The Wondrous World of Elle Fanning

It's 2 p.m. when Elle Fanning breezes into the courtyard restaurant of legendary Los Angeles hotel Chateau Marmont. At 5'9" in black leather ballet flats, she carries herself with a swan-like confidence. Her skin (the subject of countless L'Oréal campaigns) is glowing, and her glossy blonde hair is pinned back in an elegant bun. She is wrapped in a chic camel trench coat over a striped green shirtdress from The Row.

The 27-year-old is remarkably well put-together for someone who was partying the night before with her older sister and fellow actor, Dakota Fanning, at one of the final shows of Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet Tour. I know this because it was all over the internet when the duo got "arrested" by Carpenter for being "too hot."

It didn't come as a complete surprise to the Fanning sisters when (following in the footsteps of Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, and Gigi Hadid at previous shows) the pink fluffy handcuffs headed their way. They were given prior warning, so they were able to dress accordingly, which they did in very Sabrina Carpenter esque lingerie-style slip dresses. "We're gonna be on the screen, so … you want to look good!" laughs Fanning before glancing at the menu and quickly deciding on a Coke, Greek salad, and side of fries. "When I told Dakota I was gonna wear a slip dress, she was like, 'Okay, well, you're wearing that, so I need to wear something cute too!'"

Fanning feels very at home at Chateau Marmont. Having made her movie debut at age 2, playing a younger version of Dakota's character in the 2001 film I Am Sam, Fanning was "running through the halls" filming Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (2010) right here by the time she was 11. "There are so many people who still work here who are like, 'We knew you when you were this big!'" she smiles. "I feel cozy here."

Her breakout performance in the cult film, in which she starred opposite Stephen Dorff, paved the way for major roles to come, including in J.J. Abrams's 2011 sci-fi hit Super 8 and the Disney blockbuster Maleficent. In the last decade alone, Fanning has achieved what few stars manage in their entire career, gracefully treading the line between indie films, like art house horror The Neon Demon, and acclaimed TV series such as satirical comedy-drama The Great, which ran for three seasons on Hulu between 2020 and 2023.

For her performance in the latter—in which she played Catherine, the 18th-century empress of Russia—Fanning was nominated for a Golden Globe for three years running. This year, she's been recognized for a fourth time for her supporting role in Joachim Trier's poignant Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value.

Fanning has a relatively small but no less significant part in the film set in Oslo, Norway. The story follows the fractured relationship between an acclaimed but troubled film director, Gustav (played by Stellan Skarsgård), and his grown-up daughters after the death of their mother. Making a personal film about his complicated family history, Gustav tries to enlist his actress daughter (played by Renate Reinsve) to star in it. She refuses, and tension ensues when he casts glossy A-list American film star Rachel Kemp (played by Fanning) instead.

It's an understated but deeply memorable performance from Fanning, who was a huge fan of Trier's 2021 romantic comedy-drama The Worst Person in the World, which also starred Reinsve. "I was obsessed with it," she says, taking a sip of her Coke. "I would have wanted to be in any of his films, even if it was just, like, one line!"

There was just one thing standing in the way: Fanning's enviable but increasingly hectic schedule. Just as she was wrapping A Complete Unknown (the 2024 Bob Dylan biopic in which she starred opposite Timothée Chalamet), Fanning signed on to play the lead in the multimillion-dollar action movie Predator: Badlands and was due to start filming in New Zealand when she was offered the part in Sentimental Value.

What seemed like a logistical impossibility eventually worked out. Fanning was able to fly to Oslo for a week of rehearsals with Trier and then go to New Zealand for three months for Predator before flying straight back to Europe to film Sentimental Value.

It wasn't ideal, even for someone with Fanning's stamina. "I've never not had a day to process," she admits. "But I knew that both of them would work out. I never wavered in that."

When I ask if she ever worries when committing to a big project that she might miss out on another equally desirable opportunity, she muses, "I'm more like, 'What will be will be.' You have to love the project you're doing enough that if something else goes away, then it's okay. Otherwise, there would be this constant regret, and I really don't feel that way."

Fanning is grateful for the formative week in Oslo with Trier months before she began filming, as she has no doubt it hugely informed her performance of Rachel.

"That's kind of how he works," she explains. "We rehearse. He films all of the rehearsals that you do with each actor. And then you have long conversations with him and share stories, and it gets quite personal. He will mold the character to you and see what he needs to take out and what he needs to add."

