{"id":195008,"date":"2026-02-26T16:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195008\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:28:11","slug":"elle-fanning-on-sentimental-value-working-with-dakota-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195008\/","title":{"rendered":"Elle Fanning on ‘Sentimental Value,’ working with Dakota and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this week\u2019s episode of The Envelope podcast<\/a>, the \u201cSentimental Value\u201d<\/a> star reflects on growing up onscreen and following in big sister Dakota Fanning\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

Kelvin Washington: Welcome to The Envelope. I\u2019m Kelvin Washington, alongside Yvonne Villarreal. We also have Mark Olsen here. And you know, we\u2019ve done it all when it comes to the Oscars. We\u2019ve talked about nominations. We\u2019ve talked about the Oscar nominee luncheon. And now we got to talk about what you actually want to see from the telecast. And there\u2019s so many different ways we can go about this. If it is someone you just want to maybe win, but even more broader, it can be just things that you\u2019re into, say, \u201cThis is why it\u2019s going to be great or what I want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yvonne Villarreal: Conan O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

Mark Olsen: Could you be more specific, please? <\/p>\n

Washington: This is really a thing with you.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: Yes.<\/p>\n

Washington: As a person who always thought late night was in his future, Conan was always one of the guys I loved. The dry humor, the wit, the self-deprecation and all that.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: I thought he did a wonderful job last year despite a lot of turmoil in his life that was happening at the same time. I\u2019m really excited to see like what he\u2019s going to deliver this time around. I could really use a laugh. I know I\u2019m not alone. And he was in a film this year too. So it\u2019ll be interesting to see if we get any gags with him in Rose Byrne. I would love that. She obviously is very funny. I\u2019m also very much looking forward to \u2014 sorry, not sorry \u2014 a performance by the KPop Demon Hunters for \u201cGolden.\u201d I need to get up out of my seat. That\u2019s what I\u2019m excited for.<\/p>\n

Washington: Well, trust me, my daughters will be right there with you. My goodness.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: It\u2019ll be a moment.<\/p>\n

Washington: I\u2019m like, \u201cWhen did you learn all the lyrics?\u201d Like, I don\u2019t see this happening, yet they know every single word. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Osmosis.<\/p>\n

Washington: What about you?<\/p>\n

Olsen: I think it\u2019s interesting \u2014 with Sean Baker sort of like sweeping and winning so many awards last year \u2014 that this year there seems to be this head-to-head battle happening between \u201cSinners\u201d and \u201cOne Battle After Another.\u201d And it\u2019s going to be interesting to see if Oscar voters kind of go with the sweep, where they kind of lean heavily to one or the other, or if they kind of spread it around, if it does end up being, let\u2019s say, like \u201cOne Battle\u201d for best picture, but Ryan Coogler for best director or you can flip that around. <\/p>\n

Another category I\u2019m interested in is original screenplay. It\u2019d be amazing to see the Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi win for best original screenplay, but then in like Oscar sort of calculus, then that means that you want Ryan Coogler to win in a different category. So it\u2019s funny how the puzzle pieces all need to come together in a specific way. And it\u2019s gonna be interesting to see if Oscar voters do what they did last year and just put all the chips on the table for one film.<\/p>\n

Washington: You know, you took something I was looking for. My point was going to be with \u201cSinners\u201d getting all of those nominations, it\u2019s almost now the pressure of winning most of them. Maybe not all. Because you don\u2019t want to be nominated 16 and you win two, win three. So it\u2019s like, \u201cThanks for the noms, but we only won a handful.\u201d So that\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna be watching. If you win 10 out of 16, that\u2019s huge.<\/p>\n

Olsen: Those craft categories that\u2019ll be earlier in the show could be very telling as far as what\u2019s gonna happen later in the night.<\/p>\n

Washington: Yep. And then, gotta shout out producer Matt here. I\u2019m stealing this one from him. Teyana Taylor, anytime she wears anything, becomes a thing, as we all know.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: Anytime you wear anything, it becomes a thing. Look at that.<\/p>\n

