Kirsten Dunst Will Not Lose Weight for a Movie, Even For Sofia Coppola

The world is going through a bit of a Kirsten Dunst renaissance this summer, as the actress is scheduled to appear in two films in 2017, thanks to Sofia Coppola‘s highly anticipated remake of the Southern gothic classic The Beguiled and the Rodarte sisters’ dramatic Woodshock. For her role in The Beguiled, Dunst was in the South for a few months with the talented likes of Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, and Colin Farrell, as the film tells the sexual-tension-filled story of the events surrounding a wounded Union solider (Farrell) arriving at an all-girls boarding school to recuperate.

Dunst and Coppola recently sat down for an interview with Variety, and the two got pretty candid about Coppola not-too-subtly requesting that Dunst lose a few pounds for her role as a one of the school’s teachers. And to that, Dunst promptly said … nah.

“It’s so much harder when you’re 35 and hate working out,” Dunst explained, adding that she simply couldn’t resist those deep-fried rural Louisianian delights. “I’m eating fried chicken and McDonald’s before work,” she continued. “So I’m like, ‘We have no options! I’m sorry I can’t lose weight for this role.’” In the end, Coppola was “very understanding” about her star’s pushback — she even feels she has a special “big sisterly” relationship with her — and didn’t pressure Dunst to change her body anymore. No surprise given everything they’ve been through together — Coppola previously directed Dunst in The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, and even interviewed the actress for her guest-edited special edition of W in 2014.

Kirsten Dunst Takes W’s Screen Test:

For women in Hollywood, Dunst’s situation wouldn’t come as a surprise — unfortunately, though, not all actresses are able to work with directors who are as considerate as Coppola. British treasure Emma Thompson has recently spoken out about the “evil” pressure younger starlets receive to be thin, while Jennifer Lawrence has opened up about being threatened to be fired from projects if she didn’t lose weight. “Somebody told me I was fat, that I was going to get fired if I didn’t lose a certain amount of weight,” she explained. “They brought in pictures of me where I was basically naked, and told me to use them as motivation for my diet. It was just that.”

Kate Winslet has also spoken about how an old drama teacher of hers mentally prepared her for accepting only “fat girl parts.” “So what I always feel in these moments is that any young woman who has ever been put down by a teacher, by a friend, by even a parent, just don’t listen to any of it, because that’s what I did — I kept on going and I overcame my fears and got over my insecurities,” she said.

Related: Kirsten Dunst’s Dior Oscars Dress Looked Vintage Because It Was Actually a Design from 1952