Kirsten Dunst details disturbing audition with director: ‘A bit off’

The former child star has detailed a troubling encounter during her early career that saw her mother pull the plug on an acting job.

Kirsten Dunst. Picture: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images/AFP

Kirsten Dunst has opened up about a disturbing incident which saw her faced with an “inappropriate question” during an audition early in her career.

The Bring It On actress told the UK’s Telegraph that it had occurred when she was just 16 years old and vying for a very sought-after role.

“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,” Dunst, 41, told the publication.

However, she stopped short of identifying the man involved.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure he’s still working any more. 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 actress - pictured here in 2000’s Bring It On - did not name the director involved, and explained that her mother pulled her out of the audition process.

She said his question was “totally improper”. Picture: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images/AF

Dunst, who was a former child star and will next appear in thriller Civil War, explained that her mother pulled the pin on the audition process as soon as she heard what had happened.

“That was the end of it. She withdrew me from the process and told them I wouldn’t be making the film,” she said.

Dunst and husband Jesse Plemons at the Civil War screening in LA on Tuesday. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP

She began acting from a young age, famously appearing as Claudia in Interview With The Vampire.

Dunst also credited her mother with protecting her from the dark side of Hollywood.

“I was only able to avoid that predatory side of the business because wherever I went, my mother was literally always right there,” she said.

The star, who is married to fellow actor Jesse Plemons, first appeared on screen in advertisements at the age of three and made her first feature film debut in Woody Allen’s Oedipus Wrecks. Her industry breakthrough came in 1994 when she played Claudia, starring alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, in Interview With The Vampire.

Dunst’s star continued to rise with leading roles in films including Jumanji, Bring It On, The Virgin Suicides, Little Women and the Spider-Man trilogy opposite Tobey Maguire.

She is currently promoting Civil War, in which she plays a photojournalist documenting the United States which is locked in conflict as society falls apart.