Kirsten Dunst Remembers Working With Jamie Dornan In His First Acting Gig In New ‘Actors On Actors’

Kirsten Dunst and Jamie Dornan go way back.

The “Power of the Dog” and “Belfast” stars sat down for a conversation in the new episode of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors”.

READ MORE: Kirsten Dunst Praises ‘Virgin Suicides’ Director Sofia Coppola For Making Her ‘Feel Beautiful For Who I Was’

“Jamie and I worked together on your first acting gig, right?” Dunst remarked, recalling his debut role as Count Axel von Fersen in Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”.

“Yeah. I remember thinking it might be my last,” Dornan said. “I remember thinking I really don’t know what I’m doing here, and it was, Jesus, 17 years ago.”

“But I was nervous too, Jamie,” Dunst said. “And all our stuff was, like, making out, and I’m not comfortable with that. It’s never comfortable, ever. I think my first time I even showed my breasts was with Sofia. She never used the take, and I don’t even think you were there. I felt overwhelmed, too.”

Dornan, who began his career as a model, recalled, “I was a bit like, ‘This is a cool opportunity. I’ll do that.’ I wasn’t one of those kids who was like, I want to be an actor when I grow up. I was just following what my gut was telling me to do.”

For her role in “The Power of the Dog”, Dunst actually learned how to play the piano in order to pull off crucial scenes in the film.

“We had a month before we started shooting, and I didn’t play the piano. So that was a really big hurdle for me to get through. I learned two pieces,” she said. “When I finally put my hands together and started to learn it like that, I literally looked up and thanked God. I think I cried a little bit. Because it’s so hard to learn an instrument, especially when you have a child. I’d put my kid to bed and then just get to the piano and drive everybody nuts with the same lick over and over again.”

READ MORE: Jamie Dornan Jokes He’s Been In A ‘Perpetual State Of Drag’ For 39 Years With His Daughters And Sisters Around

Talking about shooting during the pandemic, Dornan said his favourite memory had to do with co-star Dame Judi Dench.

“I’d never met Dame Judi Dench,” he said. “And of course, we’re all wearing masks, but Judi comes in wearing a tiger mask, like a roaring tiger. It was so great.”

“Oh my God. The oldest person who should probably be wearing protective gear is like, ‘I have the fun mask,'” Dunst laughed.

Dornan added, “As Ciarán Hinds says, ‘She’s just a rebel.’ And we’re all there in our very medical-looking blue masks.”