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Bels, A., Van den Bulck, H. and Claessens, N. (2017) 'Blossoming Beauty or Unhinged Teen?: Media and Audiences Discussing Celebrities Coming of Age' in O'Connor, J. and Mercer, J. (eds.), Childhood and Celebrity, pp. 69-81. (3)

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Bels, A., Van den Bulck, H. and Claessens, N. (2017) 'Blossoming Beauty or Unhinged Teen?: Media and Audiences Discussing Celebrities Coming of Age' in O'Connor, J. and Mercer, J. (eds.), Childhood and Celebrity, pp. 69-81. (3)

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The development from a child to a teen is a heavily observed time period for female stars in particular, there are immense amounts of pressure to not disappoint their already accepted fanbase. Becoming wild and arrogant is seen as shameful and damaging to an individual's career and may even grow into their legacy as a star if they hold this public persona for too long.

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The twenty-first century has seen an explosion in the ways and means in which children can become part of celebrity culture. With the rise in popularity of reality TV, child beauty pageants, talent shows, and social media platforms, as well as more established routes to fame through TV, cinema, theatre and music, the number of children establishing a presence in public life continues to proliferate.

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Redmond, S. (2014) 'Selling Celebrity', Celebrity and the Media, pp. 69-86. (3 & 4)

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Redmond, S. (2014) 'Selling Celebrity', Celebrity and the Media, pp. 69-86. (3 & 4)

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The public image of a celebrity is both shaped by and influenced because of the types of content they are involved in. Elle's collaborations with particular brands help to portray certain calculated parts of her personality to audiences.

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Clear prior granting of permission for release of your information to this service.

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Shingler, M. (2012) 'Star Identities: From Image to Persona and Publicity to Gossip', Star Studies: A Critical Guide, pp. 121-148. (3)

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Shingler, M. (2012) 'Star Identities: From Image to Persona and Publicity to Gossip', Star Studies: A Critical Guide, pp. 121-148. (3)

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This chapter discusses how star images can be shaped by roles and personalities, celebrities feeling obliged to uphold this particular image which sometimes even overpowers their talent. This is similar to how Elle felt, as being pigeon-hold as a child star limits public perceptions.

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Elle mostly uses her social media to post about her projects, family or images of herself. This emphasises her more private yet seemingly attractive celebrity lifestyle.

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Elle Fanning on Instagram: "Thanks for the GLAM this week @tyronmachhausen and @owengould 🩶 Both of your photography skills are magazine level good 😆 #hotelbathroom #pfw"

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304K likes, 797 comments - ellefanning on October 3, 2023: "Thanks for the GLAM this week @tyronmachhausen and @owengould 🩶 Both of your photography skill..." 

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Taking on a biographical drama, Elle transformed herself for the role, truly becoming Michelle Carter - so much so that some fans couldn't even recognise her. Playing a real person meant that she felt she had to tell the story respectfully and with truth. As with any role Elle plays, she wants it to be honest and give a heartfelt performance.

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Elle Fanning has taken on a new role in the TV series The Girl From Plainville and when she shared a sneak peek fans were blown away.

The Great actress is playing Michelle Carter in the highly anticipated show and her transformation into the real-life teenager - who was at the center of the text-suicide case of Conrad Roy - is unbelievable.
MORE: Elle and Dakota Fanning share devastating news and their tributes are heartbreaking
Elle took to Instagram with photos of herself playing the teen and captioned the post: "The Girl from Plainville. Coming soon to Hulu. @girlfromplainvillehulu #girlfromplainville @hulu."
WATCH: Elle Fanning confirms season three of The Great
Her social media followers were stunned by the images of blonde Elle sporting thick, dark eyebrows and tanned skin in the courtroom scene and commented: "It seriously made me do a double take," and, "Oh wow! This is crazy," and a third said: "You look exactly like her." January Jones chimed in too and wrote: "Uncanny wow."
MORE: Elle Fanning posts photo with Dakota and their mom for emotional reason SEE: Elle Fanning turns heads with risque beach outfit
The true crime series follows the headline-making tragedy which ended with Michelle being convicted of involuntary manslaughter over the suicide of her boyfriend in 2014.
Elle shared photos from the film
Conrad Henri Roy III was encouraged to end his life via a text sent by Michelle. She was convicted for her involvement in his death in 2017.
MORE: Elle Fanning stuns with wild hair transformation in throwback video
The show focuses on the tragic case and Michelle's relationship with Conrad.

© Photo: Getty Images

Michelle Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter
Showrunner Patrick MacManus told EW: "Elle did not want this to feel sensational. She wanted it to be an honest portrayal of not just these families and what they went through, but from what people are going through in general on a day-to-day basis when it comes to their mental health."

© Photo: Getty Images

Elle recreated this court scene in the series too (pictured: Michelle Carter)
He said from the moment he saw Elle he was amazed at just how similar she and Michelle looked.

"The first time that I met Elle, I was really struck by how eerily similar they actually looked just naturally," he said. "It was something that around the table when we all met, we all talked about."

Michelle was released from prison in 2020 three months before than her two-and-a-half year prison sentence was up due to good behavior.
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Elle Fanning leaves fans shocked by her appearance for new true crime role

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The Great's Elle Fanning looked so different in new photos from her new TV series The Girl From Plainville and fans were stunned

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Elle started her journey with Miu Miu at fourteen-years old and is still, at twenty, an embodiment of the brand. The video campaigns show her dancing on the moon and wearing multiple different amusing outfits, while photoshoots with the pink bottled perfume are girly and refreshing.

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Becoming the face of perfume campaigns is not only a way for her to branch out into the modelling world but also to, in a way, connect with her fans. Unlike clothing or jewellery, fragrances can be more affordable. They can also be a way for individuals to personally associate Elle with certain smells or auras, people knowing that if she embodies beauty, grace and youth, then they would want to mimic this for themselves too and trust she promotes a quality product.

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Fitting the Met Gala's 2023 theme, Elle was inspired by an early memory of working with Karl Lagerfeld. Wearing a Vivienne Westwood wedding gown-style dress and pairing it with a flower crown to mirror back to being thirteen and wearing these in a photoshoot. It's common for Elle to take inspiration from her early life for current projects.

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The Sweet Story Behind Elle Fanning’s Fresh Daisy Crown For The Met Gala

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It recalls a portrait of Elle taken by Karl Lagerfeld himself when she was just 13.

