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Dakota Fanning shares her experience starring in ‘All Her Fault,’ keepsake props from movies like ‘Man on Fire’ and ‘Charlotte’s Web,’ and a heartwarming Thanksgiving memory with Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise while filming ‘War of the Worlds.’ She also teases her upcoming movie with her sister, talks memorable co-stars, and reflects on lessons from Robert De Niro.
Even a notoriously cutthroat industry can’t shake the Fanning sisters’ bond. Elle and Dakota open up about (finally) starring in a film together, navigating Hollywood, and defying expectations: “If everyone in my life stopped talking to me, I’d be devastated,” Dakota says. “But if I still had my sister, I’d be like, ‘Well, I have her.’”
Growing up, when Dakota and Elle Fanning played make believe, both of them knew who was in charge. “I was the top dog no matter what,” says Dakota. “She was the groom, I was the bride. I was Anna Wintour and she was the assistant.” One of their favorite games was inspired by the TLC reality series A Baby Story: Dakota was the mother and Elle was her newborn. The younger Fanning would dive beneath a beanbag while her sister laid on top of it, mimicking labor. Eventually, Elle would emerge, wailing like an infant as Dakota bellowed, “Oh, my baby!”
“That’s like Nathan Fielder,” Elle says now, shaking her head. But she can’t be too embarrassed. “That was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”
Any pair of siblings could devise their own A Baby Story game. But most kids don’t have access to prop medical equipment they received snagging a guest spot on ER. Every older sister busts her younger sister for stealing her clothes—but usually not after being tipped off by paparazzi photos. Now 31 and 27, the Fannings have been famous nearly all their lives. Both started acting as children; both had their first kisses on camera.Yet onscreen and in conversation, the sisters somehow radiate normalcy. Why aren’t they more…. “Fucked up?” says Elle, finishing the question. She leans back in her chair, taking a drag from an imaginary cigarette. “We’re like, ‘We’re so fucked up. You don’t even know the half.’ ” She laughs. But seriously: “Even though we were young in this business, I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. People want us to feel like we missed out. They love that narrative.”
The Fannings have always written their own story. They’ve worked with many of cinema’s great auteurs (Tarantino, Spielberg, and Coppola—both Francis Ford and Sofia). They’ve received Emmy nominations for splashy streaming projects. And yes, they’ve sidestepped the traps that snare many young actors forced to grow up too fast.
Perhaps most remarkably, they’ve also avoided the pitfalls that plagued some of Hollywood’s most famous (and famously feuding) sisters: Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, Joan and Jackie Collins. When I ask Dakota if she and Elle ever feel competitive, something in her posture tells me she saw this question coming. But her answer is firm: “Zero. We obviously share a lot”—including a stylist and publicist—“but we’re very different. So I don’t even see something that’s right for her as being right for me. I don’t feel competitive. But I know that people probably don’t believe that.”
They’ll buy it more once Elle and Dakota finally make a movie together. After a packed fall, during which Dakota works opposite Sarah Snook in the Peacock limited series All Her Fault while Elle appears in Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and the sci-fi blockbuster Predator: Badlands, they will produce and star in The Nightingale—their very first time onscreen as costars.
EXCLUSIVE: TriStar has set a new February 12, 2027 release date for The Nightingale, its anticipated feature adaptation of Kristin Hannah‘s global bestselling work of historical fiction. Gestating for some time, the project has regained traction for the first time since the pandemic, enlisting To Leslie‘s Michael Morris to direct.
Dakota and Elle Fanning are still set to star and produce, starring together on film for the first time, having first attached to the project in 2019. Dana Stevens (The Woman King) penned the script, and Elizabeth Cantillon will produce for The Cantillon Company, alongside the Fannings and Brittany Kahan Ward for Lewellen Pictures, and Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine. Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi are overseeing for TriStar Pictures.
