By the time Kirsten Dunst appeared in Interview with the Vampire, she had already worked with the likes of Woody Allen and Brian De Palma. But her performance as Claudia in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire was her true breakout, marking her as one of the most promising newcomers in Hollywood. And between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, she pretty much had any pre-teen girl’s idea of dreamboat co-stars. Thirty years on, however, Kirsten Dunst doesn’t just see the men as hunks but rather truly giving and protective souls.

Tom Cruise may have already been a superstar and Brad Pitt right on the cusp of being Brad f*ckin’ Pitt, but Kirsten Dunst remembered that they were as down to earth as any vampires could be. “I was very protected on set. I don’t think I even watched the whole movie. I sat there and my mom would cover my eyes for a lot of that film. I felt like Brad’s little sister and Tom made me feel like a princess. I mean, at Christmas time, he put this gorgeous tree in my dressing room and they just spoiled me in a really sweet way.” None of this should really be a surprise considering Cruise is known to be one of the most generous guys in Hollywood, especially with his younger co-stars.

Outside of her connection to Cruise and Pitt on Interview with the Vampire, Kirsten Dunst had an overall great experience shooting the 1994 film, noting that it’s something she’ll never get to relive. “To shoot in New Orleans and Paris and London in one production…it’s just, those times of making movies like that, they just don’t exist anymore.” Expounding on her time on the numerous sets, she said, “It was such a long process getting that role. I was like a race horse ready to go…And I wasn’t afraid to, you know, go there. When I think about that movie…We literally were vampires. We lived at night. We shot at night, always.”

Kirsten Dunst received widespread acclaim for Interview with the Vampire, earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress and winning both Best Breakthrough Performance from the MTV Movie Awards and the Saturn Awards’ Best Performance by a Younger Actor.

Interview with the Vampire has since been adapted into a TV series, with the character of Claudia having been played by Bailey Bass in season one and Delainey Hayles taking over the role for the second season, which will premiere next month.

Where does Kirsten Dunst’s performance in Interview with the Vampire rank in her filmography?