Crazy girl

with a bush in the white house again and the cold wind of conservatism blowing through the states, it's no surprise that hollywood is feeling the chill. studio executives are falling over themselves to show they aren't corrupting the youth of america with their pernicious product, and the scissors are coming out to cut anything from the movies that could be attacked by the politicians in washington dc.this, however, results in some frankly bizarre decisions, as kirsten dunst discovered when she was called in to reshoot parts of her latest film, crazy/beautiful. she plays the wild-child daughter of a californian congressman who abandons her wicked ways skipping school, smoking pot and drinking when she falls for a clean-cut latino kid from the wrong side of la whose ambition in life is to be a navy pilot. dunst wanders through the first half of the movie in a convincingly dazed state. "it's so weird how they critique things. you can look like you're drunk and you can hold a bottle of alcohol, but you can't sip from it," says a bemused dunst, in the classic californian teenspeak she uses. just to add insult to injury, dunst had to confirm to the suits at disney that she wasn't taking method acting too far and actually indulging in illegal substances while shooting the film. that's a considerable compliment to dunst, who first made an impression as the little girl corrupted by tom cruise and brad pitt's unlikely bloodsuckers in 1994's interview with the vampire. now 19, dunst looks rather different these days. she arrives in a beverly hills hotel suite sporting a sophisticated version of the sort of hairdo beloved of starlets in the 1930s and made up in a way that accentuates her high cheekbones and bright blue eyes. there's more than a hint of the coquette about her, but she still has her high-pitched giggle - and she happily admits that it's all something of an act. she has some knowledge of the darker side of teenage life portrayed in crazy/beautiful. "i did go to high school," she laughs. "i've been to all those parties where people are doing drugs and drinking." dunst, though, doesn't believe in taking research for a role too far. "i don't think you have to experience things to be able to do them. i mean, it's not like i've never had a drink in my life, but i wouldn't over-excess on anything. that's what i'm an actress for." unlike her contemporaries at school, dunst also had her career to consider. "i had fun going to those parties, but sometimes they're so lame and depressing, and you just sit there. part of it is that i've grown up and i know what i want to do, and a lot of the people were just goofing off, they didn't care. but i didn't think about it too much; when i was in high school i was just a normal kid like everybody else," she claims. crazy/beautiful has been a critical and commercial hit in the america, which is rare for a teen movie, but the fact that the film was censored annoys dunst. "they definitely tamed it. it doesn't take away from the movie because i still think it's cutting edge compared to most of its kind, but i wish certain things were still there," she says, in her refreshingly honest way. "you know, they wanted my character to have more redeeming qualities - but it's a role where you don't like her in the beginning, and that's the whole point. studios are so afraid sometimes." what makes it doubly frustrating for her is that she took the part precisely because she wanted to break away from the sweet, stereotypical girl-next-door parts that are the lot of teen actresses, and which she played to perfection in last year's bring it on. "my problem, i thought, was that a lot of people were starting to see me as just a cute girl. i wanted to do this to show a different side of myself. i didn't care about how i looked in the movie. it's not about that for me. looking cute and being like a sexy little girl? i'm over it." part of that meant appearing in a sex scene with her co-star,jay hernandez, although - predictably - that was trimmed by the studio, too. such scenes are something she's avoided in the past; she turned down the role of the teenage girl who sets out to seduce kevin spacey in american beauty. "it wasn't really anything too much, we basically just kissed a lot. i was nervous but jay was much more so. it's probably better that way because i wouldn't want a guy who's all gung-ho. then i'd feel really weird." she's now getting used to them, because in her next film, the cat's meow, she plays 27-year-old marion davies, the actress girlfriend of w r hearst, the newspaper magnate who was the inspiration for citizen kane. not only did she have to kiss the actor playing hearst, but also eddie izzard, who plays charlie chaplin. was there a clash of lipstick? "eddie only wore lipstick when we went out to dinner," squeals dunst. "he's awesome, i adore him." the cat's meow marks the return of the 1970s golden-boy director peter bogdanovich after a lengthy layoff, and dunst is grateful to him for casting her in her first adult role. "it's funny, because i don't think he really knew my work before he hired me. i really had to earn his respect, because in the beginning he was concerned with me because my voice is kind of high, and he wanted me to go deeper and sound older, but by the end he wasn't the least bit concerned," she says proudly. as the angelic-looking girl inducted into vampire life in interview with the vampire, she received a golden globe nomination. it was probably just as well that the then 11-year-old didn't fully understand the story. "they protected me a lot," confirms dunst. "i looked like i knew what i was talking about. i did learn how to get that rage up by slamming doors and stuff like that. i had an acting coach and he was helping me push buttons in myself that would help me look like i felt that way, without disturbing me too much." from then on she worked as often as the california labour laws would allow, appearing in everything from sardonic indie features like wag the dog to the summer blockbusters jumanji and small soldiers. the year 1999 was a particularly big one, with two nicely judged comic turns in the underrated drop dead gorgeous and dick, as well as a reflective and evocative performance in the virgin suicides. the haunting tale of five sisters who inexplicably kill themselves, virgin suicides confirmed that dunst was one of the rare child stars who could make a successful transition to adult roles. "it's my favourite out of all the movies i've done and i had the best experience on that movie of all of them. that's a rarity, though.there are many more good male roles than there are young female ones."