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
First hunt. Last chance.
From the director of Prey, watch the brand-new trailer for Predator: Badlands, in theaters November 7.
“Predator: Badlands,” which stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg and produced by John Davis, Dan Trachtenberg, Marc Toberoff, Ben Rosenblatt, Brent O’Connor.
Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father — and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics.
First clip from Joachim Trier’s SENTIMENTAL VALUE. An intimate and moving exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art, starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning. Premiering in Competition at #Cannes2025. Coming soon to the UK, Latin America, Turkey, Ireland and India. A MUBI Release.
“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
Confirming what’s been rumored for weeks, Elle Fanning is now set for the role of Effie Trinket, stylist for Haymitch Abernathy in the lead-up to the 50th Hunger Games, in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, an adaptation of the bestseller by Suzanne Collins.
Fanning’s role was played by Elizabeth Banks in earlier installments. Joseph Zada plays Abernathy in Sunrise, with Whitney Peak as his girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird. Others in the cast include Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Lili Taylor as Mags, Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow, and Ralph Fiennes as President Snow.
Published March 18, the latest installment in Collins’ dystopian YA book series revisits the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. The story centers on 16-year-old Haymitch, a clever and resourceful boy from District 12, who’s unexpectedly chosen for this edition of the games, which will feature a deadly twist: twice the number of tributes, with 48 children sent into the arena to battle for their lives.
Francis Lawrence has returned to direct from a script by Billy Ray, with Color Force’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson producing, and Cameron MacConomy exec producing. Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for the studio and Robert Melnik negotiated deals for Lionsgate. Slated for release on November 20, 2026, Sunrise comes on the heels of five Hunger Games films that have grossed more than $3.3 billion worldwide.
Most recently starring opposite Timothée Chalamet in Searchlight’s Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, Fanning is currently at Cannes in support of Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which premieres this week. Upcoming, she’ll also be seen starring in Margo’s Got Money Troubles for David E. Kelley and Apple TV+, as well as 20th’s Predator: Badlands, which hits theaters this fall. She is represented by UTA, TFC Management, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
Source: Deadline
The director of Prey welcomes you to a world of hurt. Experience Predator: Badlands on the big screen, in theaters and IMAX November 7.
“Predator: Badlands,” which stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg and produced by John Davis, Dan Trachtenberg, Marc Toberoff, Ben Rosenblatt, Brent O’Connor.
Her debut at two catapulted the actress to child stardom, while taking the lead in The Great turned her into a household name. Ahead of the much-anticipated Bob Dylan biopic, she discusses subverting expectations, escaping her princess vibe – and why she could have been a tennis pro
‘Technically, I did my first film when I was two,” says Elle Fanning, which, at 26, makes her a youthful old-timer, already more than two decades into a hugely successful acting career. The cliché of the child star is that they will, inevitably, go off the rails at some point, unable to cope with a demanding adult-oriented entertainment business that places its leading lights on a distant and unreachable pedestal, leaving them with no concept of real life and no solid framework to prop them up. But there are other, less headline-worthy outcomes for performers who have been at it for their whole lives. Some child stars, particularly those who seem to be thriving, may be more like professional athletes, singular in their ambitions, trained and focused, more than content to remain within the industry that has raised them.
I tried to wear the skinny jeans, the sexy dress, but it wasn’t quite me
I suspect that Fanning leans towards the latter. She was born in Georgia in 1998 and was brought up in California, where her family moved when she was two, to pursue her older sister Dakota’s acting career. “My family is very southern, so it’s southern hospitality and southern manners,” she explains. “My grandmother would go with me on all my film sets, or my mom, to keep us in line. Thank God they were there with us.”Anything I have seen of her, out of character, suggests an upbeat woman with a sunny disposition. Do people who have seen her growing up on screen expect her to be, well, sweet? “I guess that’s true,” she says, quite sweetly. “I also think, on a grander scale, that as a ‘child actor’, people see you as younger than you are.”
Elle Fanning attends the 19th annual L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Celebration at NeueHouse Hollywood in Hollywood, California. I’ve updated our photo gallery with pictures of Elle. Make sure you check them out by clicking the thumbnails below. Enjoy!
