Kirsten Dunst says the 'major pay disparity' between her and Tobey Maguire in 'Spider-Man' was so normal she didn't think to challenge it

• Kirsten Dunst said the "major pay disparity" between herself and Tobey Maguire was normalized in her youth.
• She told BBC News that she didn't think to challenge it at the time.

Kirsten Dunst said that the "major pay disparity" between herself and Tobey Maguire at the start of her career felt so normal that she didn't think to challenge it — even though was more successful at the box office.

The actor has worked in Hollywood since she was seven but rose to fame playing Claudia, a child vampire, opposite Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in "Interview With the Vampire" in 1994.

But she's better-known for playing cheerleader Torrance Shipman in 2000's "Bring It On" and Mary Jane Watson in 2002's "Spider-Man."

Speaking ahead of the release of her latest movie, "Civil War," Dunst described how she viewed gender dynamics in her youth to BBC News.

"We grew up in a world where it's mankind, man-made, man this, man that, that's how we grew up. Hopefully the way I carved my path will help other actresses," she said.

Dunst went on to speak about the gender pay gap in Hollywood and, without naming him, appeared to compare her salary with that of her "Spider-Man" co-star Tobey Maguire.

"I definitely grew up in a time with major pay disparity between the lead actor and myself, even though I had been in 'Bring it On' and he hadn't, you know what I mean?" she said. "I had more success in my box office than he did."

She continued: "I was 17, I was still learning my taste in film. I didn't even think to ask. I didn't even know there was a place to challenge it, that's how it felt at 17."

In 2000, Dunst was the lead in "Bring It On," which made $90 million against an $11 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo.

In contrast, Maguire's highest-grossing movie with him in the lead role at the time was 1999's "The Cider House Rules," at $88 million.

This isn't the first time Dunst has spoken about her "Spider-Man" salary. In 2021, she told The Independent that the disparity between her and Maguire was "extreme."

"I didn't even think about it. I was just like, 'Oh yeah, Tobey is playing Spider-Man,'" she said. "But you know who was on the cover of the second 'Spider-Man' poster? Spider-Man and ME."

Dunst played Mary Jane in all three "Spider-Man" movies directed by Sam Raimi, and the trilogy collectively raked in over $2.5 billion, according to The Numbers.