Sources attributed the February 12, 2027 date to the fact that it’s a huge event weekend, with the double holiday of Valentine’s Day that Sunday and President’s Day on Monday. Sunday, February 14 is also Super Bowl Sunday, which presents an opportunity to counterprogram with a film that already has a substantial built-in fanbase. The Nightingale will also be the first big female-skewing title of the year as the schedule currently stands.
Selling more than 11 million copies worldwide since its 2015 debut after being translated into 45 languages, The Nightingale tells the story of two sisters who dare to embark on separate, dangerous paths during World War II in the fight for survival, love and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France.
The book hit No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list and has spent a combined 165 weeks on the list across formats, also dominating NPR’s fiction chart for 45 weeks and being named a Reese’s Book Club Pick. In March 2025, a special 10th Anniversary Edition got to No. 2 on the NYT hardcover list, and already this year, the book has sold a million copies.
The Nightingale has had a decently long journey to the screen, beginning with TriStar’s move to lock down film rights in 2015, with Ann Peacock coming on to write and Cantillon to produce. (The latter has been with the project ever since.) Writer-director Michelle MacLaren and co-writer John Sayles attached to a later iteration, with the Fannings initially coming on to star in a version helmed by Mélanie Laurent from Stevens’ script. Just when it looked like the project would get off the ground, the Covid pandemic resulted in numerous delays, with Laurent stepping back to attend to other projects in the interim.
A two-time Emmy nominee known for his directing on series like Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why and Kingdom, Morris directed Andrea Riseborough to her first Oscar nomination with his feature directorial debut, the indie drama To Leslie. His follow-up project on the feature side was Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which enjoyed acclaim as well as international box office success, surpassing $100M globally while premiering on Peacock only in the U.S. He is repped by UTA and attorney Erik Hyman at Paul Hastings.
Dakota Fanning will next be seen starring opposite Sarah Snook in Peacock’s upcoming series All Her Fault. Elle Fanning, meanwhile, is next set to appear in dual roles in Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands, out November 7, and in a starring role alongside Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgard in Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, the winner of Cannes’ Grand Prix, which is out in limited release via Neon on the same day.
The Fannings are repped by UTA, TFC Management and HJTH. Hannah is represented by CAA and Jane Rotrosen Agency.
Source: Deadline
“We have plans for sure,” said Cannes regular and Sentimental Value actress Elle Fanning about reteaming with her sister Dakota Fanning in a future project.
Fanning fielded the question today at the Cannes presser for the Joaquim Trier movie.
The sisters previously starred together in the 2001 Sean Penn-Michelle Pfeiffer movie, I Am Sam, playing the older and younger version of the character Lucy. They also provided the voices of the sisters in the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 title My Neighbor Totoro.
The Fannings were originally set to star in Sony’s feature take of the Kristin Hannah bestseller The Nightingale with Melanie Laurent directing about two sisters during WWII dealing with the German Occupation in France. However, the project was halted during Covid.
In Trier’s latest, Fanning plays a young Hollywood star who scores a part in an esteemed filmmaker’s movie (Stellan Skarsgård) after his daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve) passes on the part. The pic deals with the complexity of estranged family dynamics.
Fanning said that working with Trier was on her “bucket list”. She was sent the script, read it quickly, which is always a sign of her passion, and hit it off with the Danish-born Norwegian director on zoom.
“I was floored. You don’t come by scripts like this that are moving and nuanced,” said Cannes’ once youngest jury member of the 2019 edition.
Prior to shooting the next Predator movie in New Zealand, Fanning made a pitstop in Oslo, Norway to go through a rehearsal process with Trier. “We were doing rehearsal scenes, of rehearsal scenes.”
“There was a meta-ness of an actor playing an actor,” she added.
“He creates a space to be open, and gets things out of you; you’re surprising yourself every day. It was creatively fulfilling.”
Sentimental Value received a mindboggling 19-minute standing ovation last night at its Cannes premiere.