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Stunning in an all Gucci waistcoat and trousers, Elle's fun twist on stereotypically male garments show how she refuses to be boxed into just one category. This look for the SAG Awards, in which she received a nomination, makes a statement and aligns with the eccentric career she's currently gaining fame for.

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Elle Fanning knows the power of a big red-carpet arrival. Never forget the New Look-style Dior skirt and hat she wore at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. But, as the saying goes, sometimes less is more. At the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards in Santa Monica on Sunday night - where she was nominated for outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series for her role as Catherine the Great in - Fanning arrived in a Gucci waistcoat and trousers. Understated, but impactful.

Read more: Sag Awards 2022 Red Carpet

While the wide-leg trousers were a refreshing break from the gowns, the nominee's Gucci outfit was truly elevated by the mix of textures in her ensemble. The trousers were embellished with beads that gave them almost a pinstripe effect. The sheer peach blouse underneath her vest added a dash of sex appeal, as did her tousled waves. Finishing off her ensemble with both a bow tie and a Cartier pendant necklace with a pink, pear-shaped stone, Fanning looked like Marlene Dietrich plopped into the 21st century. As they say in The Great, "huzzah!"

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On Elle Fanning, Menswear Is Every Bit As Good As A Gown

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Elle Fanning proved you don't need a big gown to make a big impact at the Sag Awards 2022, opting for a Gucci waistcoat that was pure elegance, instead.

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Elle and Max match a sophisticated black and white look in 2022, their relationship seen, as suggested by their outfits, as being laid-back and in harmony.

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Elle Fanning and her boyfriend, Max Minghella, exuded Hollywood glamour as they attended the Babylon premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Great actress, 24, and The Handmaid's Tale star, 37, both donned sleek, black ensembles as they posed affectionately next to each other, with their last red carpet appearance together occurring in 2019.

The couple of four years were first linked after meeting on set of the 2018 film, Teen Spirit, but have remained tight-lipped about their relationship.

The Maleficent actress was elegant wearing a long black dress with a drop-down waist and barely visible floral patterns embroidered throughout the fabric.

The satin dress contained thick straps that gently rested on her shoulders, with the satin material becoming pleated towards the bottom.

Elle slipped into a pair of open-toed, pointy heels that peeked through as she posed for photos on the red carpet.

Her long blonde hair was parted to the side, and effortlessly flowed past her shoulders into a small wave.

Elle accessorized her classy look for the evening by adorning her wrists with an assortment of dainty bracelets along with a large, gold ring on her left hand.

To allow the formal gown to be the main focal point for the star-studded night, the actress opted to not add any flashy necklaces or earrings.

Her makeup was classically done, comprising of a layer of black mascara to make her eyes pop, a pink blush, and a vibrant red lipstick.

Max was dapper for the exciting evening, and donned a classic pinstriped suit along with a crisp white dress shirt and black tie.

The star, who plays the role of Irving Thalberg in Babylon, slipped into a pair of shiny, black dress shoes to complete his look.

Elle and Max first crossed paths when working together on the 2018 film, Teen Spirit, with the actress starring in the leading role and the actor directing the feature.

Later that same year, the two stars were seen spending time together during an outing in London, which quickly sparked romance rumors.

According to E! News, a source had informed the publication at the time that, 'They were all over one another. She kissed him on the neck as she draped her arms around him.'

'They looked really happy together and laughed a lot as they took selfies with each other,' the insider had added.

The following year, the two lovebirds made a fashion statement while making their red carpet debut at the 2019 MET Gala in the heart of New York City.

The talented stars dressed to impress, with Elle donning a retro-inspired, colorful ensemble, fully embracing that year's Camp theme and Max pulling off a classy, navy Prada suit.

However, since 2019, the two lovebirds have not attended a red carpet event together until the Babylon premiere on Thursday.

Although the two tend to keep their relationship private, special and memorable moments have been shared on social media for fans on rare occasions.

The couple recently dressed up for Halloween this year, and The Girl From Plainville actress shared a spooky-themed, Instagram photo series of herself as Tiffany, and Max as Chucky, from Child's Play.

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Elle Fanning supports beau Max Minghella at Babylon premiere in LA

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Elle Fanning and boyfriend, Max Minghella, made a show-stopping appearance together in classy ensembles as they attended the star-studded Babylon premiere in Los Angeles.

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This video is a compilation spanning across many years, showing Elle's red carpet looks have always consistently been playful yet chic.

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Elle Fanning’s best red carpet moments | Bazaar UK

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Vogue has recently called Elle’s red carpet looks “unpredictable”, “exciting” and “romantic”. She is now known to be a fashion symbol amongst celebrities, outdoing herself each time with her iconic luxury brand collaborations styling a mix of more feminine, masculine and gender-neutral clothing. Her looks are breaking barriers and bringing the fun back into modern outfits and expressions.

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Elle Fanning has a reputation for delivering exciting fashion at Cannes Film Festival. From the romantic gowns she's worn on the red carpet (think custom Vivienne Westwood and classic Dior), to the Riviera-ready ensembles she's pulled for photo calls, the actor has always been one to watch on the Croisette. But this year, thanks to an eclectic - and fabulous - series of looks for the opening days of the festival, Elle appears to be outdoing herself.

As Fanning knows, Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is where the fashion begins at this film festival. Elle wafted through the terminal wearing wide-leg trousers, a ribbed T-shirt and flip-flops from The Row, looking fresh-faced ahead of the red-carpet whirlwind to come.

At the opening ceremony, Elle kicked things off with what might be her best Cannes look to date: a bespoke Alexander McQueen creation - decorated with exquisite hand-embroidered bugle beads and crystals - which she described as a "work of art". "The time we shared and the artistry I witnessed from [Sarah Burton] in the McQueen London studio are a memory I will cherish forever," she told of her "dress of dreams".

Next came a Bottega Veneta LBD, an ethereal lace dress by Rodarte and a cornflower-blue slip from Khaite - complete with a Princess Diana-esque neck scarf in the same shade. Those luxe flip-flops from The Row cropped up again in the famed Hôtel Martinez lobby, styled with a stripy shirt, a pair of wide-leg trousers (also The Row), and Bottega Veneta's cult Sardine bag. Proof that this starlet can do off-duty cool just as well as she does princess gowns. Further evidence came on Friday in the form of the diaphanous dress she styled over jeans, adding buckled shoes and a chainmail bag.

