By Thomas Chau in New York City

Kirsten Dunst is back as Mary Jane Watson, the sweet girl next door in "Spider-Man 2." It has been two years since her rescue at the Brooklyn Bridge from the Green Goblin, and Mary Jane Watson still can't seem to get over her feelings for Peter Parker. Parker is barely there for her even as a friend, and MJ becomes hurt by his seemingly apathetic attitude towards her. We talked to Kirsten about "Spider-Man 2," including her character, the rumors of her boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal taking over the role and her celebrity status after the first Spider-Man movie.

Q: Kirsten, how have you changed and how do you think Mary Jane has changed since the first movie?

KIRSTEN: Well, it’s been two years since the last movie so [when] anybody goes from 18 to 22, you change a lot. I’ve grown up, Mary Jane has grows up. I think that’s reflective in the movie and you see that she’s kind of very much more mature than Peter. He’s stayed, I think, kind of juvenile because he really doesn’t have any social life. In the last movie, he kind of was the decision maker in “We can only be friends” and in this movie, she decides for them, which I’m really happy about. She’s kind of the one pushing him to do things and it’s often the man in movies that often pushes the woman. I remember seeing the first “Shrek” and even in that movie, the ogre has to convince her that she loves him! I just talked a lot with Sam about writing her to be a very strong, independent woman.

Q: Did the success of the first movie change you dramatically?

KIRSTEN: Not personally. Now, I’m known worldwide I guess. I can finance movies – money, and production when you think of it that way. It’s changed a lot for me. Now, it’s not a question whether I can get whatever people to come see a movie that I’m in so that all helped me and I get paid more now too. (Laughs)

Q: What kind of conversations did you have with Jake [Gyllenhaal] when it looked like Tobey might step down?

KIRSTEN: That was really a complicated time. I’m just so thankful that Tobey ended up doing the movie because he is Spider-Man and it wouldn’t have been good. I think Jake can do any movie because I think he’s one of the best young actors and he probably would’ve done an amazing job. But Tobey is Spider-Man so I’m just happy it all worked out and that he could do the stunts and worked it out.

Q: Would it have been weird to work with your boyfriend?

KIRSTEN: Yeah, it would have been weird. I mean, I would like to work with him and I’m happy it wasn’t this because I would rather do a more intimate movie with him where I could actually have many scenes with him. If we had done this, we could have never done another movie together probably. I would rather do something else with him than this movie.

Q: What are the advantages of reprising a character a second time and then working with Sam Raimi?

KIRSTEN: I feel like all my relationships develop so much more on this one. I just felt more comfortable. Sam and I got to know each other better and I change a lot from how I was in the first movie and how I approached my work and my relationships with them. It just grew and I felt I could be more creative and open. He trusted me a lot and he knew my work so it just made it for a very comfortable shoot where you can say anything and everybody knows you. It made it nice just going to work and know who’s going to be there.

Q: What was different about shooting “Spider-Man 2” this time around compared to the first film?

KIRSTEN: The one big change in “Spider-Man 2” is that I got to have my own hair and make-up person, my own person doing my wardrobe, so I had a lot more perks in this one. That was fun to have a little posse because I’ve never had that before.

Q: Is it tiring playing the same character two or three times?

KIRSTEN: No. Because she grows. You can see that from the second movie. I’m completely different from the girl who’s being weighed down by her family and she’s moved to New York and it’s still painful. She’s moving on and she’s grown up a lot and I think you see that. I change, and my character’s going to change and I feel like it evolved and I don’t feel stuck at all in a character.

Q: I heard something about not wanting to do as many stunts this time around and that you wanted your stunt double to step in. Can you talk a little more about that?

KIRSTEN: In the first one, they could take advantage because I was so eager and I was like, “I’ll do it!” On this one, I was like, “When you really don’t have to use me, then please don’t.” Because it’s just things where my hair would cover my face anyway and I don’t really need to do and if Tobey’s not doing it, why do I have to do it? I did most everything but there are certain things that I just don’t have to do and on the last movie, I did so many things that weren’t even put in the movie so I didn’t let them take advantage of me like on the first one.

Q: How hard is it to concentrate on the emotional aspect of the film when you’re dangling on wires?

KIRSTEN: It’s so hard because it takes so long. It’s the hardest thing to just keep up your energy, and to be there, present, when you’re so tired just because you’ve just done nothing all day. What’s good is that Sam knows that the scenes are the most important thing and if they don’t work, then the whole movie doesn’t work, no matter how good the action scenes are. We took all the time we needed to get everything right, and the dialogue. Those scenes are the easiest for me, honestly. Those are the scenes that I like to do. It’s the scenes where I have to look at this piece of tape and look at this thing blow up and I get picked up and then I have to scream and I have to turn my head this way…it’s all these little details and I don’t like doing that kind of stuff so I would just try to nail it in one take or I always just try to nail any harness work right away because it’s not fun for me. I don’t like doing that stuff.

Q: Do you think you can go beyond doing a third movie?

KIRSTEN: Three is enough. Don’t wear out a good thing too much.

Q: So you’re pretty determined that “Spider-Man 3” will be it?

KIRSTEN: It will be it. I’m only contracted to three and I don’t see myself signing for a fourth or film.

Q: Do you want to see her killed off or what you rather see someone else take on the role?

KIRSTEN: It would actually be really interesting if Spider-Man died. Why doesn’t the superhero ever die? It would be so sad and beautiful. He’s so human too. I think if Mary Jane was alone and pregnant and he died, she could give birth to a spider baby and carry on the series with another young boy or something like that. I doubt Tobey would come back for a fourth or a fifth either.

Q: Do you not want to do more because you would feel trapped in the role?

KIRSTEN: I just think three’s a good number. I think Mary Jane is a huge, important piece of this film. It’s all about the love story. How many movies can you really make about it before people get…you want to stop it before while it’s still great. You don’t want to keep going. Sam wants to move on too. His whole life has been this movie for so long now. You got to refresh. You can’t do it too much, I think.

Q: Jake has a hit out with “The Day After Tomorrow” and it looks like “Spider-Man 2” is going to be a hit too. Is there a difference in the media attention you two receive?

KIRSTEN: Yeah, the paparazzi follows us everywhere in L.A. It’s really sickening actually. In the grocery store. And we don’t do anything interesting either so it’s really obnoxious.

Q: How do you deal with that?

KIRSTEN: If you get mad, they just like it even more so I just ignore them but we were at the dog park one day and we bought eggs and everybody at the dog park was throwing eggs at the paparazzi. And it was Easter! So it was perfect.

Q: Do you deal with celebrity post-“Spider-Man” than you did before?

KIRSTEN: I just have to be more conscious about security and I don’t think something I’ve grown up with is thinking about protecting myself and where I live. I have all fencing up and everything but it’s something that isn’t engrained in my head. But security is definitely something that I have to think about more.

Q: If you could have one superhero power, what would you choose and why?

KIRSTEN: I knew I’d get these questions. With the state of our country right now, I would, maybe, kick our president out of office. I would rearrange pretty much all the circumstances in the world right now if I had a superhero power.

"Spider-Man 2" opens in theaters June 30th.