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Oscar-nominated actors and real-life partners Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst met on set in 2015. That’s when they formed a creative connection that developed into something much sweeter. Not only do they still enjoy working together, Plemons said Dunst makes his job easier because she’s just so good at acting.

Jesse Plemons in a tuxedo, sitting next to Kirsten Dunst in a pale blue dress, both posing and smiling
(L-R) Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst | Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for FIJI Water

Jesse Plemons said Kirsten Dunst has a ‘ferocity that she can tap into’ when she’s acting

Dunst and Plemons met on the set of Fargo season two and reunited for The Power of the Dog. In the time between, they fell in love and started a life together. Now, they’re engaged and share two kids.

In an interview with GQ, Plemons talked about their history and work together. First, he took the opportunity to compliment her for her expressiveness and versatility.

“There’s a ferocity that she can tap into — and a sort of wild, very expressive and real… rage is the wrong word, but everything that’s happening inside you, you just see on her face and in her eyes,” he explained.

“I think she’s just an incredibly honest, bold performer and can kind of do anything,” he went on. “You know she’s really funny and really versatile.”

He even compared acting with her to his experience working with Robert De Niro. According to him, they both can lead their co-stars easily through an emotional scene.

How Kirsten Dunst makes acting easier for Jesse Plemons

As Plemons explained to GQ, Dunst’s performance skills leave minor work to be done for those around her. “When someone is expressing so much,” he explained, “it makes your job a lot easier because all you have to do is look, and listen, and respond.”

Plemons said it was “so nice, and easy, and comforting” to work with her again.

“I first really felt like she was the ideal creative counterpart for me on Fargo,” he said to GQ. “And there’s something kind of inexplicable about why it’s just really easy to work with certain people, but we found that rhythm very quickly on Fargo.”

He said they “could just remove any ego from any ideas or choices” to think and speak more openly with each other from the start.

Kirsten Dunst said she and Jesse Plemons ‘have to get married’ but they haven’t planned a wedding

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According to Dunst, she and Plemons call each other husband and wife, but they haven’t made it legally official yet. “We have to get married at this point. It’s ridiculous,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “We just haven’t planned a wedding.”

But she said pregnancies and the pandemic took priority over a wedding. “I didn’t want to be pregnant, get married, have a party, and not be able to have fun with everybody,” she explained while adding it will happen eventually.