After all the demure hemlines and relaxed shirting, Elle flipped the script once again. "Now this is a party dress," Fanning wrote on Instagram of her daring silver Paco Rabanne dress, with a sculptural, barely-there bodice that just about preserved her modesty. (The precise fit eliminated the risk of wardrobe malfunctions.) The film prizes haven't been dished out yet, but Elle deserves full marks for keeping fashion fans guessing.

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Elle Fanning's Unpredictable Fashion Is Keeping Cannes On Its Toes

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Elle Fanning has delivered striking fashion at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. Vogue takes a look at what she's worn thus far.

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While the majority of Elle's acting award wins come from her early career, implying what a standout actress she's been from the start, she has been frequently recognised for her role in 'The Great' (2020) through recurring yearly nominations (and a successful win in 2021). Her fame has not decreased over time, instead gaining a wider audience.

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Learning to be an independent woman (2 & 3)

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Learning to be an independent woman (2 & 3)

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In her interview with Bazaar, Elle talks about how after growing up in the industry, she realised her voice matters, that she has an impact and she wants to do something with it. She no longer makes excuses about how she's 'young', as she believes that with every character she has played, she has taken a part of them with her - each female experience growing into her own personal one. Further, her role models in Hollywood are women she has worked with, acknowledging her manners and kindness during filming and willingness to create a comfortable environment has come from what she learnt from women such as Kirsten Dunst and Nicole Kidman. When discussing 'The Great' (2020) she expresses excitement into branching out into comedy. She also indulges in experiencing fictional pregnancy, leading her to admit that, even though she is now single, she cannot wait for that part of motherhood and to begin that chapter in her life, reinforcing how she is trying to break away from her child star image.

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From meeting on set in 2018, Elle and Max Minghella had a private, yet seemingly happy, relationship until breaking up in early 2023. Whilst Elle says their twelve year age gap wasn't a problem, their relationship going from director-coworker to boyfriend-girlfriend had mixed receptions from fans due to stories of women being taken advantage of by older men in the industry. However, they were both supportive of each other's careers: attending premieres and events together and sometimes posting on social media together. As Elle is private about more personal sides of her life, there has not been any conformation about the reasons for the split. However, unlike how some journalists make the woman seem villainous after celebrity couple breakups, Elle's image is still positively constructed around her joyful, charming persona. Unattached from being just an accessory of a famous man, news outlets are admiring how she "still believes in love at first sight" and holds princess-like ideals of romance.

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Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

A Hollywood romance. Elle Fanning and Max Minghella started off as coworkers - but it didn't take long for them to take things to the next level.

The couple met while working on the 2018 film Teen Spirit. The Handmaid's Tale star, who wrote and directed the musical drama, later praised Fanning for her commitment to the project.

"You have to be able to sing, you have to be able to dance, you've got to, you know, be able to speak Polish convincingly, do the British accent, play the age range and carry the movie with an incredibly nuanced performance," he explained to Entertainment Tonight in April 2019. "It's a lot for one person, and she just handled everything with such discipline and professionalism and she never complained."

That same month, the Emmy nominee admitted that he didn't think the movie "would be finished" without Fanning.

"Genuinely, I'm not being hyperbolic," he exclusively told Us Weekly at an event for the film. "I don't think we would have gotten through the shoot, because if we didn't have one of those shots, the movie wouldn't cut together, so I'm really grateful to have somebody as brilliant in this kind of dream project."

The actress, for her part, opened up about forming a bond with Minghella on set, telling ET, "I mean, we just really love working together. That was, like, very special."

Even though The Great star and the actor have preferred to keep their romance low-key, they made their red carpet debut that same year. From there, Fanning and Minghella offered small glimpses at their connection over the years.

In January 2023, a source told Us that Fanning and Minghella were "in a better place" than ever. "The [coronavirus] pandemic played a part in that, of course," the insider shared, noting that the twosome "don't tend to pop up at the more regular places you'd expect a high profile couple" because they are focused on traveling and working.

According to the source, their 12-year age difference hasn't affected Fanning and Minghella's relationship. "The age difference isn't an issue at all," the insider added. "Elle loves how mature and intelligent Max is. He's a real intellect with a big passion for arts and culture."

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The Maleficent star's "super solid" romance grew after they "really bonded over" their time in the industry. "Nobody would be surprised if Max proposes soon," the insider hinted at the time. "Elle would most likely love that too, but he's keeping those cards close to his chest."

Scroll down to relive Fanning and Minghella's romance:

A Hollywood romance. Elle Fanning and Max Minghella started off as coworkers - but it didn't take long for them to take things to the next level. The couple met while working on the 2018 film Teen Spirit. The Handmaid's Tale star, who wrote and directed the musical drama, later praised Fanning for her commitment to the project. "You have to be able to sing, you have to be able to dance, you've got to, you know, be able to speak Polish convincingly, do the British accent, play the age range and carry the movie with an incredibly nuanced performance," he explained to Entertainment Tonight in April 2019. "It's a lot for one person, and she just handled everything with such discipline and professionalism and she never complained." That same month, the Emmy nominee admitted that he didn't think the movie "would be finished" without Fanning. "Genuinely, I'm not being hyperbolic," he exclusively told Us Weekly at an event for the film. "I don't think we would have gotten through the shoot, because if we didn't have one of those shots, the movie wouldn't cut together, so I'm really grateful to have somebody as brilliant in this kind of dream project." The actress, for her part, opened up about forming a bond with Minghella on set, telling ET, "I mean, we just really love working together. That was, like, very special." [sendtonews type="float" key="klZa6tICHR-2829097-14453"] Even though The Great star and the actor have preferred to keep their romance low-key, they made their red carpet debut that same year. From there, Fanning and Minghella offered small glimpses at their connection over the years. In January 2023, a source told Us that Fanning and Minghella were "in a better place" than ever. "The [coronavirus] pandemic played a part in that, of course," the insider shared, noting that the twosome "don't tend to pop up at the more regular places you'd expect a high profile couple" because they are focused on traveling and working. According to the source, their 12-year age difference hasn't affected Fanning and Minghella's relationship. "The age difference isn't an issue at all," the insider added. "Elle loves how mature and intelligent Max is. He's a real intellect with a big passion for arts and culture." The Maleficent star's "super solid" romance grew after they "really bonded over" their time in the industry. "Nobody would be surprised if Max proposes soon," the insider hinted at the time. "Elle would most likely love that too, but he's keeping those cards close to his chest." Scroll down to relive Fanning and Minghella's romance:

