Just noticed how the time runs fast, when I see this Fanning sisters, making the gorgeous of recent memory, Dakota and Elle Fanning grace the cover of December issue 2001 of W magazine.
The two beautiful sister was posed for an angelic shoot and taken by Mario Sorrenti and interviewed by Lynn Hirschberg.
Elle Fanning is starting to be recognized since Somewhere, which she played as the only child of a male movie star, then she’s been busy costarring in Super 8, which was a hit this summer, and in We Bought The Zoo, which is in theaters December 23. Elle is 13-years-old, how her life has change since Somewhere?
“After Somewhere came out, people started to recognize me more. Whenever I was walking down the street, they’d be like, “Oh, wow—are you Elle Fanning?” Before Somewhere, they asked me if I was Dakota Fanning, because we looked alike, and I’d say, “No, I’m her younger sister.” And they’d say, “Oh, okay.” But now I think they are starting to realize I’m my own person.”
Elle opinions about her older sister and her lost since Dakota went to college. Nice sister and strange feels make the lost feelings complete.
“She is a nice older sister. But it’s not like we always get along. Now that she’s going to college, it’s different,” Elle says. “I went into her room at home in California, and all her clothes were gone! Her closet was empty! I don’t get to go in there and steal clothes anymore. It’s really strange. It’s sort of like she’s off making a movie, but this time she’s not coming back.”
Elle first part was playing Dakota as an infant in I Am Sam. And in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, she played the young Cate Blanchett.
She tells, “I was 9 years old during Benjamin Button. I had to wear a long red wig because [Cate] had red hair in the movie. I remember that. I had a great time on set. The director did a lot of takes, and he would say, “Take 50,” and I would just go do it again. I was only 9, so I thought that was fun.”
Elle and Dakota like to share anything, and compete in someway, I guess the result is equal, since they has the same experience at the same age. Be the part of Super 8 was look exciting to make—the kids were the stars of the movie.
“It was great! I was 12 when I did Super 8, and when Dakota was 12, she did War of the Worlds,” Elle explains. “Steven Spielberg was involved with both movies, so we both worked with Steven when we were 12.”
Was she nervous at all when she has to do the love scene in Super 8?
“I didn’t have to kiss him.” She tells more, “But it was a boy-girl scene, and we had to like each other in the movie. All the other boys made fun of us because we had to like each other.”
Acting is only about imagining, and Elle did well when she has to pretending there was a monster to attack, of course with the help of the director too.
“When we were filming, J.J. [Abrams, the director] would say, “The monster is right there,” and we’d be looking at a little dot on a pole. That’s it, that’s the monster—and we’d have to be afraid of it,” Elle says, “We didn’t know what the monster was going to look like. J.J. kept that a secret from us throughout the movie. We were all probably imagining something different. It was fun going to the first screening and finally seeing the monster. That was the first time I saw what I was screaming at.”
Ballet is another things she loves, And she still does the ballet, “five days a week” between her schedule. She challenges, “I would love to do a musical! Dakota did The Runaways, so she got to sing in that one.”
They have the same obsession on reality show and she tells their favorite, “We watch a lot of reality TV. My sister and I record Big Brother. We’re obsessed! She continues, “And we love old game shows like Password and the original Family Feud. Also, me and my sister watch Criminal Minds. We record every episode, and we watch it every single night.”
“My sister likes psychology, and they really get into the mind of the killers,” she adds.
She did a guest spot in her favorite Criminal Minds, twice, she explains with gusto, “I’ve been on Criminal Minds twice! On the first show, a boy brought kids out to the woods and was beating them with a baseball bat, but I got away. Then they brought Tracy, my character, back—as a kidnapped girl. They saved me two times!Tracy lived!”
Paris is her dream, she was invited to the Chanel couture show in July. Did Paris live up to your expectations?
“Oh, yes! When I found out that I was invited to the Chanel show—that was the loudest I’ve ever screamed in my life. That was the best day of my life. It was my first fashion show, and I know every model by name. I go on Style.com and look at all the shows. It was just the best experience ever! And, of course, we did some sightseeing. We went to the Eiffel Tower at night. It was sparkling.”
She adds, “I would be the happiest you would ever see me if I got to film a movie in Paris. That would be everything!”
Dakota has a good career as an actress, but education is something that she won’t forget. She just moved to New York from Los Angeles to attend NYU. She tells the reason, “For the same reasons I wanted to go to a high school: You hear people say, “Oh, when I was in high school” or “When I was in college.” That defines a lot of who people are, and I didn’t want to miss out on that.”
