Kirsten Dunst Says She Owes Her Career to Tom Cruise—Here’s Why

Kirsten Dunst is sharing never-before-heard details about her breakout role in Interview with the Vampire.

The 39-year-old actress recently sat down for a candid interview with The Cut. While discussing the ’94 film, she credited her former co-star, Tom Cruise (who played Lestat de Lioncourt), with helping her land the role of Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. According to Dunst, his influence started during the audition process.

“Well, we’re both from New Jersey. And we had this screen test where he had to pick up each little girl,” she explained. “I was the tallest one, and he was like, ‘Tuck in your legs,’ so that I looked really tiny in his arms.”

Dunst (who was 12 at the time) explained why Cruise’s direction mattered, adding, “He was trying to help me out since Neil Jordan, the director, wanted to see how each girl looked when Tom picked us up because they wanted the character to look like a bit like a doll, a little girl.”

Although it’s been 27 years since Interview with the Vampire hit theaters, Dunst still remembers the experience fondly. “Still to this day, I have not been on a set of that magnitude. But I felt very supported and very loved,” she recalled. “And Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were so sweet to me. They just treated me like a little sister.”

*Sniff, sniff* Is that an Interview with the Vampire reunion we smell?  

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