A Hollywood romance. Elle Fanning and Max Minghella started off as coworkers - but it didn't take long for them to take things to the next level. The couple met while working on the 2018 film Teen Spirit. The Handmaid's Tale star, who wrote and directed the musical drama, later praised Fanning for her commitment to the project. "You have to be able to sing, you have to be able to dance, you've got to, you know, be able to speak Polish convincingly, do the British accent, play the age range and carry the movie with an incredibly nuanced performance," he explained to Entertainment Tonight in April 2019. "It's a lot for one person, and she just handled everything with such discipline and professionalism and she never complained." That same month, the Emmy nominee admitted that he didn't think the movie "would be finished" without Fanning. "Genuinely, I'm not being hyperbolic," he exclusively told Us Weekly at an event for the film. "I don't think we would have gotten through the shoot, because if we didn't have one of those shots, the movie wouldn't cut together, so I'm really grateful to have somebody as brilliant in this kind of dream project." The actress, for her part, opened up about forming a bond with Minghella on set, telling ET, "I mean, we just really love working together. That was, like, very special." [sendtonews type="float" key="klZa6tICHR-2829097-14453"] Even though The Great star and the actor have preferred to keep their romance low-key, they made their red carpet debut that same year. From there, Fanning and Minghella offered small glimpses at their connection over the years. In January 2023, a source told Us that Fanning and Minghella were "in a better place" than ever. "The [coronavirus] pandemic played a part in that, of course," the insider shared, noting that the twosome "don't tend to pop up at the more regular places you'd expect a high profile couple" because they are focused on traveling and working. According to the source, their 12-year age difference hasn't affected Fanning and Minghella's relationship. "The age difference isn't an issue at all," the insider added. "Elle loves how mature and intelligent Max is. He's a real intellect with a big passion for arts and culture." The Maleficent star's "super solid" romance grew after they "really bonded over" their time in the industry. "Nobody would be surprised if Max proposes soon," the insider hinted at the time. "Elle would most likely love that too, but he's keeping those cards close to his chest." Scroll down to relive Fanning and Minghella's romance:

After meeting in the set of Teen Spirit, Fanning and Minghella sparked romance rumors off screen. Later that year, an onlooker told Us that the duo were "holding hands" during a trip to Florence, Italy.

During an interview with Us, the U.K. native gushed about working alongside Fanning for his film.

"You're melting with relief, honestly, you are," he shared with Us in April 2019. "This was not a movie where we had a ton of resources to make it, and what we're trying is extremely large in scope. So you actually have to have somebody who can show up and deliver every single time you turn the camera on without question, and she just does."

The couple went public with their relationship at the 2019 Met Gala. Fanning wore a '60s-inspired look by Miu Miu, while Minghella was at her side in a classic tuxedo.

An insider shared with Us that Fanning and Minghella are "very private people" when it comes to their relationship. According to the source, the twosome have "been serious for a good while" and keeping tight-lipped about their romance has "suited them" both.

Fanning confirmed that the pair had recently called it quits during an interview with Harper's Bazaar U.K.

"But I'm a hopeless romantic," she told the outlet. I believe in love at first sight. Call me crazy, but I believe in those things. I feel that it's my destiny."

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Elle Fanning, Max Minghella's Relationship Timeline

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Elle Fanning and Max Minghella started dating after they met on the set of the 2018 film 'Teen Spirit' - relive their romance

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“It’s very, like, playful while still being sexy and sensual. You can see personality shine through.”

In an interview taken about her thoughts on being the muse for this perfume, she expresses her joy in being able to show the more unserious, lively yet alluring, side of fragrance adverts. Everything from the bottle design to her outfits in the promotion, she uses her identity as a free spirit to align with the brand's ideas that beauty can be both elegant and fun. Elle's personality online, and now on screen (matching with her current known roles), making both fans and non-fans alike acknowledge how much she fits this persona.

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The video advertisement for the Paco Rabanne perfume 'Fame' centres bright, youthful fun. The mix of colourful outfits, animated movement and the David Bowie song playing in the back connotes timeless, extravagant beauty.

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Elle has distant family connections to King Edward III. Gives her princess looks and elegance a new meaning, as if she was born to be famous and play these roles.

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From the young age of thirteen, she was already receiving awards and being branded a ‘role model’ for children worldwide. Although this shows the popularity she’s had since the breakout of her career, it implies the amount of pressure held over her to use her platform for good and to, even as a child herself, act grown up and responsible. While acting playful and childlike in her roles, outside of that she was made to grow up from her child persona quickly. It is clear that this has impacted her later in life, as she takes pride in her morals and activism.

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Elle Fanning was hailed as a role model for children around the world at a glitzy gala in New York on Monday (21Nov11).

The Super 8 star and her actress sister Dakota, who was unable to attend the benefit, were picked to receive the Children of the World award for the positive example they have set for youngsters.

The gala, hosted by the Children of Chernobyl charity, marked the 25th anniversary of the Ukraine disaster and Fanning told reporters she is inspired by the courageous kids living in the aftermath of the nuclear reactor's meltdown in 1986.

She says, "I wasn't even born when all that happened. Isn't it crazy that it's still affecting the lives of kids generations later? It's sad. I think I'm being given the award as a role model to the young kids... I mean those kids are more like role models to me. They're so brave!"

Michael Douglas also presented his dad Kirk with an award at the event, which was held to raise money for the non-profit Children of Chernobyl organization, which has rescued nearly 3,000 kids from contaminated zones in the European country.

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Elle Fanning lands role model award | Young Hollywood

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Elle Fanning was hailed as a role model for children around the world at a glitzy gala in New York on Monday (21Nov11)....

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As Elle has morphed between symbols of innocence, beauty and sexuality over her career, the brands she works with, her collaborations, fashion and events have mirrored her image in order to benefit the kind of girl she was trying to encapsulate in that moment.

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'How To Talk To Girls At Parties' (2017)

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Elle landed herself a role as an alien girl in the 2017 Neil Gaiman adaptation. Punk outfits, hardcore rock singing, abstract dancing, silly over-the-top romance scenes: this character showed Elle's versatility as an actress.