Washington: Thank you. I\u2019m not an usher at a Laker game? I am not Harry Potter\u2019s best friend?<\/p>\n

Villarreal: After hours, we don\u2019t know, but for now you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

Washington: That\u2019s what I always get when I wear this.<\/p>\n

Olsen: When we spoke to Teyana Taylor at the Oscar nominees luncheon, she said that she had a vision for her Oscar dress. And so I\u2019m like, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see what that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington: I\u2019m not the only one here jumping on a limb \u2014 she\u2019s gonna smoke it. Whatever it is, she\u2019s going to absolutely crush that for sure. <\/p>\n

All right, so swinging it back to you, Yvonne, I want to hear a little bit more about your conversation. You got to sit down with Elle Fanning, starring in \u201cSentimental Value.\u201d How was that?<\/p>\n

Villarreal: It was great. Elle is this veteran actress, and she\u2019s not even 30 years old yet. She\u2019s been in the scene for a long time. She\u2019s nominated for \u201cSentimental Value\u201d in this very meta role where she\u2019s playing this American movie actress who\u2019s really seeking a creative challenge and she\u2019s cast in this Norwegian film that sort of gets caught up in some dysfunctional family drama. And we sort of dive into her own experience in Hollywood and the transition from child actor to adult actor and also seeking that challenge. And when she sort of came into her own and voicing her feelings about roles. It was a really fun conversation. I felt like I hadn\u2019t accomplished a lot at my age.<\/p>\n

Washington: Listen, we still have plenty of time to accomplish some more, all right? Yvonne and Elle, here\u2019s their conversation now.<\/p>\n

\""Sentimental <\/p>\n

(Ian Spanier \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Villarreal: Joining me today is Elle Fanning. Congratulations on your nomination for \u201cSentimental Value.\u201d We\u2019re at the Oscar nominees luncheon<\/a>. Tell me what this experience has been like for you. <\/p>\n

Fanning: I had an epic table. I was sitting next to Steven Spielberg. He worked with my sister in \u201cWar of the Worlds,\u201d and I was like a 5-year-old running around on set, and we were kind of reminiscing about that. And his youngest daughter is one of my closest friends, so growing up we went to the same school and I\u2019d have sleepovers at Steven\u2019s house \u2014 not relatable. I understand that. But to be with him \u2014 someone that has known me since I was 5 years old \u2014 and to share this experience and get to sit next to him was really, really special. And Ruth E. Carter, who did the costumes for \u201cSinners,\u201d was at my table and she comes up to me and she\u2019s like, \u201cI don\u2019t know if you remember … \u201c And I\u2019m like, \u201cGosh, she looks so familiar.\u201d But I\u2019m also like, \u201cWell, you\u2019re a super famous costume designer.\u201d She said, \u201cI did the costumes for \u2018Daddy Daycare\u2019\u201d when I was 4 years old. That was one of my first movies ever. I was tiny. And she said, \u201cYou look exactly the same. You just look stretched out.\u201d We actually got to stand next to each other in the class photo. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Were you taking lots of selfies in there? <\/p>\n

Fanning: I was. My manager was with me, who\u2019s been with me since I was like 8 or 9 years old, and so we were taking a lot of selfies together. I didn\u2019t take my phone up to do the class photo, but I know some other people were, they were videoing, and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh darn, I wish that I took the phone up.\u201d But sometimes you gotta live in the moment.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: Before we get into the film, I know you and Dakota spent a lot of time in your younger years playing make-believe. Was an Oscar something you guys like thought about then, doing your fake speeches at that age? <\/p>\n

Fanning: Everyone\u2019s done that, right? I think it\u2019s Kate Winslet that says she keeps her Oscar in the bathroom so people can go in there and hold it and do that in the mirror. That is so fun. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever held an Oscar before. I started doing this when I was 2 years old, watched my sister grow up in this business. And of course, we\u2019ve dreamed of this. It\u2019s something that feels unattainable. And you also have to know that you\u2019re doing it for the right reasons and I\u2019m doing this because I absolutely love it. This is a very magical experience. I\u2019ve never gotten to have this experience before, but it does feel like a dream come true. It\u2019s all the clich\u00e9s that people say \u2014 it honestly is.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: It\u2019s an honor just to be nominated. <\/p>\n

