Kirsten Dunst has recalled an incident where she faced an “inappropriate question” from a male director while auditioning for a role as a teenager.
The film star began her screen career aged three and made her feature film debut in Woody Allen's short film Oedipus Wrecks.
However, she gained prominence in 1994 aged 11 when she was cast as the child vampire Claudia alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire.
Reflecting on what Hollywood was like as a child star, the 41-year-old shared an incident she encountered with a male filmmaker when she was 16 where the unnamed director asked her an “inappropriate question” while alone in his office.
She told The Telegraph: “A male director had me in his office, by myself, and was asking me about this movie he wanted me for, and then, completely out of the blue, asked me this inappropriate question.”
Although she chose not name the individual or elaborate on the incident further, Dunst insisted that what the director said was “totally improper”.
“Honestly, I’m not even sure he’s still working any more,” she continued. “It’s not something I like to reflect on. But I will say what he said was nothing to do with acting.
“And it wasn’t that what he said was just ‘a bit off’. It was totally improper. And I remember sitting there and knowing that something was wrong, but with no idea what I should do”.
The Bring It On star then credited her mother with keeping her safe from the “predatory side of the business” and said that once she recalled the incident with her, her mum immediately withdrew her from the casting process.
Adding: “I was only able to avoid that predatory side of the business because wherever I went, my mother was literally always right there.
“That was the end of it. She withdrew me from the process and told them I wouldn’t be making the film”.
Dunst is currently promoting upcoming A24 film Civil War, where she stars as a military-embedded photojournalist documenting post-apocalyptic America.
