening to her” and so, opportunities dry up, Dunst explained.

The actress, who has been working since age three, revealed that to add to the difficulties of finding roles as a woman, social media influence is now a factor in getting work in the biz:

“You can get jobs based on your Instagram following these days. That’s insane. But that’s why I have it now,” she told Marie Claire in a recent interview.

“As a man, you could get away with not having it. As a woman in this industry, I think you gotta do it now, she continued.

https://lebeauleblog.com/2013/07/28/what-the-hell-happened-to-kirsten-dunst/

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14793) 3 years ago

I think her problem is, she did so well in films previously because she was good at playing little girls, teenage girls, and young women, and that's all she was ever good at. She doesn't really know how to nail mature roles and be memorable as an actress these days. In fact, I found it very disturbing how long in the tooth she looked in "Hidden Figures," and her character was one of the least likeable in that movie. She obviously kept relying on her beauty and youth to get her jobs, and now that's not working so well now that she's in her 30s.

It's one of many reasons I hate that industry; it is sooo shallow and superficial.

[–] Kowalski (77019) 3 years ago

THIS IS A MAN^🍆

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

She was great in Fargo.

[–] mobocracy (898) 8 months ago

It's something of a fair criticism to suggest that her breakout roles as an young ingenue didn't leave her a big path forward as she aged. Casting the young girl ingenue is easy in Hollywood, there's a new crop every year. Nothing about her past roles suggests what kind of character she should portray or who she is.

And like it or not, I suspect she's rejected movies which would have been a good fit for a 30-something woman because they were too sexual or required a lot of nudity. Hollywood tends to be exploitive in this department and I can see why she wouldn't want to pursue them, but rejecting 30-someting female roles because of sex or nudity ends up closing the door on a lot of narratives which are good fits for women in that age bracket.

She was briefly hospitalized for depression, and I kind of question whether her emotional temperament hasn't rubbed off on the kinds of roles she's able to get. She doesn't really seem to project a lot of joy.