Fanning: It is. I\u2019ve already won. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: \u201cSentimental Value\u201d is this meditation on complex family dynamics and the power of art in healing. You play Rachel Kemp, an American movie star searching for deeper artistic meaning in the work that she does. And she\u2019s cast by a director, played by Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd, to appear in his comeback film that he originally wrote for his estranged daughter to star in. Tell me what spoke to you about this film.<\/p>\n

Fanning: Gosh, it was many things. I had come off of filming \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d and I was in New York. I was about to go film another movie in New Zealand. And my agents called me and said Joachim Trier has a new film and there\u2019s a part for an American actress, even though the film is predominantly in Norwegian. It\u2019s gonna film in Oslo. And from that moment, I was like, \u201cOh, I have to do this.\u201d I\u2019m a really instinctual person and I get feelings \u2014 I feel like I\u2019m a little psychic. I just knew, even before I read the script. I don\u2019t know what I felt, but there was something really special, and because Joachim Trier also is someone \u2014 I mean, \u201cThe Worst Person in the World,\u201d absolutely loved. It\u2019s one of my top favorite films, and that moved me so much the year that it came out. He\u2019s been on my bucket list to work with, but he predominantly works in Norwegian, and I don\u2019t speak Norwegian, so I just was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll ever be a part for me.\u201d But then it appeared and they\u2019re like, \u201cOK, well, we\u2019re going to set up a Zoom call. You\u2019re in New York. He\u2019s in Oslo. And so read it as quickly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

I read the script and it reads like a novel. If you get a chance to read the script, it is so beautiful. It opens describing the house. To me, the house should be nominated for an Oscar as well. It\u2019s such an amazing character in the story. The way that they \u2014 Eskil [Vogt], who is also nominated, he\u2019s the co-writer \u2014 describe this house is so moving. It holds so many memories and they just captured that about this childhood home. And then Rachel Kemp, she really struck me \u2014 sometimes you go into a role and you\u2019re like, \u201cI\u2019m not sure how to play this\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t know my way in\u201d but there was something about Rachel. I am an American actress, of course there are similarities, but I really saw the way I wanted to play her. I saw the pitfalls that I could have fallen into, of the clich\u00e9s that maybe could happen, that she could become kind of a joke or a silly character and I really wanted to avoid that. When I talked to Joachim, I was happy to know we were on the same page of how we wanted Rachel to be presented. I knew it would be a challenge, but it really excited me. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: You started acting when you were 2 years old. What insights do you have about what the public or culture thinks about young female actors that you brought into this role? And, like you said, the pitfalls that you strove to avoid as you were coming up in this business.<\/p>\n

Fanning: It\u2019s something that actually Joachim and I talked a lot about, maybe the struggles or the pressure that Rachel\u2019s feeling in her own career. People are really quick to, especially [with] women, put us into a box of limitations and tell you what you can or can\u2019t do. And I feel like I\u2019ve been really lucky to navigate that. I will say, the show that I did, \u201cThe Great\u201d \u2014 I really felt like I broke out of that mold a little bit. I had done so many things, but people probably knew me most for \u201cMaleficent,\u201d but it was then fun to be in \u201cThe Great\u201d and I\u2019m playing an empress, but she\u2019s not the Disney version. I felt like I came into my own a little bit, and so just to find those meaty roles \u2014 but they don\u2019t always come along. And I think that\u2019s what Rachel, when we find her, that\u2019s what she\u2019s yearning for, that\u2019s what she is struggling with. She feels this emotion inside her that she wants to unleash, but no one really saw her for her talent. They\u2019ve maybe seen her for the shiny movie star, and you\u2019re a bankable actress, but it\u2019s not the meaty roles that she is wanting that she can finally kind of find another version of herself to show to the world. And when she meets Stellan\u2019s character, there\u2019s something that he sees in her that she hasn\u2019t experienced before. So playing Rachel, I feel like she\u2019s a very different actress than me, but there was part of me that felt like I was kind of drawing from my younger self of maybe how I felt in the past and kind of bringing that into Rachel. <\/p>\n

