Kirsten Dunst Talks About Pay Gap Between Her And Spider-Man Co-Star Tobey Maguire
Kirsten Dunst recently opened up about the major pay disparity that existed between her and ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy co-star Tobey Maguire.
According to US weekly, the Emmy nominee shared in an interview, “The pay disparity between me and Spider-Man was very extreme. I didn’t even think about it. I was just like, ‘Oh yeah, Tobey is playing Spider-Man.’ But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and me.”
The ‘Fargo’ alum portrayed Mary Jane Watson, the love interest of Peter Parker, in three superhero movies between 2002 and 2007. Maguire, now 46, was the titular comic book character. Despite not earning her equal share, Dunst told Variety in 2017 that she “loved” being part of the franchise.
“I wanted to be in that movie so badly. I loved it, and I wish we could have made a fourth. I don’t care (about the recent versions). Everyone likes our Spider-Man. C’mon, am I right or what? Listen, I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones,” she shared.
At that time, Dunst broached the topic of parity yet again, adding, “Because I was young, I thought, ‘Oh wow, I’m getting paid a lot of money for the Spider-Man movies.’ But, definitely, the men were getting paid more.”While fans of the Marvel universe have speculated that the ‘Great Gatsby’ actor — along with former Spider-Man Andrew Garfield — will appear in the upcoming ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, Dunst has asserted that she’s not coming back this time.
Dunst isn’t the first to notice the differences between male and female stars on superhero movie sets. In 2019, Brie Larson shared that she wanted to help pave the way for equal pay following the success of her movie ‘Captain Marvel’. “Money is actually something I’m very excited to talk about. It’s this thing that people think is super icky and that’s the trap. The trap is they make you feel icky about it so that you don’t ask for what you deserve — because you know what that number is inside,” she said at the time.