Kirsten Dunst and her husband, fellow actor Jesse Plemons, met on set—while shooting FX’s Fargo in 2015, to be specific, where they played husband and wife. Later, they went on to win his-and-hers Oscar nominations for 2021’s The Power of the Dog, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. In Dunst’s latest project, the forthcoming film Civil War (out April 12), another actor was originally slated to play a small but pivotal role as an unhinged, gun-wielding renegade, but it fell through. Naturally, Dunst suggested the actor that she just so happens to share a life with to step in and play the part.
“Alex [Garland, the film’s director] is very lucky that I’m married to…the best actor,” Dunst laughed to Marie Claire in a cover story for our 2024 Makers Issue.
So continues what the outlet calls “the fruitful on-screen partnership between Dunst and Plemons.” The real-life couple scarcely interact in Plemons’ single scene, but they still slipped right into co-star mode. “Because we fell in love on a set, we fell in love creatively first,” Dunst said of her husband. (The two are typically fiercely private about their nearly decade-long relationship.) “I think we’ll always come back to that, in a very not-involving-our-real-life way. And also, listen, we don’t talk to each other on set. I left him alone, he left me alone.”
Dunst and Plemons—who recently appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon—married in Jamaica in 2022 and share two sons. Firmly united personally, Dunst also respects Plemons professionally. “I love working with him,” she said. “What’s nice is that we trust each other so much. He sent me a scene last night of this miniseries he’s working on to get my opinion. If I’m having a hard time deciding on something, I’ll have him read it. I trust his opinion more than anyone, and he cares about me more than anyone.”
Of her husband, “we hate the same things,” Dunst added, laughing; she also noted that they both love foreign arthouse variety films. And, while Plemons is an anchor for her, he’s not alone. She revealed she has had the same core group of friends since high school but also has industry friends, as well, including sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning—“But they’re like me,” Dunst said. “They’re very normal, real girls.”
Of her circle, she added “I just have really good people around me,” Dunst told Marie Claire. “I have good girlfriends and my mom’s fun and comes over every day. I’m very connected to my family and I have a great husband.”
And that, as we all know, makes such a difference.
