Kirsten Dunst says Tom Cruise helped her beat other actresses to land 'Interview with the Vampire' role

• Kirsten Dunst told Netflix in an interview that Tom Cruise helped her audition for her breakout role.
• Dunst starred alongside Cruise in 1994's "Interview with the Vampire."

Kirsten Dunst told Netflix that Tom Cruise helped her during her audition for her breakout role in 1994's "Interview with the Vampire."

Dunst appeared in Netflix's "Playback" Twitter video series to promote her new movie "The Power of the Dog." In the video, she spoke about her 30 years of acting including the audition process for her breakout role in the Neil Jordan horror/romance.

She explained that she had to do several auditions for the role of Claudia, a dying orphan girl who is turned into a vampire. Dunst, who was 11 years old when she auditioned for the role, said that Tom Cruise was "rooting" for her during her screen test with him.

—Netflix (@netflix) December 1, 2021

"I remember I was the tallest of all the young girls," the 39-year-old actress said. "He had to pick each one of us up and like carry us around just to see how we looked against Tom and who looked like the most childlike, I guess.

"I remember Tom whispering to me, like, 'Tuck your legs under' so I'd look as tiny as possible 'cause I was the tallest girl. So I knew he was kind of like rooting for me. We were both from New Jersey, and I think, you know, he was like, 'Let this Jersey girl have it.'"

"Vampire with the Interview," which also starred Brad Pitt, Christian Slater and Antonio Banderas, was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes including best supporting actress for Dunst.

In an interview with Vanity Fair last month, Dunst said "it was very weird" when she had to kiss Brad Pitt in the movie, who was 31 at the time.

"At that point, I was a little girl, and he was like a brother to me," Dunst said. "And it was very weird even though it was a peck. I was just very not into it. Other than that I was treated like a total princess on that set."

Dunst's new movie "The Power of Dog" is on Netflix and it stars Dunst alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Dunst's fiancé, Jesse Plemons.