And the discovery of also being moved by a text. There\u2019s a monologue scene that I have that was kind of a tricky scene because we want to show that Rachel\u2019s a good actress, but that she\u2019s just not quite right for the part. But in that moment, she finds she is moved by the words. And I don\u2019t think that she has ever had that feeling as an actress before. I remember having that experience for the first time. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Tell me. <\/p>\n

Fanning: It was on this film called \u201cPhoebe in Wonderland\u201d and I was 9. … It was a scene with Patricia Clarkson. When you\u2019re young, you\u2019re also trying to follow orders; you\u2019re looking at the scene and I\u2019m, like \u201cOK, this scene, here it wants me to cry or it wants me to get upset.\u201d But the way that this scene was written, it didn\u2019t describe what it wanted my character to do. I just had to listen to Patricia Clarkson. She has a long monologue she\u2019s saying to my character, so I could really react to it any way. But we were sitting in these rafters of a theater filming and we\u2019re in the middle of the scene, I\u2019m on my close-up and Patricia is talking to me and I\u2019m looking in her eyes and I start crying because she\u2019s moving me, but that\u2019s not how the scene was written. But I just remember [thinking], \u201cOh, this is what acting is\u201d at 9 years old. It\u2019s about the spontaneous moments, about like connecting with your fellow actors and looking and following their lead. Now I\u2019m always striving for that moment. But I do remember that first moment.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: What did that unlock for you? Because, like you said, when you\u2019re maybe a child doing this work, you\u2019re sort of not thinking about the deeper meanings of the things or you\u2019re not thinking \u201cI want to be challenged by a role\u201d when you are young. Were you hungry for more of that? And how do you chase that feeling? <\/p>\n

Fanning: No, I was hungry. I stay hungry. I\u2019m always looking for a challenge. I did realize quite young that I like to scare myself a little bit. I think that nerves have been my friend and they actually do help me a lot and it means that I\u2019m probably doing the right thing if I feel pretty scared about it. Of course, when you\u2019re young and you\u2019re a child actor, you\u2019re having to audition for those roles and go in. You don\u2019t know if you\u2019re gonna get it. So there\u2019s a lot of luck and people have to choose you and there\u2019s a lot of that involved. But then as I got older and could really start to shape my career a little bit more, I was really looking for the challenging parts and I still am. I also kind of approach it in an athletic way, because my family, they\u2019re all athletes. They wanted Dakota and I to be tennis stars. I played volleyball in school. And did basketball. Tall sports. When I approach a scene, I get that feeling that I would assume an athlete gets right before they go into a game. The discipline, I really enjoy that. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: You don\u2019t have the reaction like Renate [Reinsve]\u2019s character does. <\/p>\n

Fanning: No, well … <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Have you had that moment where you\u2019re like, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can go out there and do this\u201d? <\/p>\n

Fanning: I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve had like a panic attack to that degree. I did my first theater show, a Broadway show, \u201cAppropriate.\u201d That got my heart racing. And it was so odd, because I\u2019m like, we have done this so many times and I was still nervous that I was gonna forget the lines and be caught there like in your underwear on stage. There\u2019s just something about it for me. I was pretty nervous every show, and then you sink in and you start to be able to play with the audience a little bit. I think because I was so used to film, where sometimes the mistakes are the best part. And I guess theater, I\u2019m just not so conditioned in it, but the mistakes can be also a beautiful part of that too. But I think just because I wanted to be perfect and it\u2019s something that I hadn\u2019t done before, I was a little hard on myself in that regard, which definitely made me nervous. <\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Great,\u201d sometimes I would \u2014 just the rhythm and the way that Tony [McNamara, the show\u2019s creator] writes and he really wanted us to be word perfect, punctuation perfect; and I was doing a lot of speeches in front of background artists in these long, big castle halls and they\u2019re all staring back at you and you\u2019re like, \u201cOh gosh, if I go up there and flub this, they\u2019re just gonna think, \u2018Why is she here?\u2019\u201d So, it gets in your head. But then there\u2019s something out of that, that are those magical moments that you can\u2019t re-create that are captured on screen and then you blush \u2014 Renate does that so beautifully. She blushes on cue, you feel her blood. It\u2019s so human. I always remind myself of that \u2014 that that\u2019s OK. It\u2019s welcome, but sometimes it can be an uncomfortable feeling.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: We see Rachel really trying to connect with this part that she\u2019s about to play. And she\u2019s struggling and she\u2019s trying to have these conversations and he\u2019s not really giving her the insight that she wants to really lock in. We don\u2019t often talk about the actor\u2019s version of writer\u2019s block. How do you work through that? Has there been a moment like that for you? <\/p>\n