The pic reps the fourth premiere for Trier at Cannes. The director himself has yet to receive any prizes here, however, Worst Person in the World took home Best Actress for Reinsve. That movie also went on to be nominated for two Oscars including Best International Film and Original Screenplay.
Source: Deadline
Arinzé Kene, Esther McGregor, Esmé Creed-Miles and Earl Cave will also star in the comedy drama.
Pamela Anderson, having underlined her indie film credentials last year thanks to her Golden Globe and SAG nominated turn in “The Last Showgirl,” has landed herself another lead role.
The star is set to join renowned British writer/director Sally Potter‘s latest feature “Alma,” leading the cast alongside Golden Globe nominee Dakota Fanning (“Ripley,” “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”) and BIFA Award winner and BAFTA nominee Lindsay Duncan (“Birdman,” “Le Week-End”). Joining the ensemble will be Arinzé Kene (“I’m Your Woman,” “Harvest”), Esther McGregor (“Babygirl,” “We Were Liars”) Esmé Creed-Miles (“Hanna,” “Silver Haze”) and Earl Cave (“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” “The Sweet East”), with further casting to follow.
Bankside Films have boarded “Alma” for worldwide sales ahead of the Cannes Film Festival and will be introducing the film to buyers there. The film is currently in pre-production and set to start shooting on location in England in September.
The story follows an extended family who meet to scatter the ashes of their mother only to find that her continued haunting presence explosively, and often comically, unravels the secrets of their lives. The filmmakers have yet to announce which roles the cast will be playing.
“Looking for the alchemical mix of great screen presences to bring a script into vivid life can feel like a treasure hunt,” said Potter. “Three of the cinematic jewels now set to be at the centre of the cast of ‘Alma’ are Pamela Anderson, Dakota Fanning and Lindsay Duncan … three brilliant actors I have wanted to work with for some time. Their remarkable individual qualities will combine with, amongst others, Arinzé Kene and three exciting young actors: Esther McGregor, Esmé Creed-Miles and Earl Cave.”
“Alma” is produced by Potter’s longstanding collaborator Christopher Sheppard of Adventure Pictures (“The Roads Not Taken,” “The Party,” “Orlando”) and Rebecca O’Brien of Sixteen Films (“The Wind that Shakes the Barley,” “I, Daniel Blake,” “The Old Oak”). Co-producers on the project are Les Films d’Antoine, under the direction of Antoine Simkine, in France and Komplizen, led by producers Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski and Maren Ade in Germany. Stephen Kelliher serves as executive producer for Bankside Films.
“It’s an honour to work with Sally on this brilliantly clever, funny and poignant story of a family in conflict at the most sensitive of times,” said Bankside managing director Kelliher. “Sally’s script is endlessly entertaining and the cast she has drawn to the project speaks for itself. We can’t wait for audiences to enjoy it.”
Known for her innovative arthouse style and risk-taking subject matter, Potter made her breakthrough in 1992 with her bold adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel “Orlando,” starring Tilda Swinton. Since then she has written and directed eight feature films, including “The Tango Lesson” (1996), “The Man Who Cried” (2000), “Yes” (2004), “Rage” (2009), “Ginger & Rosa” (2012), “The Party” (2017) and “The Roads Not Taken” (2020). Potter’s films have won more than 40 international awards and landed both Oscar and BAFTA nominations. As a composer/lyricist, Potter released her debut album “Pink Bikini” in 2023. “Anatomy,” her second album, is set for release on May 2
Potter is represented by Gersh / Bart Walker.
Source: Variety
Dakota Fanning is doubling down on Showtime roles.
The Alienist: Angel of Darkness and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star is joining drama Ripley opposite Andrew Scott.
It comes after she was cast in Showtime’s scripted anthology drama series The First Lady (w/t) as Susan Elizabeth Ford, the only daughter and youngest child of President Gerald and Betty Ford.
