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By ELIZA BERGMAN KRAUSE
 Photo of Brittany Murphy by Matthew Rolston/Corbis Outline, dress by To The Max! Were this a piece on Tinseltown's flavors of the moment, Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy and Jessica Alba probably wouldn't have made the cut. In the here-this-morning-gone-this-afternoon world of celebrity, this acting trio has what many of their peers lack-serious staying power. All three caught the acting bug young: Dunst, 17, first made her mark in 1994's Interview With the Vampire; and Murphy, 22, came front and center as the ugly-duckling-turned-swan in 1995's Clueless. Alba, 18, is just now gearing up for her shot at the big time, which will likely come later this year. She gets to play a genetically enhanced action heroine in the James Cameron-produced TV series Dark Angel. Seemingly immune to typecasting, the girls each have multiple projects slated for 2000 and beyond. Dunst will star in four movies-The Crow: Salvation, the third in The Crow series; Cheer Fever, about the competitive world of cheerleading; The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola; and All Forgotten, in which her character has an affair with an older man. Murphy, who worked with Dunst in Drop Dead Gorgeous and Showtime's Devil's Arithmetic, will costar in Trixie with Emily Watson as well as play "the last virginal antiheroine heroine" in the black comedy Cherry Falls. In addition, Murphy will continue to give voice to King of the Hill's spunky Luanne and begin filming Piece of My Heart, the much-talked-about project in which she plays rock legend Janis Joplin. Alba, who played Devon Sawa's crush in Idle Hands and a nasty, popular girl in Never Been Kissed, portrays a model who is drugged and sexually assaulted in the upcoming Paranoid. When the three girls met for a photo shoot and chat session, seventeen learned that they have a lot to say about their female heroes, the state of teen movies and their hopes for young women in the spanking-new century. 17- What excites or scares you about the millennium? JA- All the people who think it's going to be the end of the world. They're making an issue out of something that's not even a big deal. BM- I'm just happy we get to write 00 on our checks. KD- I'm a senior in high school, so it's special because I'm graduating in the year 2000. That's kind of cool. 17- Women have come a long way in this century. What would you like to see them accomplish during the next one? BM- I think there needs to be more equal opportunity. KD- In movies, I hope women aren't always portrayed as sex symbols. People like Drew Barrymore are paving the way for girls my age. Hopefully I'll be able to pave the way for young actresses, too. JA- Why do most heads of companies have to be men? I think women should be paid the same amount if they have the same vocation. KD- And [in movies] men still usually get billing over women. I've been lucky to work with real powerhouse producers, like Denise Di Novi [1994's Little Women] and Gale Anne Hurd [1999's Dick]. 17- Who are your female heroes? KD- Madonna-she's such a powerful woman. I love Gwyneth Paltrow; she's an actress I aspire to be like. And, of course, my mom; she drove me from New Jersey to New York every day for commercials so I could get where I am today. JA- Yeah, I live an hour east of Los Angeles and my mom drove me to L.A. every day; in traffic, it took two and a half hours. I aspire to be like Susan Sarandon or Meryl Streep, and I agree about Drew-she's taking a stand and not compromising anything. KD- She went from zero to the top; now she's producing all these movies. Drew is a great role model because she demonstrates that you can totally turn your life around. 17- What do you think of the current explosion of movies and TV shows aimed at teens? KD- I think it's good and bad. It's great because there are so many scripts and roles, so there are more options. But there's also a lot of crap you have to dig through to get to those roles. So many teen films are overproduced, and people are going to burn out on the subject. It's the same film over and over, either teen parties or horror movies. But as long as teenagers go see them, those films are going to be made, BM- I just want to say, please omit all "like's" and "you know's" from our sentences. We don't want to sound, like, unintelligent, like, you know? (Lots of laughter.)
 17- What do you do for fun? KD- Normal things, like go to the movies and go bowling. JA- I do a girls-night thing-my mom is young, so I hang out with her and our friends. We sit in the living room with a bunch of candles, put on Portishead, and spend the whole night talking and making dinner. 17- None of you are dating. Why not? KD- I'm so picky about guys these days; I don't know if I'll find someone I really like. It's good to be picky, but it's hard, too. JA- At least we're not the type of girl who sleeps with every guy she meets. I'm not codependent at all, and a few guys I've dated-if you don't have sex with them in a week, you're done. I could read their eyes and know that was the type of guy they were. I'd fall for those aloof, too-cool-for-you guys, which was really stupid of me. Now I want someone who has a good family. I don't care about the dangerous guy, the poet-it's too dramatic for me, I'm over it. 17- You're all still living at home with your families. Do you plan to break away? KD- I'm happy where I am--I love my mom. I think if I didn't live with my mom, I'd have to live with a girlfriend, because I don't think I could come home from work without someone there to bring me back to reality. BM- It's not a matter of breaking away, it's a matter of I travel a lot and it's nice to have something stable that's forever. Unconditional love-that's what's so great. I can be a pill sometimes, but no matter how bad things get, your parents are always going to love you. 17- Do any of you have college plans? JA- I wanted to take literature and photography classes this year, but I couldn't because I thought I'd be working on Dark Angel. Then they pushed back the start of the shoot, so next semester I can't go, 'cause I'm definitely working. KD- I think I'm going to take time off before college. I want to study literature also, but there are so many things I'd like to do in this industry, like start my own production company. And the only way to do that is to continue working. BM- Life is college, baby. You don't need a degree to validate yourself as long as you keep working and have a thirst for knowledge. 17- Brittany, how did you land the Janis Joplin project? BM- I sang at [my manager'sl wedding. The head of casting for Paramount was there, and she sent me a script for Piece of My Heart the next day. 17- Didn't you also meet the director of Devil's Arithmetic at the wedding? BM- That was a different wedding! The director had seen me act before. I don't schmooze people at weddings-don't get the wrong idea. Weddings are lucky for me. I'm just dying to know what's going to happen at my own! 17- Jessica, Dark Angel takes place in 2020. What will you be like then? JA- I hope I will have made some sort of positive impact on people with what I'm doing in my work. There's so much negativity in this world. 17- Do you want children? JA- I want as many as I can afford emotionally and financially. I'd also love to adopt-I've always had a heart for that. I just gotta get a date first. 17- Kirsten and Brittany, you guys are really good friends. What will your relationship be like in 20 years? KD- I would love to get married and have children. I think Brittany will probably have kids, too; we'll have little Brittany and little Kiki [Kirsten's nickname] and our husbands. BM- We'll both probably be on our fourth marriage by then! (She laughs.) We're going to have places near each other in New York and Los Angeles. I'm planning to get a flat in London, so if Kirsten doesn't have one there, she'll come and visit. I see us as a couple of Bordeaux wines aging with time. I see us as kick-ass dinosaurs and wise women supporting each other.
This was taken from the January 2000 issue of Seventeen Magazine, pages 70-73 and the cover. I recommend you buy this magazine as the original images are much sharper than scans and the articles are always nice to have in hard copy. As with all magazines all these images and text are copyrighted to Seventeen Magazine.
Questions or comments? Mail me at: seareaver@aol.com Please note: I am not Brittany Murphy, I just run this fan page.
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