Elle Fanning recently spoke to W Magazine for the publication’s Great Performances issue and remembered her infamous fainting incident at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where the actor was in attendance as a member of the competition jury. Fanning collapsed while seated at the Chopard Trophee dinner and said Colin Firth immediately came to her aid.
“Yes, my dress was too tight,” Fanning said. “My sister was sitting at another table, and she saw my chair just completely fall back. It’s kind of hilarious—very dramatic. Colin Firth was there, and he rushed to my side. It was the talk of the festival. But I’m known to faint. In school, I would faint a lot. I grew, like, seven inches in one year, and I guess my body was growing so much that I got altitude sickness.”
Variety was on the scene in 2019 when Fanning fainted. Festival director Thierry Fremaux had just introduced actor Francois Civil onstage when Fanning collapsed and fell off her chair while seated at a dinner table. She was seated at a table next to her sister Dakota Fanning, who helped the actress to her feet before security whisked them away. Fanning later posted about the incident on her Instagram, saying she was “all good” and that her dress was simply “too tight.”
Fanning served on the Cannes competition jury in 2019 alongside directors such as Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Paweł Pawlikowski and Alice Rohrwacher, among others. “Birdman” and “The Revenant” director Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The group made history by awarding the Palme d’Or to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which became the first South Korean film to take Cannes’ top prize. “Parasite” went on to win the Oscar for best picture. Other notable Cannes winners included Antonio Banderas, who won best actor for “Pain and Glory.”
Cannes has screened several Fanning-starring films over the years. Just last year, Fanning was in attendance with Joachim Trier’s Grand Prix-winning “Sentimental Value.” She also starred in Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,” which won best director honors at the 2017 festival. Coppola was the second woman to win best director in Cannes’ history. Fanning was also the star of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “The Neon Demon,” which was one of the most divisive entries at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and prompted both cheers and walkouts during its premiere.
Fanning has been on the awards circuit this season with “Sentimental Value,” which immediately launched to Oscar buzz in Cannes. The film is Norway’s submission for the international feature Oscar.