Kirsten Dunst is embracing her Minnesota nice side on ‘Fargo’

Kirsten Dunst may have some goofy hair and a strong accent in “Fargo,” but the actress said getting into that particularly Midwesternpersona wasn’t that much of a stretch for her.

“It’s fun because a lot of my family are from Minnesota and we still have one of the oldest farms in the United States, so half my background are those people,” said Dunst, speaking via satellite at the Television Critics Association press tour panel for “Fargo.”

“It’s kind of in my wheelhouse already, so it was very familiar to me to step into the accent and that kind of Lutheran keep your chin up and smile even though all this other stuff is happening.”

Though Dunst ended up being the first person cast, she hadn’t yet seen the first season of the FX drama.

“I knew I was meeting with Noah [Hawley, series creator] and I hadn’t watched the series, and so I binge watched it in a day, and I was just so blown away by the acting and the writing and then I read two of the episodes, and I thought, this character is going to go places, and I need to play her,” said Dunst.

She plays Peggy, a woman who commits a very bad deed early on in the season, but seems determined to soldier on as though nothing has changed. “Peggy has set goals for herself, and nothing is going to stop her. I don’t think it’s about being smart or oblivious. I don’t want to call her a little delusional, but she has such a zeroed in idea of what she wants to be.”