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How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) ⭐ 5.7 | Comedy, Music, Romance

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Elle tells director Mike Mills that her character in '20th Century Women' (2017) reminded her of her friends in real life. She embodies the relatable traits of a girl figuring out who she is and the complicated relationships with men gained during this age: being playful, gossiping, sneaking out and having her first time experiences.

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Mike Mills's 2010 movie Beginners was inspired by his relationship with his dad who came out as gay at the age of 75. Naturally, it was deeply personal. Now he's reached into his emotional vault again, with 20 th Century Women, a movie inspired by his relationship with his mum, a woman he describes like having Humphrey Bogart as a parent.

Set in late 70s Santa Barbara, where Mills grew up as a punk-obsessed skater, the film sees Annette Bening starring as his mum. She takes a liberal approach to parenting her teenage son, Jamie, with the dad nowhere to be seen. She dances to Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown" in an attempt to understand the youth. She believes in letting Jamie make mistakes, telling him, "Having your heart broken is a tremendous way to learn about the world."

Mills, in this story, is 15-year-old Jamie, a shy skater navigating the choppy waters of suburban adolescence. Guiding him are three women: his mum, his crush ( Elle Fanning's Julie, who regularly sleeps over but 'friendzones' him), and one of his mum's lodgers, Abbie ( Greta Gerwig), who makes him punk mixtapes and introduces him to feminist literature. These are the titular 20th century women, and as Mills tells me when we sit down, it's a portrait of them more than it is of Jamie's coming-of-age. Here he tells me how he tapped into the female psyche, how he 'cinematised' his life, and how he was labelled an 'art fag' for liking Talking Heads.

You've said Annette Bening's character, Dorothea, was based on your own mum; did you have a similar upbringing to Jamie?
Mike Mills: Yeah, I did all the things he did. I did the [asphyxiation] game but I didn't end up in hospital. I did all the punk stuff and the skating, all that's from me. And my mum had that slightly laissez-faire thing. Like if I ran away she would say, "did you have a good time?" It was like, go in the jungle, meet the tigers and lions, go make mistakes, then deal with them, I'm not gonna coddle you. She was sort of a tough character. It was like having Humphrey Bogart as your mother. And that was kinda cool but also kinda rough; it's not the most maternal thing. My mum never got two women to help raise me, but I was kind of raised in this matriarchy with a very strong mum and two sisters who were 10 and 7 years older.
What was it like, personally, to see her bring that character to life?

Mike Mills: It's very personal in some ways: she's wearing my mum's jewellery, she's laying on my mum's bedspread, she's saying things my mum said, but it's a performance, it's distilled into a cinematised otherness. It's not therapy, it's not really mum. Same thing with Beginners - Christopher Plummer is not my dad. Like Fellini, I've been cinematising my real life, and it's a bit of a trip that I can't totally explain or understand. Like is it mum or not, or how much is it mum? Sometimes, when [Annette Bening] is smoking and she's standing in front of the painting I grew up with, it's very evocative. But that's not the goal. I'm using all these concrete personal things to inject my film with a certain emotional charge and realness that I feel is not following the formulas of normal American films.
Your film has three incredibly strong female characters. Was it daunting for you, tapping into the female psyche?
Mike Mills: There were three different females to tap into. And so first of all, as a heterosexual, cisgendered man, there was only so far I could go. It's not my lived experience. In different ways I tried to make that limitation part of the story, like when Julie says "that's not me, that's just your version of me" towards the end, that was like her talking to the author. And my mum - I'm writing about my mum who I'm totally interwoven with; we were like a married couple, me and her, but I totally don't understand her in many key ways, and she's very intangible in very key ways. And that really fucked me up in the writing process: what is her voice? How do I write her? How do I be her? One thing that helped was making that part of the story.

How did you approach writing the menstruation scene as a man?
Mike Mills: Well my wife [filmmaker/artist/author Miranda July] is very much menstruation-proud. There's a great story where she was teaching her older brother how important it was for a man to understand menstruation. I kind of stole from that little event, so it's partly a nod to my wife. And then the stuff that Julie says - about her first period and her first sexual experience - I interviewed some friends of mine who had wild lives in '79, who were Julie's age then...I liked that semi-journalistic corruption of the fictional process.
How do you think it was different for teens coming of age in 1979, as opposed to now?
Mike Mills: It's funny, I don't think of my movie as a coming-of-age movie; it's a really bad coming-of-age movie because the kid doesn't really change. I feel like the kid is there as a way to see the women. It is about him, he's growing up, but I'm not as interested in him growing up. I'm interested in what it means to be a mum born in the 20s, having a kid when you're 40, having a relationship and being this depression-era, Amelia Earhart, Humphrey Bogart mother of a punk rock, skateboarding kid in the 70s - and all the problems that ensue. So it's Rudy Vallée's "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca meets The Buzzcocks, and all the conflicts that ensue. That's my elevator pitch of my movie.
You show how important music taste was back then and what it said about you, like the Black Flag vs. Talking Heads thing, with fans of the latter deemed 'art fags'.
Mike Mills: In the SoCal punk scene there were definitely divisions like that. My sister got me that orange '77' Talking Heads shirt and I liked all that, and I liked Bauhaus and Joy Division and all that was kind of illegal to the hardcore scene; if you liked Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Tears of all Adolescence, that stuff was sort of gay, and I say gay like, there was homophobia in that scene or "artophobia". There was a punk house near my high school where all the riff raff punk kids hung out that I frequented, and one day I went there and 'MIKE MILLS IS AN ART FAG' was painted on the side of the building. So that all came from my life.

