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

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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."

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Kirsten Dunst for W Magazine. Tim Walker for W Magazine

"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."

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