People.com Entertainment Movies Kirsten Dunst Says She's 'Proud' of Upside-Down 'Spider-Man' Kiss: 'It Looked Great' Kirsten Dunst spoke with W Magazine about the legacy of 2002's Spider-Man — particularly, the famous smooch she shared in the rain with Tobey Maguire By Jen Juneau Jen Juneau Twitter Jen Juneau is a digital news writer for PEOPLE. A '90s teen and horror film connoisseur, she started at the brand in 2016, after a decade of working as a technical writer and then moonlighting as a journalist beginning in 2013. Originally from New Orleans, Jen grew up both in NOLA and Florida and eventually attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando (still her home base!), where she earned a bachelor's in English/technical communication, with a minor in magazine journalism. People Editorial Guidelines Published on January 12, 2022 03:31 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man (2002). Photo: Columbia/Marvel/Kobal/Shutterstock We're still swooning over that kiss between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man almost 20 years later — and Kirsten Dunst gets it. The actress (who just nabbed a SAG Award nomination for her performance in The Power of the Dog) however recently told W Magazine she "did not feel like it was a famous kiss" when filming it due to logistical hurdles. In the rainy scene, Dunst's MJ pulls down the mask of an upside-down Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) just far enough to keep his true identity under wraps, before planting a smooch on him to thank him for rescuing her from a group of thugs. "Water was getting up his nose because of the rain, and then he couldn't breathe in the Spider-Man suit ... and it just felt very late at night," recalled Dunst, 39. "I didn't think about it that way." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Kirsten Dunst for W Magazine. Tim Walker for W Magazine 15 of the Best First Kiss Movie Scenes Ever "But the way it was presented to me, [director Sam Raimi] gave me this book of famous kisses, so that made me realize how romantic and special Sam wanted this to be," she explained. "Even though it wasn't necessarily feeling that way with Tobey hanging upside down." And today, "I'm proud to be a part of that," Dunst said of the kiss being considered among all the great onscreen ones. "It looked like a great kiss." Dunst told W that the decision to sign on to Spider-Man was "not at all" a big one, considering she "just knew that Sam was going to do something special" with it. "It felt like an indie," she said. "Just these choices Sam was making, like casting Tobey — he had only been in Wonder Boys and The Cider House Rules at the time — and Willem Dafoe. He set the tone for hiring really interesting actors for these Marvel movies." Dunst starred opposite Maguire, 46, as Peter Parker's love interest in Raimi's Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). And while she hasn't appeared in any films about the well-known webslinger since, the Melancholia actress recently said she'd be up for reprising her role as Peter's fiery-haired flame. "I would do it. Why not? That would be fun," Dunst said in a November interview with Variety. "I would never say no to something like that," she added, before joking, "I'd be old MJ at this point with little Spidey babies."