Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons: the story of Hollywood's most discreet 'power couple'

They may not awaken the generational passions of Zendaya and Tom Holland, make as many headlines as Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck or dazzle on the red carpet in the style of Amal and George Clooney, but very few can boast the success and prestige they have. In less than a decade, actors Kirsten Dunst, 41, and Jesse Plemons, 36, have achieved a privileged position on the list of

,

setting an example of how to reconcile a low media profile with a professional career as strong as their relationship. The billboards these days give good faith to this: their last film together, the controversial

, has premiered at the top of the American box office. In this dystopian drama, Dunst plays a photojournalist who tours the United States with the country mired in a bloody civil war, while Plemons plays a violent soldier. A short role, but so disturbing that the actor destined to play it abandoned at the last minute and, in the words of his wife, forced Plemons to do “the team a favor” and join the filming.

Civil War

, which arrived in Spanish cinemas on April 19, is the third time that the couple has collaborated on an audiovisual project. Previously, they received two Emmy nominations for their participation in the second season of the acclaimed television adaptation of

and two other Oscar nominations after appearing in the no less celebrated

. While Kirsten Dunst became at a very young age one of the essential faces of

Hollywood , her husband has gradually carved out a status of secondary luxury and a guarantee of quality. In the last decade, Plemons has worked on up to seven films nominated for the Oscar for best picture, a fact that places him in the exclusive company of legends such as Marlon Brando or Katharine Hepburn. Probably, the controversy generated by a story that depicts a politically divided country is going to prevent them from joining the awards race again, but the critics are unanimous: his performance is the best of the film.

Their love story was born in the hallways of an airport in 2015, while they were waiting for the plane that would take them to the Canadian city of Calgary to begin filming

. Plemons, who rose to global fame thanks to his work in the series

, remembers that he heard his future wife shout her name while he was trying to calm the stress before takeoff by looking at magazines on a terminal store. “With hardly any words having been exchanged, I looked into her eyes and saw the beautiful, sweet, sincere and welcoming woman that she is. Just a moment was enough for me. My nerves and anxiety disappeared and I knew that everything was going to be okay,” he recalled during the inauguration of his wife's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.

actress

and muse of Sofia Coppola has confirmed that instant connection that arose between them: “First we fell in love creatively, but after two weeks I already knew that this man was going to accompany me for the rest of my life.” After filming the series ended in the fall of that year, they missed each other for a few months and at the beginning of spring they began their love affair. In 2018 they welcomed their first child, Ennis, and three years later James. Both pregnancies were confirmed before the press in a unique way: the first, as part of a campaign by the fashion brand Rodarte, of which the actress is an ambassador; the second, in a report for

magazine

photographed by Coppola herself and also dressed in Rodarte.

First, paternity and then the pandemic delayed their marriage, but in July 2022 they said “I do” at a wedding in Jamaica. When work does not require them to reside in Los Angeles, the couple spends most of their time in a small Texas town, on the family ranch where Plemons grew up, surrounded by horses. Although the specialized website

estimates that their joint fortune exceeds 40 million dollars, they are far from complying with the clichés of

and ostentation

. They are barely seen at public events, they do not have close friends within the sector and they boast of an analogue lifestyle that they have instilled in their children: “At home we have music players, we don't use Siri. Our kids don't have iPads, so if they want to use one on the plane it has to be their dad's. And we are not the type of people who leave our cell phones in restaurants either. "I'm not going to raise a child who can't have a conversation at the table," Dunst corroborates in an early April interview in

. When asked about the hottest movies on the billboard, he confirms that he only has time to see one,

.

Although success came earlier in the career of the actress, who was catapulted to fame by kissing Brad Pitt at just 11 years old in

(1994), their lives have certainly followed parallel paths. They both come from small towns, began working at a very early age and have tried to reconcile

cinema

with author projects. They are atypical stars, lacking the artifices and mannerisms typical of Hollywood and free enough to turn any promotional interview into a nightmare for the corseted public relations of the cinema mecca.

Dunst, for example, has spoken about the pressure she received over decades to lose weight and replace her teeth with “a perfect Barbie smile,” sinking into depression at age 27. The last two years, those between

and

, she has not set foot on a film set because all she was offered were roles of “sad mothers” and she has denounced the ageist scourge that continues to plague the industry. Plemons, for his part, rejects what any star is supposed to love: attention. The American edition of

magazine

described him as “the worst trickster” in all of Hollywood, despite the fact that Martin Scorsese himself assures him that “his future has no limits.” The Texan, however, prefers to enjoy his days on the farm with Dunst and only go to Los Angeles for what is strictly necessary. He certified it in an interview: “I have no aspirations to conquer Hollywood. Or the world. Or nothing".