Summary
- Kirsten Dunst faced insecurity while portraying her character in Civil War, asking to handle the camera for authenticity.
- Photographer Murray Close worked closely with Dunst to ensure realistic camera handling in the film.
- Cailee Spaeny found joy in her role as an aspiring photographer, filming 20 rolls of film a night.
A surprising fear plagued Kirsten Dunst while making A24’s Civil War, a film centered on journalists journeying to the White House during a fractured America. Dunst leads the dystopian thriller as Lee Smith, a renowned war photojournalist, making her way from New York City to Washington, D.C., alongside a team of war journalists. Committed to authenticity, Dunst immediately asked director and writer Alex Garland to “give [her] the camera,” as she “was a little bit insecure” about not accurately representing her character’s profession. In an exclusive video shared with PEOPLE, Dunst shares:
“That was my biggest fear, actually, looking like I didn’t know what I was doing with the camera, or holding it in a way that it wasn’t like a part of my body,” she adds.
Garland prioritized a realistic portrayal of photography in Civil War. To ensure this, still photographer Murray Close collaborated closely with Dunst and co-star Cailee Spaeny. Close explains that in movies, the way people hold cameras is a dead giveaway that they’re not photographers.
Interestingly, Dunst’s character’s name is a nod to Lee Miller, a model turned photographer who became a war correspondent for Vogue during World War II, documenting events like the London Blitz and the liberation of Paris. She was one of the first female photographers to capture the horrors of the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. Last year, Kate Winslet portrayed Miller in Lee, a biographical drama slated for a theatrical release later this year.
Cailee Spaeny Found Joy with her Civil War Role
Fresh off her acclaimed performance as Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s biopic, Spaeny stars as Jessie Cullen, an aspiring photographer. In the video, Spaeny also shares her experience preparing for her character.
“It’s been the most fun I’ve had when it comes to researching a character. Some of these [roles] you have to learn, I don’t know, fencing or baton-twirling or something like that. Now I know my way around a film camera, which is really useful.”
She adds:
“I’m going through like 20 rolls of film a night. Personally, it’s been such a great journey.”
Dunst next appears in Charlie McDermott and Sara Rejaie’s indie drama Rhubarb, about two adult siblings trying their best to navigate the individual and shared grief following their beloved dog’s death. She will also star in Ruben Östlund’s next English-language feature, The Entertainment System is Down. The social satire is set on a long flight where the unthinkable happens: passengers are left to their own devices (literally) after the entertainment system malfunctions. The film is set to be an ensemble, but the only confirmed stars thus far are Dunst, Keanu Reeves and Daniel Brühl.
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Spaeny is tied to several anticipated projects, including the sci-fi horror Alien: Romulus, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and the second season of Netflix’s Emmy-winning Beef. Garland will reteam with A24 for his next directorial effort, Warfare.
Civil War
is available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital.