Kirsten Dunst opens up about ‘extreme’ pay gap on 'Spider-Man'

Kristen Dunst has said that the pay gap between her and co-star Tobey Maguire was ‘extreme’ on the early aughts superhero trilogy Spider-Man.

Talking to The Independent, Dunst shared that despite being top-billed for the role, the compensation she received for playing Spider-Man’s love interest Mary Jane Watson was considerably less than what Maguire’s eponymous character got.

"The pay disparity between me and Spider-Man was very extreme. I didn't even think about it. I was just like, 'Oh yeah, Tobey [Maguire] is playing Spider-Man,'” said Dunst.

She went on to quip, "But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and ME."

This isn’t the first time Dunst has talked openly about wage disparity in Hollywood, telling Variety in 2017, “Because I was young, I thought, 'Oh wow, I'm getting paid a lot of money for the Spider-Man  movies.' But definitely, the men were getting paid more.”

While it is unknown how much Dunst made for her role as MJ, Variety has earlier reported that Maguire received $4 million for the first film before settling for $17.5 million for the sequel.