"If you liked Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Tears of all Adolescence, that stuff was sort of gay, and I say gay like, there was homophobia in that scene or 'artophobia'" - Mike Mills

The soundtrack features some Suicide and Devo, too. The selection seemed really important; how did you choose?
Mike Mills: A lot of it is songs that I adored and grew up with. There's so many scenes about music in the movie, and that music has been such a key thing for me. Suburban Santa Barbara in the 70s was a very sleepy, boring, isolated, normative place that I found wildly depressing, truly depressing. I felt very alone and at risk [ laughs]. When I was 18 I left and went to New York. I got out. And I owe so much to that music. And music is maybe the most powerful, effective thing on me. When Trump won I just listened to Bowie all day, really loud, and it really helped. It's more than therapy, it's company.
Abbie passes her records down to Jamie, so it also works as a way of bridging generational gaps...
Mike Mills: Yeah, she gives him a mixtape. To me it's a portrait of pre-digital life, where you had to know people and you had to go and seek them out and they had to give you something IRL. I remember back in the day there was this great record store, and you had to take the bus for like two hours and hopefully the right guy was working there, because that right guy knew about Gang of Four, and if you liked Gang of Four he knew about Wire, and that was a magical thing, seeking out knowledge and physically having to go out and get it.
How did younger actors like Elle Fanning engage with an era they didn't experience?
Mike Mills: What's funny is that so much of my crew were born in 1979 or later, so it wasn't just teaching the actors what it was like to live then but the crew. I didn't see myself as that old or needing to be much of a historian. Elle said of Julie [her character], "She just reminds me of my friends, I could just glom onto her". And that's a neat answer to me because I want to make a historically accurate film but I'm trying to make it for now. I'm interested in how it relates to now.
20th Century Women is due out in UK cinemas 10 February. Watch the trailer below.

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How wild women inspired this anti-coming-of-age film

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Mike Mills talks about '20th Century Women', being called an 'art fag' in the SoCal punk scene and growing up with strong women in sleepy, suburban Santa Barbara

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Thomas, R. G. (2017) 'The Beguiled', The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, (16), pp. 200-201. (2)

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Thomas, R. G. (2017) 'The Beguiled', The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, (16), pp. 200-201. (2)

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As Elle grew up and gained more independence in the industry, it was pointed out that her first role as a legal adult revolved around her playing a young girl sexually involved with an older man. It's common that immediately after a child star turns a certain age, it's expected that to announce this growth, they take on more sex-positive roles as if to make some sort of statement. This can be a consequence of the watchful eyes Hollywood and the stereotypes and pressures they cause for women.

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Director of 'The Beguiled' (2017), Sofia Coppola, says she wrote Elle's character - a self-centred and seductive girl - with Fanning in mind to play her. Elles's image of being a blonde and beautiful young woman conforming to beauty standards, paired with her ability to showcase mature and powerful emotions when acting, allows her to morph her persona to fit whatever idealised version of a girl she needs to play. In the industry, she may be seen through her body image, meaning media creators as well as audiences project the type of personality they want her to have onto her directly. Due to her versatility of character roles, they therefore believe this image of her to be correct and authentic in their own minds.

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Elle Fanning and Kirsten Dunst have a lot in common: they are both Blonde with a capital "B," immensely talented performers, and look equally fetching in lacy antebellum garb. They also share the rare distinction of being a muse to Sofia Coppola.

Both actresses have, in a way, grown up in front of Coppola's camera. Dunst, 35, was 16 when she first worked with Coppola on The Virgin Suicides; Fanning was only 11 when she was cast in Somewhere. And while I wouldn't go as far as to say they were discovered by the director - Dunst has been acting since she was 7 years old, while Fanning was creeping us out as a pyromaniac 8-year-old on Law & Order: SVU - the two actresses have left an indelible mark on Coppola's oeuvre, and she on them.

So, what makes a Sofia Coppola muse? (And, more importantly, can I be one, too?) After months of obsessing over this movie, so clearly plucked from the dark recesses of my own brain, I finally got to speak to Coppola about her relationship with Dunst and Fanning. What is it about them that, as a director, she finds so compelling?

"When I met Elle I was really like, 'I can't wait to see what she grows up to be,'" Coppola said. "I just thought, she's so talented that I knew she'd be interesting to see grow up. I can't wait for her to have more complex roles when she's older. Young actresses stand out and it's fun to see who they turn into as adults."

"You find actors that you connect with - I have that with them," she said. "Both of them have a great sense of humor and work on the same page. So, it helps a lot. They get what I want to do. They get my sensibility."

It makes perfect sense that this is the movie Coppola would choose to merge her two muses. If you track the progression of her films, they all tackle a specific aspect of womanhood. The Virgin Suicides (1999) dealt with girlhood sexuality; Lost in Translation (2003) depicted an alienation very specific to your 20s; Marie Antoinette (2006) was about a literal teenage queen; Somewhere (2010) explored the quiet loneliness of Hollywood childhoods; The Bling Ring (2013) was a frenzied deep dive into teenage consumerism. What makes The Beguiled so interesting is that it shows a range of female experience, from girlhood to middle age. The cast ranges from 13-year-old Addison Riecke to Nicole Kidman, who just turned 50. Add in 18-year-old Fanning and 35-year-old Dunst, and you have a full spectrum.

"This one I love because it was working with this group of women in all different stages that I could relate to," Coppola said. "This is what's interesting to me - stories with interesting female characters."

The Beguiled is based on the 1960s novel by Thomas Cullinan, and has been adapted to the big screen once before, in a 1971 version starring Clint Eastwood. While that movie centered around the male perspective of the soldier arriving in a female environment, Coppola chose to focus on the women of the story. How did they survive this intrusion of their space? This is especially important given Coppola's recent triumph at the Cannes Film Festival, where she became the second woman to win Best Director in 71 years. Jury member Jessica Chastain made headlines when she called out films for not accurately representing women, largely due to the lack of female perspectives in filmmaking. "It was quite disturbing, to be honest," she said. "There are some exceptions, I will say. But for the most part, I was surprised with the representation of female characters on screen in these films."

"It was funny because [Elle]'s not like that at all. The character is really self-centered and always focused on being seductive," Coppola said.

The casting was no accident - the director wrote the screenplay with Dunst and Fanning in mind. "Right in the beginning when I thought about making my version, [I thought] 'Oh, Kirsten can play the teacher character, and now Elle's old enough to play a young student.' Just kind of getting together women that I love. When I was writing it, I was picturing them. I always wanted to work with them again, so that was part of the appeal. Seeing them together was cool."

"Kirsten's friendly with Dakota [Fanning], but they never spent time together," Coppola said. "It was the first movie [Elle] did on her own without going with a family member. She was on her own in New Orleans so we had to look out for her. Her and Kirsten got along well."

So well, in fact, that aside from a much publicized Girls Gone Wild: 1863 video, which showed Dunst and Fanning showing off their ankles (gasp!) while holding red Solo cups, the two also recreated an iconic shot from Lemonade, which makes sense since the film was shot in the same plantation house as Beyoncé's visual album.

"We both have a strong work ethic, and we don't take ourselves too seriously," Dunst said.

