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Actress Kirsten Dunst in upcoming ‘Civil War’ movie slams media for forcing people to ‘pick a side’

April 4, 2024 | | Print Article

Hollywood actress Kirsten Dunst has accused the establishment media of stoking political tensions amid the release of the film “Civil War.”

Set to be released in about a week, “Civil War” tells the tale of America living during a dystopian dictatorship and facing a civil war among competing factions.

To hear some in the leftist media tell it, the fascist president in the film is the embodiment of former President Donald Trump. But according to Dunst and others involved with the film, that’s not the case.

“It feels fictitious to me,” Dunst told Variety magazine in an interview published this week, referencing the belief that the president played by Nick Offerman is in any way similar to Trump.

“I don’t want to compare because that’s the antithesis of the film. It’s just a fascist president. But I didn’t think about Nick’s character being any certain political figure. I just thought this is this president, in this world, who will not abide by the Constitution and democracy,” she added.

Variety magazine didn’t seem to care much for Dunst’s denial.

“Dunst won’t admit that the film’s president, played by Nick Offerman as a narcissist with an authoritarian streak, resembles the 45th, and perhaps 47th, Oval Office occupant,” the magazine notes.

FYI, it’s President Joe Biden, the 46th president, who seems to most resemble Offerman, what with his attempts to silence dissenting speech, force vaccine mandates down millions of Americans’ throats, and reinstitute racial discrimination as a government policy.

That said, Dunst does acknowledge that the film bears some similarities with the great political divide currently plaguing America, though she also says that the media is partly responsible for this divide.

“Media really stokes it big time,” she told Variety. “The media is forcing us to choose a side. Everything’s a lot more complicated than that.”

Ironically, she’s already chosen a side herself, in that she evidently plans to vote for President Biden in the upcoming presidential election — though she’s reportedly not thrilled by her limited options.

“It’s just shocking that we’re in this position again,” she said about the rematch between Trump and Biden. “It’s just money, money, money, money, money. Everything is broken. Everything needs to be fixed.”

As noted earlier, Dunst isn’t the only person associated with the film who’s pushed back on the claim that it’s about Trump.

During the film’s SXSW Film and TV Festival premiere last month, The Hollywood Reporter asked Offerman, who plays the fascist president, whether the film is related to ongoing events, according to Fox News.

“[The movie] is so unrelated to any actual factions or politicians,” he replied. “That’s what I think is so brilliant about this film. Everybody on any side of the aisle or any faction has a lot to say, and we’re all immediately divisive and partisan in our conversations. Everybody’s mad about those other jerks, and this movie transcends that. It’s about all of us. And I’m so grateful for that.”

“It would be so easy to make this movie and lay in some Easter eggs and some of this or that, but you would lose half your audience this way or the other. Instead, this is like a great novel, it’s for everybody to say, ‘Oh, maybe heading toward war in our country is not the best route. Maybe we should reconsider the direction we’re heading,'” he added.

Dunst herself reiterated this very idea in her own remarks made to The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s a movie, and it’s meant to start conversations, and I think it really lets the audience decide what they want to put onto it,” she said. “It’s not partisan in any way, I think it’s actually more of an anti-war film if anything.”

Review-wise, “Civil War” boasts mainly positive reviews thus far, with many movie critics saying the film delivers a creative cinematic experience, regardless of the political stuff.

“Civil War moves in ways you’d forgotten films of this scale could – with compassion for its lead characters and a dark, prowling intellect, and yet a simultaneous total commitment to thrilling the audience at every single moment,” one review from Robbie Collin of the Daily Telegraph reads.

“The constant onslaught of foreboding tension and stunning documentary style prowess in capturing the raw horror ensure a breathless, potent piece of filmmaking,” another review from Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting reads.

Vivek Saxena
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