Living on your own and no roommates, she says the reason, “Because I’m only 17, my mom is staying with me in my apartment for a little bit. She’s teaching me how to wash clothes and such.” But she feels so exciting and can taste her personal to be personal.
“I’m so excited to be on my own. In my house in L.A., we all feel that everything is everybody’s, and so doors are never really closed. My sister and I share a bathroom, and when you have a sibling, nothing is actually your own. I’ve never really had anything or any place that was just mine.”
Have you bought your first couch?
“About the only thing I don’t have is a couch! That’s the hardest thing about furnishing the apartment. I’m trying out a couch and thinking, Is this where I want to watch my shows? Am I comfortable enough here? The couch has been a bit of an ordeal!” She laughs.
Dakota learns in every movies she make, at her first film, I Am Sam, opposite Sean Penn. Dakota were 6 and she learnt to improvise quite well when Sean Penn went off the script. She explains, “There was no other choice. I think he said, “Knock, knock,” which was not in the script. I said, “Uh…who’s there?” She laughs, “And, yeah, that’s what it was like.”
“It definitely prepared me for the future. At other times, in other movies, actors would go off script and kind of test me like, Ah—maybe she’s not going to be able to reply. And I already knew how to be ready for anything.”
Dakota has to learn hard lesson on the set at young age, And the memory kind a intimidated her the most.
“I played the young Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama when I was 7, and the boy who played the young Josh Lucas was 10…. We had to kiss,” Dakota continues, “I was watching it the other day because my sister put it on, and I was so embarrassed looking at my 7-year-old self having to kiss that boy. I don’t remember feeling embarrassed at the time, and that was kind of weird too. Why wasn’t I more embarrassed? But I think that may be the most intimidated I’ve ever been—having to kiss that 10-year-old boy on the beach in Florida over and over,” she laughs.
Audition is something that most actor does in life, and it doesn’t bother her a lot.
“It didn’t bother me, but I usually wouldn’t get things because of my hair. I had really short, wispy hair, and the girls with perfect long, straight hair with bangs and a butterfly clip would always get picked. Finally, I got some more hair and started getting roles.”
The good things being an actor that we can learn and be anything as the the script want to, and we have to act as real as it can be. Dakota has it all…
“I’ve had to learn so many different things for movies. When I played a competitive swimmer in Man on Fire, [director] Tony Scott wanted me to do all the swimming myself. I had to race against girls who were competitive swimmers—and he wanted me to actually win the race. There would be some takes where I didn’t win, and we had to do it again. I willed myself to win.”
Dakota was always in fashion “because my mom has always been interested in fashion. She majored in fashion merchandising in college and it’s always been something we have in common.” At the age 12-years-old, Dakota did the Marc Jacob campaign, she admits, “I really wasn’t old enough to wear the clothes. He made all the clothes from the runway in my size. I still have them.”
Would she wear them at school? “Not really. They were too adult,” she says,”…and my school, Campbell Hall, had uniforms. But on Fridays we could wear anything we wanted. There would always be at least one Friday where you’d forget and show up in uniform. It would be so embarrassing. I did that once and actually made my dad drive me back home to change.”
Was used is the correct answer for Dakota which must have been famous in her high school. Has there ever been a time in her memory when she hasn’t been known by the world? She answers wisely, “It’s all I’ve ever experienced, and it’s what I’m used to. When you’re 6 years old, which is when I started, I think you start forming how you think about things. I’ve dealt with being known for so long that it’s just kind of normal to me. And that attention comes with what I love to do, which is act.”
Keep the balance between her career and personal life will not be able to run smoothly without establishing a strong foundation. And she doesn’t know if she’s ever gotten a formal advice, she continues more, “I’ve always felt that you should never forget that you’re just a person. Even though you’re not like everyone else, you are just like everyone else.
“For instance, I met someone the other day, and they said, “Hi, I’m so-and-so.” I said, “Hi, I’m Dakota.” And they’re like, “Yeah, I know.” But I can’t lose the fact that I still need to introduce myself to people even though they might already know my name or who I am. Oh, yeah, I guess you already know my name, but I’m going to say it anyway.”
And acting is the thing that she knows to do it and wants it.
“It’s the only thing I feel like I know how to do well. I don’t really play any sports. She continues in laugh, “Maybe in college I’ll find something else to do if this doesn’t work out. But I’ve never wanted to do anything else.”
Dakota feels weird when she watching her movies, such as I Am Sam, because “it seems like it was yesterday and yet it feels like a completely different person.”
She shares her tip for this, “If I see a movie on TV that I’m in, I usually will watch it for that reason: It’s like I’m watching another person.”
Enjoy the picture Dakota and Elle Fanning from W magazine.
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