The actress, who is starring in Sofia Coppola's new Civil War-set thriller The Beguiled - a feminist remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film - alongside Nicole Kidman, said the realisation hit home after watching Feud, the TV hit centring on the twilight rivalry between Hollywood stars Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.

"I was getting depressed watching Feud. I was like, 'I'm an ageing actress!" Dunst told Variety.

"But they also had a lot more leverage because they had contracts. So even though they were stuck, they could also bully the studio back.

"Now you work for nothing on independent films, and you rely on the fashion industry to support your artistic endeavours."

Dunst isn't the first star to decry Hollywood's dearth of opportunities for ageing actresses, with Meryl Streep and Susan Sarandon among those who've previously criticised the lazy roles written for older actresses and the way older male leads are often paired with younger starlets.

Last year, Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed she was turned down for a role because, at 37, she was deemed "too old" to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man.

A recent study also found that the older an actress gets, the less dialogue she receives in Hollywood films, while another survey from Time suggested women's careers in Hollywood peak around 30 compared to 46 for men.

Dunst, a former child actress, made her proper Hollywood debut as an 8-year-old in Brian De Palma's Bonfire of the Vanities, before earning raves opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire when she was 12.

She's since become an indie darling thanks to regular collaborations with Coppola, including The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Marie Antoinette (2006), and was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe for her performance in the second season of Fargo.

But that clout only goes so far in Hollywood's male-dominated environment, she told Variety, discussing the struggles she's faced in kicking off her directorial debut, a long-delayed adaptation of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar starring Dakota Fanning.

"We need our financing," she told the trade mag.

"I'm telling you, I have so many great actresses attached. People are afraid of the name Sylvia and that this is a depressing movie, which it's not at all.

"It's always harder for women. Everyone has to work 10 times harder," she said.

The Beguiled, which screens at this year's Sydney Film Festival, opens in cinemas on July 13.