Given she's playing an actor with celebrity status who was a former child star and is no stranger to big franchise movies, it's hard not to make a direct comparison between Fanning and her character. "She's not me—at all!—but there are some similarities," she says. "In your career, everything ebbs and flows. Rachel is at a point in her career where she doesn't feel like she has the power or agency over her choices. As an actor, you have to be given the meaty roles to be able to showcase [what you can do] and work with the directors who can pull that out of you."

Can she relate to that? "Yes, I've had that feeling before, but now, I'm at a place where I'm producing things. I have a production company with Dakota [Lewellen Pictures, which they founded in 2020], and I do feel like I have more power over my choices," she says.

I first met and interviewed Fanning in 2022 and found her to be smart, funny, and extraordinarily down-to-earth. It's thrilling to report, particularly when she has enjoyed so much success since, that she is exactly the same today.

"Oh, there's Alex!" she exclaims suddenly, having clocked Alexander Skarsgård walking into the restaurant. We watch as he sits down and try to figure out who he's having lunch with. "We'll find out!" she teases. "You always see someone at the Chateau." See? Elle Fanning enjoys a celeb spotting as much as the rest of us.

It's the week before Thanksgiving when we meet, and both Sentimental Value and Predator: Badlands are in movie theaters, having been released the same weekend at the beginning of November. The seventh movie in the sci-fi blockbuster franchise directed by Dan Trachtenberg won't get the award recognition of Sentimental Value (which has been nominated for eight Golden Globes) despite grossing a record-breaking $80 million globally in its opening weekend.

As the star of these two wildly different features, Fanning is frustrated by the fact that genre films are typically overlooked for prestigious awards. "To me, a film is a film," she says. "That's also how I approach picking projects. I don't feel like there should be this bias. That I don't understand. I hope that people can recognize those films more. I think it's important that we do. It's like, What does it mean to be an 'Oscar film,' you know? I don't know."

Fanning was approached for the dual role of Thia, a Weyland-Yutani Corporation android, and Thia's sister Tessa in Predator: Badlands by Trachtenberg, who was looking for someone with comedic chops and had seen her in The Great. Fanning, who appears opposite rising star Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, does have some funny one-liners in the film, so between that and getting to play two characters for the price of one ("I'd never done the 'Parent Trap Lindsay Lohan' thing before," she notes), it was a no-brainer.

It's hard to believe Predator: Badlands is Fanning's first action film. "I definitely got a taste for it," she says, enthusiastically going into detail about how she was hooked up to the rigs. "I would like to go down that path and really train for months and months and months for something. That could be really fun."

"I come from an athletic background, and I grew up doing dance, and I'm a very physical person. I'm quite strong, like I've never known my own strength," she says with a laugh. Stronger than Dakota, who is four years older than her? "Yes, I think so," she says. "She's so small. She'll probably beg to differ on that!"

The only daughters of a professional tennis player and a minor-league baseball player, the Fannings were born in Georgia but relocated to Los Angeles when Dakota's acting career took off. It's been home ever since. Dakota now owns a property around the corner from where their mother and grandmother live. Elle moved into her own place last year when her forthcoming TV project, Margo's Got Money Troubles, started filming in the city.

In the Apple TV+ series adaptation that arrives April 15, Fanning plays the lead opposite Nicole Kidman. It's being executive-produced by Lewellen Pictures, and Fanning is currently in the edit, which she describes as her favorite process. "I kind of fell in love with it on The Great [on which she also served as executive producer]. It's a real art," she says. "People always say that as an actress [you should] get close to your editor because they have your performance in their hands! They can change the whole performance through editing. That fascinates me."

Already, 2026 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for Fanning, who also features in the forthcoming Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, as a young Effie Trinket (played by Elizabeth Banks in the original trilogy).

This spring, she'll begin filming the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Kristin Hannah's best-selling World War II novel The Nightingale. The Fanning sisters will produce and, more importantly, star opposite one another for the very first time.

"How many times has everyone reported this?" quips Fanning. The project was due to start filming right before the pandemic and lay dormant for a few years. "It's finally, finally happening! It's a big moment, but I'm actually glad that it's happening now. I think Dakota and I are ready," she continues.

That first day on set is going to be pretty magical. "I'm really excited about that electric feeling we're gonna have," she beams. "Whatever scene we film together for the first time is going to be so charged. … I'm gonna cry! We've been acting for so long, and you can't create that feeling—the first time doing something—again. So yeah, I'll be nervous and very emotional."

The Fannings' acting careers have been completely separate up to this point—deliberately so. "I mean, we've never even run lines together," she points out. "I guess we'll have to now!"

