Intense thrillers about psychological trickery and disturbing sexual games can conceivably make for a dreary atmosphere on the set. So, best one tackles such a project in the company of friends.
And that's exactly what happened when Kirsten Dunst reunited with director Sofia Coppola for her latest film, The Beguiled. Add Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell (as the only male cast member) and you've got yourself a slumber party.
Kirsten and Elle, in particular, while they knew each other before became much closer while making the movie, which is set in the Civil War-era south.
"There's people that you meet that are little soul mates in life, and she's just like a sister to me," Dunst said about her co-star while chatting to E! News about the film.
And in this film in particular, it helped to have pals to joke around with after certain days on set.
While Fanning previously told us that Farrell did his best to make an awkward kissing scene they had together as comfortable for her as possible, Dunst explained that she and Coppola decided on having no kiss during her sex scene with the actor. He plays a wounded Union soldier who's taken in by the sheltered residents of an all-girls school in Virginia and it proves to be a little much (to say the very least) for everyone involved.
"We wanted to make it something unique and a little shocking," the veteran star explained. "And we thought, OK, let's not kiss in this scene—at all—even though it's a lovemaking scene. We wanted to be aggressive and desperate, and it was clearly [my character] Edwina's first time. So we wanted it to be weird."
Mission accomplished. Moreover, Coppola got the tone of the whole film so effectively weird, she was awarded the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first American woman to ever win and only the second woman ever.
Recalling her time in New Orleans shooting the film, Dunst said that everyone she knew wanted to come visit thanks to the prime location.
Asked what sort of shenanigans they got up to, the actress laughed in disbelief. "It's New Orleans!"
The Beguiled is currently out in limited release and opens wide June 30.