That willingness to play around is best illustrated by the case of the rumored topless Colin Farrell-posing-as-a-hot-gardener calendar, instigated by Dunst and Fanning one day during shooting. (If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of this vital piece of art, please send it my way!) Clearly, being a Sofia Coppola muse comes with major perks.

But the biggest perk of all is having her as a resource. On the set of The Beguiled, Coppola made sure to dole out directing advice to Kirsten Dunst, who is planning her own directorial debut with "The Bell Jar," an adaptation of Sylvia Plath's novel, ironically starring Dakota Fanning, Elle's sister.

"We talked about it a little bit and I would say 'Make sure you have a great script supervisor,' or 'To work with your editor is something really important on set.' When I was shooting and things came up, I would try to remind her of things that I was remembering or finding important. She'll do a great job!"

As for Dunst, she says the best advice Coppola's given her is simple: "Always follow your gut."

Maybe soon, the muse will become the master. And isn't that the most feminist story of all?

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How Elle Fanning & Kirsten Dunst Became Sofia Coppola's Movie Muses

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The director tells Refinery29 about casting "The Beguiled," and why she finds the two actresses so compelling.

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Female environments in the industry (2 & 3)

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Female environments in the industry (2 & 3)

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Elle makes it evident that she believes it is vitally important to have women behind the camera portraying girlhood through a female lens. She shares a personal story, being eleven years old and needing a training bra during the filming of ‘Somewhere’ (2010), Coppola’s environment making her feel safe and comfortable, looking out for each other like sisters and teachers. Acknowledging how everyone is shaped by their environment, Elle expresses that female crew see details others may not and how her experiences on set feel magical because of it.

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Back in the 1980s, when Sofia Coppola was a teenager, the pages of this magazine looked a little different than they do now. Flipping through early issues, the filmmaker-to-be was drawn, she said, to "society hostesses posing in their glamorous settings, in those ballgown skirts." Today, those stately images, featuring the likes of Deeda Blair, Lee Radziwill, and Marella Agnelli in their well-appointed living rooms, offer a respite from our current domestic state.

"I think we're all so starved for some beauty and fashion after being home," Coppola, 49, said of her vision for the project you see here. "I wanted the whole thing to be feminine and fancy, because we're too casual these days. The idea is that these women are lying around like they're tired after trying on so many gowns."

Coppola chose to feature three of her closest collaborators, with whom she's worked throughout her career: frequent muse Kirsten Dunst, whom Coppola first directed in The Virgin Suicides, when Dunst was 16 years old; Elle Fanning, who appeared in Somewhere at age 11 and in The Beguiled at 18; and Rashida Jones, the protagonist of last year's On the Rocks and a longtime behind-the-scenes influence.

With Coppola appearing on a tablet screen from Belize, where she had been spending part of the winter with her family, photographer Zoë Ghertner captured Dunst and Jones in a Beverly Hills home on an evocatively gloomy day. Photographing Fanning, who is based in London while filming the second season of The Great, was an entirely remote affair, with both Ghertner and Coppola appearing via Zoom while Fanning posed in de Gournay scion Hannah Cecil Gurney's Battersea house, chosen for its riot of ornate floral wallpaper. Ghertner's 2-year-old son sat on her lap for part of the shoot, and Coppola's 14-year-old, Romy-who, as an infant, used to hang out on her mother's lap while Coppola was on set-popped her head into the frame at one point to say hello. "It was like playing photo shoot," Coppola said. "I was sitting in my pajamas, having tea."

The resulting images are languid, luxurious, and a little bit spectral-as if the Lisbon sisters from The Virgin Suicides had grown up, married Tom Wolfe-ian Masters of the Universe, and discovered couture. As in Coppola's aesthetically immaculate films, every detail was carefully chosen to evoke a specific feeling, from the flowers ("Eighties hostesses always had an important floral arrangement," Coppola quipped) to the drape of each string of pearls.

As I spoke with the three actresses about their relationship with the director, the words "big sister" came up a lot. Dunst, 38, and Fanning, 22, literally grew up on Coppola's sets, and noted the importance of having a woman behind the camera during periods of intense vulnerability. "I felt really protected," Dunst said of her experience working with Coppola on The Virgin Suicides. "She made me feel like I was cool, like my teeth were cool, and I was pretty. At 16, I did not think anything of myself. And it's nice to have had another woman celebrate that transition, rather than it having been sexualized through a man's perspective."

With their work on The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, and The Beguiled (Dunst also has a cameo in The Bling Ring), the director and the actress have built the kind of artist-muse relationship rarely seen in the film industry these days. "It's just so beautiful to have that kind of friendship where you've seen each other have children," Dunst said. "There are few collaborations, to be honest, where it lasts, where someone knows you that long that's not your family."

For one of her Beverly Hills looks, Dunst, now pregnant with her second child, went to two other trusted friends: Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who designed a custom white lace frock for the shoot. Dunst has been wearing their pieces ever since her Spider-Man press tour, and she announced her first pregnancy in Rodarte's fall 2018 lookbook. The bespoke piece Dunst wears here is based on a similar silhouette she wore back then-something her mother reminded her about, knowing it would fit her body's current shape. Ghertner coaxed Dunst into specific poses, while Coppola trained her eagle eye on textures, backgrounds-even the placement of individual flower petals. "Every shot was on the floor. I was like, 'I can't get up.' I felt like Urkel," Dunst joked.

A few thousand miles away, on a cloudy day in London, Fanning mirrored Dunst's low-lying postures in a peach-toned bedroom fit for Marie Antoinette. Speaking on the phone the next night, Fanning reflected on being a preteen in front of Coppola's lens. She recalled her relief at being able to talk to Coppola about the fact that she started needing a training bra midway through filming Somewhere. "That was a moment," Fanning said. "When you're 11, you are physically, emotionally, mentally changing. You're also very influenced by your surroundings. One of my first big film sets being led by a woman created a normalcy to seeing women in charge." Even Fanning's awkward markers of adolescence, like glasses and a retainer, made their way into the film-little vérité details that other directors might not have appreciated. "Sofia is able to strip everyone down in her films," Fanning said. "She makes the most mundane, small things in life just so completely magical."

