Sofia Coppola Made Kirsten Dunst Feel 'Beautiful' When Producers Wanted Her to 'Fix' Her Teeth

Kirsten Dunst credits filmmaker Sofia Coppola with helping her find her true inner beauty.

When Dunst, 39, worked with Coppola, 50, as a teenager over 20 years ago for the film The Virgin Suicides, the actress felt like she reached a pivotal point in her career as a young woman.

"This movie holds such a dear place in my heart because it was the first time I worked with Sofia [Coppola]. It was the first time I was seen as like a beautiful woman and have it be a female who gave me that," Dunst said in a video shot by Netflix that looks back at some of her most memorable films.

"It was very empowering for me at that age in terms of the way I felt about myself and my beauty," Dunst continued.

At the time, Dunst attributed much of her confidence to what those in the industry said to her. One comment stuck: producers urged her to fix her teeth. But Coppola's mentorship taught Dunst to embrace herself as she is.

"That's a weird age. She just gave me a lot of confidence that I carried throughout my career in terms of producers wanting to fix my teeth. People just trying to change and manipulate young actresses in a way to make them the same," Dunst said. "She made me feel beautiful for who I was."

The star added, "That was a very pivotal time in my life to feel that way and to be given that."

Dunst and Coppola continued to work together through the years, notably on the 2017 film The Beguiled. "I've known Kirsten since she was 16," Coppola told PEOPLE at the time. "It was fun to see [her] play a part that was so different for her. She plays a very quiet, repressed woman. It's so the opposite of her personality."

"I always felt big sisterly to her," Coppola continued. "We have a history but it's fun to now hang out with her as a fellow adult."