Fanning will play Marge Sherwood, an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie affability the affability of Tom Ripley, played by Fleabag star Scott.
Based on Patricia Highsmith’s books, the show comes from The Night Of’s Steven Zaillian.
In the series, Tom Ripley (Scott), a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf, played by Johnny Flynn, who is living a comfortable, trust-funded ex-pat life in Italy, to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.
Elle Fanning, star and executive producer of Civic Center Media/MRC Television’s Hulu series The Great, is expanding her relationship with the indie studio partnership. She and her sister Dakota Fanning have teamed to launch Lewellen Pictures production company and have entered a first-look television deal with the studio, a joint venture between UTA and MRC. The Fanning sisters plan to develop feature film and television projects, as well as other forms of media, including podcasts.
Their first project under the pact is an adaptation of Megan Miranda’s bestselling novel The Last House Guest, which is being developed as a crime thriller series. Sarah Walker (The Secrets She Keeps, Wentworth) will write and executive produce the series. It centers on an intimate friendship between two girls who fall violently in love with each other’s differences, which, in the end, create doubt, betrayal and tragedy. The Fannings will executive produce alongside Brittany Kahan Ward and Mary Jane Skalski for Echo Lake Entertainment.
“Elle has brought such perspective and thoughtfulness as an executive producer on The Great,” said Elise Henderson, President of MRC Television. “We are excited by the vision she and Dakota have for Lewellen Pictures and for MRC Television to provide a home for the stories they will tell.”
Elle Fanning has received Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations for her work on The Great, which is now in production on its second season for Hulu. She recently starred in Sally Potter’s The Roads Not Taken and Netflix’s All The Bright Places, the latter of which she also produced.
Dakota Fanning was recently was seen in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and TNT’s Angel of Darkness. She will next star in The First Lady for Showtime.
The siblings will star together for the first time in the feature film adaptation of The Nightingale for Tristar and director Melanie Laurent.
They have also brought together existing projects in development that they had been production individually and will now fall under the Lewellen Pictures banner. That includes feature I’ve Got Your Number set up at Amazon Studios with Dakota and Freddie Highmore attached to star, Kiwi Smith and Jessica O’Toole adapting the Sophie Kinsella novel, Echo Lake Entertainment, Alfresco Pictures and Joey Plager producing; One Click podcast which Elle will narrate and is executive producing along with Brittany Kahan Ward, Vespucci and Cadence 13; and The Girl From Plainville, a limited series for Elle to star in for UCP and Hulu, with showrunners Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus. Brittany Kahan Ward also executive produces.
Dakota Fanning has signed on to play Susan Ford in the Showtime anthology series “The First Lady,” Variety has learned.
Susan is the only daughter of Betty Ford and President Gerald Ford, who will be played in the series by Michelle Pfeiffer and Aaron Eckhart respectively. Susan was a teenager during her father’s time in the White House and is said to have often introduced progressive ideas to her family.
“The First Lady” will also star Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, and O-T Fagbenle as President Barack Obama, among others. The series is described as a reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House.
Fanning will be a series regular, appearing in six episodes. The role reunites her with Pfeiffer, with whom she starred in the 2001 film “I Am Sam.” Her appearance in the film earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, making her the youngest person to be nominated for the award at the age of seven. Fanning was most recently seen in the TNT series “The Alienist.” Her feature credits include “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” “War of the Worlds,” “Uptown Girls,” “Man on Fire,” the “Twilight” films, and “Please Stand By.”
She is repped by UTA, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Hansen Jacobson.
“The First Lady” is written and executive produced by Aaron Cooley. Davis is also executive producing along with Julius Tennon and Andrew Wang of JuVee Productions. Cathy Schulman of Welle Entertainment executive produces along with Jeff Gaspin via Gaspin Media, and Brad Kaplan of LINK Entertainment. Susanne Bier is attached to direct and executive produce. Showtime and Lionsgate Television will produce.