Fanning: You never feel fully prepared on the first day. You\u2019re still finding it on the first day \u2014 for me, at least. Sometimes you finish the whole movie and then you\u2019re like, \u201cWait a minute. Now I know. I gotta go back.\u201d I really rely and lean on the directors. I think that also, when choosing films \u2014 I think this has developed \u2014 but I\u2019m really more director-driven than ever or actor-driven than ever. Of people that I want to work with and that we can be on the same page and that you can just fully trust. I haven\u2019t had a role quite like Rachel where I went so far into a project and then pulled out so last minute. But I\u2019ve certainly outgrown roles or was offered roles that I was probably too young to play at the time. I remember I would be offered roles and I had 4-year-old son or something, way before I should have had a 4- year-old son. And I\u2019m like, \u201cThis isn\u2019t right yet.\u201d That\u2019s what Rachel\u2019s finding herself in. Agnes\u2019 son who\u2019s hired and cast, it\u2019s like \u201cWell, he\u2019s probably a little bit too old to be Rachel Kemp\u2019s son.\u201d She doesn\u2019t fit into that character so much. You have to be honest with yourself to be able to walk away or say no to something or be like, \u201cI\u2019ve just outgrown this, give it to someone else, it\u2019s not right for me anymore.\u201d When you are struggling a bit on set with something, you could try to just lean on the director. It\u2019s hard. I\u2019ve also learned it starts from the script too. You have to have a good script.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: How do you know to trust your intuition that it\u2019s not right versus am I just uncomfortable and I need to figure out if this is the challenge that I actually am after? <\/p>\n

Fanning: That\u2019s such a good question. I am someone that when I get something in my head and it feels wrong, I just can\u2019t let it go. I will talk about it until I\u2019m blue in the face and I will go up to producers. Now I\u2019m able to produce things, which is really nice to have a little bit more of a say, so your voice actually kind of counts more in those conversations. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Was there a moment like that on this film? <\/p>\n

Fanning: On \u201cSentimental Value\u201d? No. I have to say, I never had that on this. On set, I really am interested in the behind the scenes. I\u2019m interested in where the camera is and I\u2019m interested in how it\u2019s gonna be shot and I like to know all those things. But there was something about this experience that I really let it all go. And I don\u2019t know if it was because I couldn\u2019t speak the language. On set, Joachim would talk to me in English, and Stellan would, but the whole crew, they\u2019re speaking Norwegian or Swedish to each other. I kind of could have tunnel vision and just let it go and just hand it over to them to not micromanage anything or try to eavesdrop because I was like, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not really my job here\u201d and I just trusted Joachim so much. I would ask myself constantly \u2014 and this is why I wish I kept a journal \u2014 but I would ask myself, \u201cWhat is making the set run so smoothly?\u201d It was so organized. We didn\u2019t have a lot of time, but it felt like we had all the time in the world. For these scenes, we could experiment. I never felt rushed. Everything was so orchestrated perfectly to make the actor feel the most comfortable to try different things, and it\u2019s just not always the case. Sometimes it\u2019s like you\u2019re there, they\u2019ve been spending a long time on the lighting, and it\u2019s, like, \u201cOK, go.\u201d There\u2019s a beauty in that too, but not preferred.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: I often hear actors talk about how hard it is to like play somebody that\u2019s maybe drunk or something. What is it like playing an actor as an actor yourself \u2014 and playing one that\u2019s striving to be really great and struggling to get there?<\/p>\n

