Kirsten Dunst Made Sure Mary Jane Watson Wasn’t a Sex Object in ‘Spider-Man’
Spider-Man star Kirsten Dunst became a permanent part of superhero mythology thanks to her performance as Mary Jane Watson. But while doing the role, Dunst made her voice heard to make sure the character maintained its integrity.
Kirsten Dunst wanted her character to look a certain way in ‘Spider-Man’
Dunst had a high opinion of Mary Jane Watson in the first Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire. The feature saw Dunst portray Peter Parker’s iconic love interest, a character who she found heroic in a more grounded way.
“Mary Jane is a hero in her own right. She fights with her problems, for her family, for her love. And she fights with all she’s got. She tries to get a grip in life and is also much more grown up than Spider-Man/Peter Parker, who is, let’s face it, still rather childish. His social skills are so underdeveloped, because he’s always so busy with being a superhero,” Dunst once told BBC.
She had so much respect for her character that Dunst wanted to do more with her in the film. So she wanted Raimi to make this major change to her role in the feature.
“Yes, I tried to make her character a little more determined. I told them, ‘She’s a strong woman now. Don’t let her scream so much like in the first part. She’s much more than the damsel in distress,'” she said.
Mary Jane also offered a much more favorable alternative to playing an actual superhero for Dunst. Dunst wasn’t a fan of playing invulnerable characters with powers at the time.
“I want to play human characters, that is what fascinates me. Even as a child I never wanted to have super powers. I always was a very girly girl – I loved My Little Pony and musicals,” she said.
Apart from her preferences, Dunst also didn’t find the outfits that most female superheroes wore at the time flattering. Which was why she made sure Mary Jane’s wardrobe would be up to her standards.
“I don’t think they are sexy. I find them much too revealing. I don’t like it when they throw everything in your face. I had complete control over Mary Jane’s wardrobe, and I told them exactly what I was comfortable with and what I wasn’t. I really didn’t want to be the sex object in a superhero movie,” she said.
Kirsten Dunst would’ve wanted her ‘Spider-Man’ return to be like this superhero movie
It’s been more than a decade since Dunst has been seen in a major superhero movie. She hasn’t played Peter Parker’s love interest Mary Jane since Spider-Man 3, a character that’s been inherited by Zendaya. Since then, she’s starred in a few smaller projects while further establishing herself as an actor. But Dunst wouldn’t be opposed to appearing in another superhero film due to the high paydays.
“That’s the reason people do those movies,” she quipped in an interview with GQ.
This might’ve been partially why she wouldn’t have minded reprising her role in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The 2021 Marvel feature saw Tom Holland’s Spider-Man teaming up with alternate versions of himself from different eras. This included Maguire’s classic version of the character. Dunst was curious about how her on-screen relationship with her Spider-Man co-star might work.
“It would be funny to be like, OK, let’s take Tobey [Maguire] and I and do it in a weird indie way where it’s like a different kind of superhero film,” she said. “Like how they did that movie Chronicle. It could be cool.”
It helped that Dunst had very fond memories of working with Raimi in the original movies.
“It was more innocent, I think,” she said. “Sam Raimi was like a cult director, so it felt like we were making an indie disguised as a superhero film.”
