From 2002-2007, Kirsten Dunst was globally famous for playing Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. While Dunst still looks back fondly at this time in her acting career, she also hasn't minced words about how little she cares about the Spider-Man movies that followed Spider-Man 3, declaring that The Amazing Spider-Man, its sequel and Spider-Man: Homecoming have just been "milking that cow for money." Among the people who disagree with her is the newest Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, who stated the following when asked if he'd heard about what Dunst had said:
I read it and I saw it. You know, she's entitled to her own opinion and I'm not one to judge at all. I definitely am not doing this movie for the money. I mean, it's a job that I think anyone would do regardless of what you were getting paid, you know? All I know is I've had the greatest time on this movie and I've absolutely loved it and, you know, if she doesn't want to go and see it, I don't really care. But yeah, I don't dislike her in any way for what she said and she's entitled to her own opinion, so it's all cool.
It was to be expected that Tom Holland would come to Spider-Man: Homecoming's defense, but his response to Movie'n'co UK (delivered while "upside down," I might add) was well balanced. He didn't take the opportunity to tear into Kirsten Dunst for her difference of opinion, but he also countered by saying that money was not the main reason he took the role. Granted, the primary reasons that Spider-Man movies continue to be made is because they make gigantic piles of cash, but from Holland's perspective, this is one of those roles that many actors of actors would want to have even if the paycheck didn't have a lot of zeroes. In any case, he's currently playing a character he loves, so he's learned how to tune out the dissenters.
The main reason Kirsten Dunst hasn't kept up with the newer Spider-Man movies is because she thinks that the Sam Raimi movies are "the best ones." While taste is subjective, it is true that 2002's Spider-Man and 2004's Spider-Man 2 remain some of the most Web-Slinger's most popular movies. 2007's Spider-Man 3...not so much. That trilogy was followed by the Marc Webb duology, and while 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man has its share of fans, 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 underwhelmed critically and commercially. This is the reason Marvel and Sony decided to work together on the character, and hence why we have Spider-Man: Homecoming, which has performed admirably over the last month, raking in more than $630 million worldwide and ranking at 92% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is still playing in theaters, and after his adventures with the other MCU heroes in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 will arrive on July 5, 2019.