Fanning: When you said the drunk thing I thought you were gonna say, \u201cWhat\u2019s the hardest thing to do?\u201d And I think it\u2019s phone calls. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Or holding an empty cup.<\/p>\n

Fanning: Oh, you can\u2019t do that. That\u2019s so bad. Or not eating. No, I\u2019m going to eat. You go to a restaurant, you order and, then, in the movie, they put your food down. It\u2019s like, you went to dinner because you\u2019re hungry. <\/p>\n

But talking about playing an actor \u2014 it was so meta. We would joke about the meta-ness, then we would talk seriously about the meta-ness because it just was so obvious. I was an American actress coming to Oslo for my first time to work with a Norwegian filmmaker exactly like Rachel and I think and we were talking about like the pitfalls of her character a little bit. She\u2019s not completely serious either. There is lightness and there is a Hollywood sheen on her that you have to believe that she is a movie star, especially in Deauville, the beach scenes, that kind of feel like this dream, they feel like another movie within in the film. Those are my first scenes that I shot with Stellan, which was a really nice starting place. <\/p>\n

But I thought a lot about maybe the pressures that she\u2019s under \u2014 even going to the red carpets. We were like, \u201cHow do we want the dress to fit? Is it constrictive, is it tight?\u201d And then I get to wear this gold one on the beach where she gets to let loose and ride off into the sunset when she\u2019s an actress that probably doesn\u2019t get that escapism. I don\u2019t feel like that myself. I had to play a bigger star. I was like, \u201cOK, I\u2019m really playing someone that\u2019s super famous.\u201d Someone that maybe was in a big franchise. She\u2019s just someone that is really known, but not known in the way that she wants to be known. And every character in the movie is so flawed and has their own version of depression in a way. She might quit acting, honestly, if she doesn\u2019t meet Gustav [Skarsgard]. And then the beauty of her is the surprise that she walks away from something she wants so badly and instead of needing it to be captured on the screen, it\u2019s the experience that she had in rehearsing with him, in discovering things about herself, in being seen in a different way and seen for her talents, which she hasn\u2019t really felt before. Probably the next thing that she goes on to do will be a great one, but she just got caught up into this [role as a] surrogate daughter.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: Even the accent, too, is it like, how good do I need to sound or how bad do I need to make it?<\/p>\n

Fanning: What is so funny is, I probably should have done a lot more work on the accent than I did because it was written in the script that I had to do this, but I also saw it as, \u201cOh, I\u2019m putting it on.\u201d I listened to some tapes or Joachim would repeat, \u201cI vant three whatever … \u201c \u2014 I can\u2019t even do it \u2014 \u201cglass ev yuice.\u201d So cliched. And I would repeat, just like what Rachel would do. It\u2019s not terrible, but it\u2019s not quite right.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: In doing research as I was preparing to talk with you, I read an interview that you did where you said you sometimes watch old interviews of yourself and that you were looking at one you did for Sofia Coppola\u2019s \u201cSomewhere,\u201d which you shot when you were a tween. Tell me more about that. What drives you to do that? <\/p>\n

Fanning: I think it\u2019s like watching an old movie, like a home video of yourself. I also have those, like a normal child. But then there\u2019s like a plethora of these phases of my life that are marked on YouTube, pinpointing the different ages. It also reminds me of like, \u201cI remember that person and working on that set\u201d \u2014 and just brings back those memories. And there\u2019s something about it, it\u2019s like, \u201cGosh,\u201d I look at that little girl and I\u2019m like, \u201cShe\u2019s trying to answer the question so good.\u201d There\u2019s nothing so sweet about it that you do feel a little disconnected. I feel like I\u2019m looking at myself from outside.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: It made me think of this quote that George Clooney gave in promoting \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d where he plays a veteran actor assessing his career. He said that you\u2019re \u201cacting twice if you\u2019re famous; your job is to be an actor and your other job is act the part of a movie star.\u201d Do you agree with that?<\/p>\n

