Kirsten Dunst Says ‘Civil War’ Violence Gave Her PTSD & “Shook Me To My Core”

If Alex Garland’s upcoming political thriller, “Civil War,” looks violent, disturbing, and harrowing, you’re not the only one. The film centers on a journey across a dystopian future America and follows a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach D.C. before rebel factions descend upon the White House. Yes, it’s basically a doomsday cautionary tale about a divided and broken America and what could happen if our current divisions get further stoked. And for Kirsten Dunst, who stars in the film as one of the lead war photographers, the film was, to hear it from her, a harrowing experience to shoot too.

READ MORE: ‘Civil War’: Alex Garland Says His Follow-Up To ‘Men’ Will Be His Last Time Directing & Wants To Return To Screenwriting

In a new Marie Claire interview, the actress, known for Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” movies and several films with Sofia Coppola, said the filming of the movie gave her PTSD.

Many scenes were green-screened, including a blown-up Lincoln Memorial (which you can see in the trailer below), but the actress said several of the harrowing combat, action, and car chases “shook me to my core.”

“I remember hearing them practice an explosion. We were in the hair and makeup trailer, which was very far away from set, and the whole trailer shook,” she told the magazine.

Dunst also said some of the scenes in The White House were just too real and hit too close to home, given what’s happening in our political climate today. “There’s so much gunfire, and then you look at the news, and it’s a school shooting again,” she explained.

Dunst told the outlet that the making of the movie just felt too real and impacted her emotional well-being, claiming she had “had PTSD for a good two weeks after. I remember coming home and eating lunch, and I felt really empty.

Alex Garland seemed to agree about her acting process and how Dunst “let herself live inside the film, and feel the reality of the moments.”

And that seems to be the entire point of the film, to create a kind of political horror that feels all too real and plausible, which evidently makes the movie even more frightening than the average action film might be.

“I think it’s a cautionary tale,” Dunst explained, “a fable of what happens when people don’t communicate with each other and stop seeing each other as human beings.”

“Civil War” also stars Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Nick Offerman. It is due in theaters in April via A24 but will make its world premiere next week at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Watch the trailer below if you haven’t already seen it, but you might just be holding your breath the entire time until it ends. And if the movie’s anything like that, it might be a big winner with audiences.