Source: Variety
Those wishing to see Elle and Dakota Fanning in WWII drama The Nightingale will have to wait even longer. Sony is pushing the film to Dec. 23, 2022. It previously had been moved to December 22 of this year. Elle Fanning currently is in production on Hulu/MRC’s second season of The Great.
Christmas falls on a Sunday that year, and Nightingale will square off against Paramount’s Babylon on Dec. 25 and an untitled Illumination and Universal title on Wednesday Dec. 21, 2022. Pic is produced by Elizabeth Cantillon.
In addition, Sony is dating Stage 6 Films’ R-rated romantic comedy Long Weekend for March 12. Pic follows Bart’s (Finn Wittrock of American Horror Story) chance encounter with the enigmatic Vienna (Zoë Chao), which leads to a whirlwind weekend together. The two fall fast and hard, but both carry secrets that could be their undoing or the chance for a fresh start.
Steve Basilone is making his directorial debut off his script. Pic is produced by Deanna Barillari, Laura Lewis, Theodora Dunlap, Sam Bisbee, Audrey Rosenberg and Jess Jacobs. Executive Producers are Franklin Carson, Lance Acord and Jackie Kelman Bisbee. The film stars Finn Wittrock, Zoë Chao, Casey Wilson, Jim Rash and with Damon Wayans, Jr. The film is produced by Invisible Pictures, Park Pictures, Fifty Seventh Street Productions, and Rebelle Media.
PREVIOUSLY, April 30: Sony’s The Nightingale WWII drama starring Elle and Dakota Fanning, which was suppose to come out at the end of this year, has been pushed to Dec. 22, 2021 due to the COVID-19 production shutdown.
Real-life sisters Elle and Dakota Fanning will play on-screen sisters in the coming-of-age story adapted from Kristin Hannah’s international bestseller. Pic, which is being directed by Melanie Laurent, is set on the eve of World War II and follows the sisters’ struggle to survive and resist the German occupation of France. The story was inspired by the courageous women of the French Resistance who helped downed Allied airmen escape Nazi-occupied territory and hid Jewish children.
The project reteams Laurent with Elle Fanning after the duo worked on the 2018 movie Galveston together.
The Nightingale has been published in 45 languages, and went on to sell 3.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and became a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller for a total of 114 weeks on the list.
Source: Deadline Hollywood
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios and Echo Lake Entertainment are adapting the NY Times’ bestseller I’ve Got Your Number by author Sophie Kinsella. Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Jessica O’Toole are attached to pen the adaption.
Dakota Fanning will produce along with Brittany Kahan Ward & Mary Jane Skalski of Echo Lake Entertainment as well as Joey Plager and Freddie Highmore, through his Alfresco Pictures. Alfresco Pictures’ Claire Londy will serve as an executive producer.
The novel is a romantic comedy of errors featuring a lost engagement ring, a stolen cell phone, and two strangers who find each other…just as one of them is about to marry someone else.
Kinsella is well-known for her Shopaholic novel series, which was adapted into the film Confessions of a Shopaholic starring Isla Fisher in 2009. Since her debut in 1995, Kinsella’s books have sold over 40 million copies in more than 60 countries, and been translated into over 40 languages.
Smith’s credits include Legally Blonde, The House Bunny and the Emmy winning series Trinkets on Netflix. She is also co-writing a reimagining of 10 for Warner Bros. O’Toole co-created the Charmed reboot for The CW, and her credits include the hit series Jane The Virgin, Selfie and The Carrie Diaries.
Fanning is repped by Echo Lake Entertainment, United Talent Agency and Hansen Jacobson. Highmore is repped by ARG, UTA and Felker Toczek. Kiwi Smith is repped by Verve, Kaplan/Perrone and attorneys Karl Austen and Adam Cooper. Jessica O’Toole is repped by Verve, manager Sukee Chew and attorney Eric Brooks.
Source: Deadline