Fanning: I mean George Clooney \u2014 he is the movie star. I don\u2019t know if feel that exactly, but I feel that there is a piece of myself that I keep private for me. Yes, we do the movies and we play the characters, and that\u2019s a whole other section, and then there\u2019s a whole other part of it where we\u2019re doing this, we\u2019re doing interviews \u2014 you can\u2019t help but think, \u201cWell, how do I want to present myself? What do I think about that?\u201d There is a part that I like to keep to myself. There\u2019s not a lot of mystery in the world these days, especially with social media. I have all that, but I also choose [what] to share [of] my personal life because truly what I love is doing movies and I want people to be able to escape into my roles. You can\u2019t predict that, but maybe there\u2019s something to do that.<\/p>\n

Villarreal: To stay on the themes of the movie, which are family and filmmaking, you\u2019re going to be working with your sister [Dakota] soon on the film adaptation of \u201cThe Nightingale.\u201d It\u2019s the first time you\u2019re starring together. What excites you about it? And also what is it like to develop as an actor alongside your sister and to have that kind of experience?<\/p>\n

Fanning: It could make me cry thinking about it because it\u2019s so special. I\u2019ve said this before, but I\u2019m like a nepo sister. My sister, she started from 6 years old. My mom, who came out with her, had no clue about the business, navigating being on set with my 6-year-old sister on \u201cI Am Sam,\u201d and Sean Penn is Method in character \u2014 my mom\u2019s 32, going \u201cOK, so how are we going to deal with this?\u201d My sister was very, very mature and they would have like serious talks about it, but it could break my heart, thinking about my young mom navigating this world and what she sacrificed for her girls. And we\u2019re very family-oriented in our family. When someone succeeds, it\u2019s like we all succeed together. And this is another stepping stone, to get to finally act on screen together. We don\u2019t run lines together. We work now together [as producers], we have a company together and we really balance each other out in that regard and we also are now getting to produce this film. If we did it in 2020, when it was originally set [to begin filming], we weren\u2019t producing it at the time, so you can see our growth. <\/p>\n

Villarreal: Are you gonna be like, \u201cDon\u2019t boss me around\u201d?<\/p>\n

Fanning: Yes. Yes. I\u2019ve told her, [teasingly] \u201cYou cannot act like the big sister and boss me around on set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villarreal: Before we wrap, not to put you on the spot, but ranking the awards season moments, where does being nominated rank against Jack Black finding out you\u2019re obsessed with him and taking a selfie at the Golden Globes?<\/p>\n

Fanning: Oh my God, they\u2019re high! They\u2019re really high! They\u2019re neck and neck! They\u2019re NECK AND NECK! <\/p>\n

Villarreal: That moment just took off for you.<\/p>\n

Fanning: I know, I know. He probably has a restraining word against me. You know that thing where it\u2019s like I feel exposed, that I\u2019m kind of like nervous to see him? Like, \u201cOh no, now I\u2019m the creepy freak. I\u2019m sorry, Jack Black.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this week\u2019s episode of The Envelope podcast, the \u201cSentimental Value\u201d star reflects on growing up onscreen and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[15042,66757,9576,1924,91099,48,52,51,47,50,49,1741,91102,91103,91101,27039,5614,4610,315,72,91100],"class_list":{"0":"post-195008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-conversation","9":"tag-elle-fanning","10":"tag-experience","11":"tag-film","12":"tag-kelvin-washington","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-headlines","15":"tag-la-news","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","18":"tag-los-angeles-news","19":"tag-lot","20":"tag-mark-olsen","21":"tag-norwegian-film","22":"tag-oscar-dress","23":"tag-sentimental-value","24":"tag-table","25":"tag-thing","26":"tag-time","27":"tag-year","28":"tag-yvonne-villarreal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}