For Kirsten Dunst, 'Power of the Dog' was an opportunity to 'let it all hang out'

Kirsten Dunst has done something more than just grow up on screen. In her choice of roles, she has let viewers in on each phase of her life, from child actor to teenager to young adult and now a fully grown woman, exploring the internal lives of her characters with a subtle emotional acuity and offhanded charm.

Having first gained acclaim for her role as a child vampire in 1994's "Interview With the Vampire," Dunst went on to act in more than 80 films, including "Little Women," "Bring It On," "Drop Dead Gorgeous," "Dick," "Crazy/Beautiful," "Spider-Man," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Melancholia," "Woodshock" and the TV series "Fargo" and "On Becoming a God in Central Florida." Her ongoing collaboration with filmmaker Sofia Coppola in "The Virgin Suicides," "Marie Antoinette" and "The Beguiled" has resulted in some of the most notable performances of her career. Working on "Fargo," she met actor Jesse Plemons; the two became a couple sometime after and now have two children together.

Dunst's latest collaboration is with director Jane Campion ("The Piano," "Bright Star") in "The Power of the Dog" (in theaters now and streaming on Netflix beginning Dec. 1). Set in 1920s Montana, it's an adaptation of the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage and Campion's first feature film in 12 years. Dunst plays Rose Gordon, a lonely widow who impulsively marries