They've never been in a situation where they've both wanted the same role? "We get different opportunities. Honestly, we don't even think we look alike. It's never happened that we've gone for the same thing," she says.

"People would ask us a lot when we were younger to do films together, but we wanted to make sure that we were figuring out who we both were individually first," she explains. "We're so supportive of each other. It's the best thing in my life that I have her as this role model and we were able to carve out our own paths."

The sisters' dynamic continues to evolve as they get older. "Dakota 100% was, and still is, very much my protector, but also, now [that] I'm older, I can protect her more. She can call me for advice," she says.

Fanning can pinpoint exactly when things shifted. "You know, I remember it was actually on my 16th birthday. I was invited to go with her friends to their house afterward. It was like, 'Oh my god, she's seeing me as a person, not just a sister,'" she says.

Sharing the screen might be unchartered territory, but behind the camera, the Fannings have developed a successful working relationship as producers. Founded in the pandemic, Lewellen Pictures (named after their late childhood dog) has quite a roster, ranging from comedy and drama for TV (The Great, Margo's Got Money Troubles) to film (The Nightingale) and documentary (Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?).

"Like in our acting careers, if it's something that we are gravitated toward and feel passionate about, then we're up for it," explains Fanning, who likes finding articles and books that could be turned into something à la Reese Witherspoon, whereas true crime is more Dakota's domain.

They famously bought the rights to Paris Hilton's memoir, although the project is some way off. "We want to do it justice because obviously there are so many stories about her out there," she says. "But Paris is very much involved, and I love her, and she's been an amazing partner, and I've got to go to her house, which is everything you want it to be!"

While both Fanning and her sister are able to spot the potential of something—"what audiences want to watch and what they are gonna enjoy"—they ultimately make a great team because Elle gets excited and passionate about ideas and Dakota is able to interpret them. "She's like, 'Okay, she's really trying to say this,'" laughs Fanning. "Dakota should have been a lawyer. She's incredibly intelligent and knows how to argue her case. It can be to your benefit or your detriment, at times, for sure. I've lost many arguments with her!"

Lately, Fanning's been working on trying to be more present. "I'm thinking about, you know, just everything in the future. I'm thinking about kids that haven't even been born!" she admits. "It's like, 'What am I doing? This is way too many steps ahead.'"

It's not the only thing that keeps her awake at night. "I have 121,000 photos on my phone. … Where are all these photos gonna go?" she adds.

Fanning has been in a relationship with Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner since late 2023. They made their red carpet debut at the Golden Globes in January 2024, and she is—surprisingly for someone of her celebrity status—very open and affectionate about him on Instagram.

"He's the best," she gushes. "We want to be a part of each other's lives and share these fun times and experiences together. … Why hide? The future looks bright."

"I definitely do want kids. I've always wanted kids. I've known that since I was little," she adds.

The couple currently divide their time between Fanning's rental home in L.A. and New York, where Wenner lives. Fanning is obsessed with old houses and loves looking at homes on the online architecture, history, and property magazine Francis York.

"We've been going on Zillow and looking at the Upper West and Upper East Side and the potential there [for a renovation project]," she says. "Isn't that everyone's dream, to restore a house? But it takes years, so yeah, I don't know. That's why I haven't done it yet!"

She has plenty of time, I remind her, and she is trying to be more present, after all. This probably explains why she hasn't thought as far as what she'll wear this award season—although she will inevitably come up with some "mad ideas" with her stylist of 14 years, Samantha McMillen.

In fact, Fanning hasn't thought much further than tonight. "I am doing nothing," she says with a relieved smile when we get the check and say our goodbyes. "The world's my oyster, so I'm probably going to watch TV shows in bed. I love On Brand With Jimmy Fallon. I've seen a lot of films this year, but listen, I'm not highbrow. I'll watch any competition reality show!"

Well, it's not every day you're promoting two wildly different movies, editing a TV show, prepping for your next big film, and then being arrested in your lingerie at a Sabrina Carpenter show. I'd say she's earned a night off, wouldn't you?

Photographer Creative Director: Szilveszter Makó
VP of Creative: Alexa Wiley
Stylist: Lauren Eggertsen
Hairstylist: Mark Townsend
Makeup Artist: Erin Ayanian Monroe
Manicurist: Queenie Nguyen
Set Designer: Nicholas Des Jardins
Vice President of Creative: Alexa Wiley
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker
Producer: Luciana De La Fe
Photographer EP: Siyan Chen
Photo Line Producer: Huina Liu