Entertainment Movies Kirsten Dunst Says She Hasn't Acted in 2 Years Because 'Every Role I Was Being Offered Was the Sad Mom' "There's definitely less good roles for women my age," the 'Civil War' star said By Tommy McArdle Tommy McArdle Tommy McArdle is an editorial assistant on the Movies team at PEOPLE. Tommy joined PEOPLE in 2022. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 6, 2024 02:53PM EST Close Kirsten Dunst. Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images Kirsten Dunst is lamenting about a certain lack of quality roles in Hollywood as she ages. In a new interview with Marie Claire, Dunst, 41, shared that "every role I was being offered was the sad mom" in the two years that followed her Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in 2021's The Power of the Dog. In The Power of the Dog, which was directed by Jane Campion, Dunst appeared as a woman named Rose who marries a wealthy cattle rancher (played by her husband, Jesse Plemons). Despite the film's critical success, Dunst told Marie Claire that she felt frustrated with the offers that followed, explaining her absence from the screen before starring in director Alex Garland's new drama, Civil War. "To be honest, that's been hard for me...because I need to feed myself. The hardest thing is being a mom and...not feeling like, I have nothing for myself," Dunst said of that two-year time gap. "That's every mother — not just me." Kirsten Dunst Says She and Husband Jesse Plemons 'Don't Talk to Each Other on Set': But 'I Love Working with Him' Kirsten Dunst on Nov. 4, 2023. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for LACMA "There's definitely less good roles for women my age," she added, sharing that the dearth of quality parts is part of the reason why she turned toward Civil War. In that movie, she plays a photojournalist desperately trying to cover — and survive — a war-torn United States. "When I read the script, I thought, I've never done anything like this," she said of the upcoming A24 movie, written and directed by the filmmaker behind Ex Machina and Annihilation. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Dunst began acting in the late 1980s and early '90s and found mainstream popularity by the 2000s with roles in movies like The Virgin Suicides (1999), Bring It On (2000), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and the 2000s-era Spider-Man trilogy, in which she portrayed Mary Jane Watson opposite Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker. Kirsten Dunst Documents a Divided America — Under a President Nick Offerman — in Shocking Civil War Trailer Kirsten Dunst on Jan. 23, 2023. Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty While speaking with Marie Claire, Dunst remarked that she regrets not speaking up more when she felt mistreated on sets like Spider-Man. "It was a joke, but on Spider-Man, they would call me 'girly-girl' sometimes on the walkie-talkie. 'We need girly-girl.' But I never said anything. ... Like, don't call me that!" she said, noting that prior to the #MeToo movement, "You didn't say anything. You just took it." Dunst's husband Plemons, 35, also appears in Civil War, along with Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny and Nick Offerman. The movie opens in theaters April 12.