It’s odd. Despite having been seen hundreds, thousands of times together in photographs, at events and on red carpets, Dakota and Elle Fanning have never shared time on-screen. They’re actresses. They’re sisters. They’re stars who have been nominated for elite awards and who have worked with the best performers and directors in the world. They share a last name, a business, and even a closet. But no, they’ve never exchanged dialogue, or a weighty look in front of the cameras that have made them famous. But that’s about to change. They’re still in their twenties and thirties, with a quarter-century in the industry and nearly 100 projects under their belts. Who knows, maybe some day they’ll have their photo taken together, with an Oscar.
Dakota, who turned 32 on February 23, is the oldest and the one who first blazed the path. But right now, Elle is shining most brightly at 27. She’s the first of the pair to be nominated for an Oscar. She’s in the running for the statuette thanks to Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, in which she plays a Hollywood star who sets out to film a foreign movie. Essentially, she arrived on the Mt. Olympus of acting by playing herself. There’s no easy road ahead: the Best Supporting Actress category also features competitors like her castmate Inga Ibsdotter Lilleass, Sinners’ Wunmi Mosaku, Weapons’ Amy Madigan and Teyana Taylor, who is favored to win for her role in One Battle After Another. It’s likely Elle is aware that she will probably not take home the prize. But also, that she’s not too concerned about it.
There are various reasons for this perceived calm. First, because she’s the youngest of the five nominees. Already with a vaunted career of more than 70 projects, she has time — decades, even — for her moment to come. Secondly, because the Fanning sisters live their lives with a sense of normality that is seldom seen among young people in their industry. After so many years in this world, they’re used to it. As Dakota told this publication some eight years ago, when she was just 24, “If starting so young has helped me in any way, it’s that I feel very comfortable in this business.” Then there’s the fact that she doesn’t need the award to make her name in Hollywood. She’s had one since she was born — in large part, thanks to Dakota.
The sisters’ relationship appears natural, organic, like few others in their industry. Born to athlete parents in Conyers, Georgia, they chose the life of the screen early on, and it chose them right back. Being blonde, beautiful and spunky was a good start, but those factors alone aren’t enough to build a career. Dakota, who was born in 1994, made her first appearance on an episode of ER in 2000. Within a couple of years, she’d worked on Ally McBeal, Malcolm in the Middle and CSI. But her big break came via playing Sean Penn’s daughter in I Am Sam (2001). Dakota starred as Lucy Dawson, and alongside her was Elle, who at two years old played a younger version of Lucy. It was the first sign of how intertwined their work would become.
In a recent interview with EL PAÍS, Elle recognized that her star really started to rise thanks to Super 8, which she filmed when she was 12 years old — though she’d already been on sets for 10 years at that point. “Up until that moment, everyone confused me with Dakota,” she laughed. It never bothered her very much. She’s quick to make jokes at her own expense, and to self-identify as a “neposister,” a term she delivers flush with sororal affection. “Of course I got opportunities because people are like, ‘Oh, it’s Dakota Fanning’s sister. We’ll see her audition,’” she told Vanity Fair a few months ago. But that’s never led to competition between the two, they say, well aware that people may not believe them.
During another talk with the magazine Byrdie, Dakota said that at first, each Fanning was focused on her own goals, on building separate careers — but that now that they’ve achieved those things, they’ve become calmer. “We don’t feel that pressure anymore. We’ve established that we’re two different people with two different journeys.” “When we were younger, we wanted to make sure that people saw us differently, and we wanted to give each other space to carve our own path,” Elle told Vanity Fair. “But as adults, it’s been very fulfilling to merge.”
It’s healthy for them, and a breath of fresh air in show business, that they’ve worked past their anxiety around the subject. They’re normal, even if they are exceptional. They smile, they’re friendly, they ride bikes and go shopping. They have dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant a few miles north of Hollywood, in a normal neighborhood. Dakota drives there, with her sister as copilot. They make Oscar-nominated films, but also video games and mayonnaise ads. They take selfies in sweatshirts without makeup. They drink espresso martinis. They take glamorous photos for magazine covers, but also fan pics with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which they then upload to their social media profiles (Dakota has 4.3 million Instagram followers; Elle, 7.4 million).
Though they have always been close, they say that as they’ve grown up, they’ve come to better understand each other. Dakota has been focusing on television, with shows like The Alienist, Ripley, and The Perfect Couple. She says it is her favorite medium. For her part, Elle goes for a greater mix: blockbuster films, indie movies, series, serving on the jury for Cannes. Still, they are so in tune that five years ago, they decided to create a vehicle that would allow them to make the projects they wanted: their own production company, Lewellen Pictures (named in honor of their childhood dog). And now, at last, they will make their first movie together as producers — accompanied by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine — and also, lead actresses.
Of course, they’ll play sisters. The project is an adaptation of the novel The Nightingale, the bestseller by author Kristin Hannah about the contrasting destinies of Isabelle and Vianne, two French siblings during the Second World War. They will begin to film in the spring, and both say they are excited to start.
Particularly Elle, who has been omnipresent on red carpets during the last few months thanks to Sentimental Value, and who is also in the latest installment of Predator and soon, the Apple TV series in which she stars alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo’s Got Money Troubles. The latter follows a pregnant teen under economic pressure, who starts selling erotic photos, and is also co-produced by the sisters. Dakota recently starred in the horror movie Vicious and the Peacock miniseries All Her Fault. They’ve somehow found the time to come together to talk about their upcoming projects.
The eldest of the pair is somewhat more reserved (in her conversation and way of dressing), with clearer ideas. The youngest is more expansive and open, a style icon — and a fan of vintage clothing; Elle says that pieces can hang in her closet for years before she wears them. She once told The Hollywood Reporter that being able to film with her sister is a dream she’s had for years. “That’s a dream fulfilled,” she said.
They both insist that sisterhood takes priority over work. “I just want her to have everything that she wants,” says Dakota. “What’s mine is hers, and I feel the same thing back from her. We have that mentality in our family.” That may have something to do with the fact that they share a publicist and stylist.
Working from such a young age — far from generating the trauma that it has in other showbiz siblings — has brought them peace. There’s no drama in their behavior, or their statements. “Even though we started 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,” says Elle. At the end of the day, they’re Hollywood girls in their salad days sharing tacos — even if they drove here in a Porsche.
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