KIRSTEN DUNST CONNECTS WHILE
driving through “the worst pocket”
of cell reception in California. She
shares your prayer that we get
through this. “We are, together,”
she coos reassuringly. Minutes
later, she cuts out. Behold the con-
tinued queen of the unexpected.
An acting veteran at 37, Dunst
has made a career of surprising
audiences with untraditional turns
in offbeat dramas (a rebel royal in
Marie Antoinette), art-house gems
(a bride whose depression wills
the apocalypse in Melancholia),
and even blockbusters (minimiz-
ing damsel Mary Jane’s distress in
three Spider-Man films). Now
she continues her singular streak
on Showtime’s dark comedy On
Becoming a God in Central Florida
playing Krystal Stubbs, an Orlando-
adjacent water-park employee
(with a wardrobe best described as
“Lisa Frank dabbling in textiles”)
forced into conning her way up the
ranks of a pyramid scheme in the
wake of tragedy.
“She’s cutthroat, but with a
heart of gold,” says Dunst, who lends
her cool, inviting calmness to
Krystal’s vengeful rage—even as her
mama-bear survivalist tactics
grow increasingly bonkers. Within
two episodes of the ’90s-set series, a
wailing Krystal fires a shotgun at a
swamp of alligators, then skins and
hand-harvests the meat to feed her
young. “It’s about a mother trying to
make it work!” Dunst chirps. For
the producer and star, making things
work meant anchoring herself to
the series through multiple network
handoffs—first at AMC, then You-
Tube, then Showtime. “I couldn’t
let this character go,” says Dunst,
savoring Krystal’s agency amid
other offers the actress has received
to play helpless thirtysomethings
“crying about some man.”
Krystal marks the latest bench-
mark in Dunst’s mission to resist
the Hollywood-blonde stereotypes.
She values complex renegades,
which drew her to the new “cre-
ative freedom” of TV to perform
juicy roles (like on 2015’s Fargo)
she rarely sees in film. “I wanted
to be more of an artist in my
acting, instead of making tons of
money being a star of every big
whatever.” About her string of stu-
dio rom-coms in the late aughts,
she admits, “I hated that kind of
acting. Thank God Sofia Coppola
would sweep me away to do a
Marie Antoinette in between.”
So, what’s next? Florida could
be a hit, or Dunst may focus on
producing to allow more time
with her infant son. But her plan
isn’t clear—and it never has been.
Whether weird or wonderful,
all we know is we’re going to get
through it together. —Joey Nolfi
On
Becoming
a God
in Central
Florida
No
TV
That’s How It’s Dunst: Kirsten’s Killer Roles
Interview With
the Vampire
1994
Marie
Antoinette
2006
Melancholia
2011
Fargo
Season 2
2015
ILLUSTRATION BY GERMÁN GONZALEZ EW●COM SEPTEMBER 2019 11
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