Emmanuel Itier: You seem in a good mood–why?

Kirsten Dunst: I am just in a good place right now. We all go through different things in our lives.

EI: Did you have training for singing?

KD: In “Marie Antoinette”, I had to have training for singing, as I don’t sing. I’m not familiar with the French language, and then to sing in French–it’s all so different, and I learned the whole song. I know how to sing it fine, I just needed help with the French part of it. For this, I had some training too. I needed help with my breathing.

EI: What is the difference between doing “Spiderman 1″ and “Spiderman 3″?

KD: I don’t see a difference in our hearts and why we love doing this movie, but I do see a difference in that we all have a good place at Sony and we get treated very nicely. We are very lucky people. They give us more artistic license, but they also give us more pressure. It’s a ying and yang, and it balances itself out.

EI: Can you tell us of any perks you enjoyed on this set?

KD: You know what was best for me on the set of “Spiderman”? Because Tobey had a chef to keep his weight down and I got to eat the food! I would eat gourmet steaks and I’d be in Tobey’s trailer, and on some days, that was the only thing that was going to get me through the day! I knew a steak was going to come to me.

EI: What is Mary Jane like? Is she more aggressive in this movie?

KD: No, she’s not. She’s happy in the beginning, but she’s only happy in her work. She feels the confidence from her work, which is the only problem. Then it’s kind of downhill from there, and by the end of this movie, it’s truly poetic.

EI: How much love will be in this movie?

KD: Love is through the whole film. Mary Jane and Peter love each other.

EI: Sam Raimi is an old romantic. He started in horror movies, but he’s a romantic.

KD: Oh, so romantic! He is the sweetest. I adore Sam. We get along really well.

EI: What do you love and hate about Mary Jane?

KD: I can’t hate any character I play, because I have to embrace their faults. What I love about her is that she’s searching and she’s vulnerable, and she’s not afraid to be with the man that she loves, no matter how difficult it might be.

EI: You talked on the Internet about how Spiderman could die and superheroes never die.

KD: I was actually joking when I said that, but we’re talking about life right now, and obviously this movie is life and fantasy, but I see no reason why that couldn’t happen. I think you’d have a lot of comic book fans that would be very upset.

EI: Do you enjoy playing Mary Jane over again?

KD: Yeah, it’s not the same role every time because we’ve changed so much as people, and the fact that I’ve known these people from 16 until now–I’m almost 25–it has only made it more comfortable. I sat in the editing room with Sam and went through every scene of mine. I mean, what director would do that?

EI: How much have you changed as a person from 16 to 25?

KD: Someone said to me in the other room–they were quoting me from when I was 12—that, “You said you were against smoking and now you smoke! Naughty.” She quoted me about being a people-pleaser and I said, “You’re right–I guess at 16, I was a people-pleaser and now I like to please people.” It’s the ‘er’ that makes the difference. It’s not a control thing–it’s like, let me do something for you because I want to do something for you, because I want you to love me back. I don’t need to gain anything from you. I just love to do it.

EI: What’s the benefit for you of being in the business for so long? Do you feel tired, or more secure?

KD: I can take a break whenever want to take a vacation–that’s the gift that I have. I make enough money that I can stop and go to art school and hang out with my friends and take them all on vacation. The fact that I’ve had so much experience with work, I can help my friends because they are figuring them all out.

EI: What is your drive now?

KD: I look for things–it’s really intuition for me. I ask my family and friends to read my scripts. It comes down to the director who will collaborate with me.

EI: Who’s a true hero in real life?

KD: My mum, my dad, my brother, my girlfriends, my cats, and Joni Mitchell.

EI: Do you feel that something is missing in your life?

KD: No, I feel I have a lot to learn, but I don’t feel anything is missing.

EI: Do you feel like you have to be careful where you go?

KD: No, I just spent a lot of time in New York and I had a lot of freedom. I just got shot by a paparazzi once in two and a half weeks, and it was only because Anna Wintour was eating at the same restaurant.

Popularity: 2% [?]