Seven years later, The Beguiled marked another milestone for Fanning: It was her first set without a chaperone. "It was like going to college," Fanning said. "I remember when I could really hang out with Sofia and Kirsten. We were all at this hotel in New Orleans, and we stayed up really late one night. I felt like I was in with the cool kids." For Dunst's high school prom, Coppola lent her a John Galliano dress she had worn to the Golden Globes, and when Fanning turned 21, Coppola, who couldn't make it to the party, surprised her by supplying customized hot pink champagne bottles. "The moment she knew she couldn't attend, she called my mom and was like, 'What can I do?' " Fanning recalled.

I spoke to Jones as she got settled into hair and makeup at the Beverly Hills house, taking in the rose garden, gilded trim, and all that floral chintz. "I feel like a little girl who has gotten access to her very glamorous mom's closet," she said. "It's just me playing dress-up at home, which is a wish fulfillment for me, because what are clothes? I don't know. It's been a year."

Jones, now 45, first met Coppola in 2003, while the director was workshopping a draft of her Oscar-winning script for Lost in Translation. "I was just a 27-year-old out-of-work actress in an acting class," Jones recalled. "She really treated me with respect, and didn't have any reason to." Jones stayed lodged in Coppola's mind ever since that first meeting, even as Jones established herself with comedic roles in The Office and Parks and Recreation. They eventually worked together on Coppola's 2015 Netflix special, A Very Murray Christmas, in which Jones plays a beleaguered bride whom Bill Murray consoles with cake and music at the Carlyle Hotel's Bemelmans Bar. As the screenplay for On the Rocks began to take shape, Coppola reached out to offer Jones the lead role of Laura, a writer and mother of two about to turn 40 who has a larger-than-life father, Felix, played by Murray. It is Coppola's most clearly autobiographical character yet, and one whose subtleties Jones was in a particular position to understand. (Coppola's father is the legendary director Francis Ford Coppola; Jones's is the equally legendary musician and record producer Quincy Jones.)

The film follows Laura as she experiences parallel creative and marital crises, and leans on her father for support as she spirals into an isolated state of insecurity. "It's really a coming-of-age story, in a weird way, even though Laura is middle-aged," Jones said, before heading off to discuss the next shot with Ghertner. "I, too, have struggled with my awesome father-whom I love so much, who's a big figure in my life and in the world-and having to figure out who I am without him."

Coppola started writing the script years ago, when her daughters were young and she was struggling to balance her creativity with the demands of motherhood. Rather than going heavy-handed with the subject matter, the film is as close to a comedy as Coppola's work gets. She elevates slapstick situations with her signature eye for highbrow details (for a late-night stakeout turned car chase, Felix stocks his vintage Alfa Romeo with tins of Russ & Daughters caviar) and dresses Laura in a contemporary SoHo cool-mom uniform: Caron Callahan military pants, a Chanel purse slung over a canvas tote from the Strand. They're a far cry from the ballskirts and jewels that Coppola spied in the pages of W more than three decades ago, but they are status signifiers nonetheless.

"There was a TV channel when I was living in Paris in the '90s, Ciné+ Émotion. We called it the Comfort Channel. It would always be playing some kind of romantic comedy that you knew wasn't going to stress you out," Coppola said. "I wanted something that would allow me to wrestle with deep themes, but also be fun and pretty to look at." When On the Rocks was released on Apple TV+ in October, Coppola was surprised to see it from an entirely new perspective: as a period piece. Not only do Jones and Murray reunite over martinis at Bemelmans, they practically go on a tour of old-school New York City bars and restaurants that have been mostly shuttered since the pandemic began. "I'm glad that we got to capture New York in a lively state that hopefully we'll have again soon," Coppola said.

Her next project, adapting the Edith Wharton novel The Custom of the Country into a limited series for Apple, will be a more traditional kind of period piece. The book offers a satirical look at the manners and marriages of New York society and French aristocracy at the turn of the 20th century. "It was really nice to be able to escape into this other world and get to know all the characters and details," Coppola said. "What's so striking about them is that they're so contemporary. We're still struggling with the same kinds of things."

The novel's status-hungry protagonist, Undine Spragg (once succinctly described by the critic Edmund Wilson as an "international cocktail bitch"), will surely fit right into Coppola's coterie of on-screen antiheroines, somewhere on the scale between Marie Antoinette and Nicki Moore, The Bling Ring 's fictionalized version of the teenage thief Alexis Neiers. In Spragg's diamond-bedecked rivals, we might even see prototypical versions of the '80s hostesses embodied here.

"Clearly, I'm drawn to these fancy society ladies," Coppola said, laughing, as we discussed the Wharton project a few days after the W shoot wrapped. "Once, my mom was like, 'Where does that come from?' And, I don't know, maybe growing up in the chaos of hippie artists in the '70s-that's the most opposite world. It's so foreign to me and how I was brought up. There's something intriguing there."

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Sofia Coppola Directs Kirsten Dunst, Rashida Jones, and Elle Fanning in a Fashion Fantasy

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For W's annual Directors Issue, Coppola casts her muses in a vision of opulent 1980s glamour.

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In the same interview, Elle discusses how for a while she struggled with the thought that all people saw of her was ‘the child star’ or ‘the princess’, wanting to break out of that fixed image and be more than what people expected of her. Crafting not only her acting persona (due to what roles she takes) but her online persona (what she posts online and how she carries herself in front of cameras) influences the perceptions individuals have on her. This impacts whether or not people see her as authentic - some may think she is intentionally crafting a wild and unpredictable persona while others may see her as finally being able to fully be who she really is in all aspects of her career due to creative freedom.

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#ellefanning talks about being placed in a "nice girl" box and trying to shatter that image to explore dark and risqué roles at the comedy actress #thrroundtable

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During the Actors On Actors round table, Elle opens up about when she was told at sixteen-years old that she lost out on a role in a father-daughter road trip comedy film due to being seen as “too unfuckable”. She now looks back and laughs at this, which may imply that being sexualised and/or comments about her appearance are something she has been used to hearing over the years. Further, she is not afraid to hold her tongue on issues involving women, as she wants to show the reality of the industry. This is her first time opening up about this story, using it to connect with the other women in the interview and portray to the audience that not everything in celebrities' lives are always positive - she has not had it easy just because she has been in the industry for a long time and is related to Dakota.

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Comedy Actress Roundtable: Jenna Ortega, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Elle Fanning, Ayo Edebiri & More

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Elle lets people know that even though she is accomplished in Hollywood, she does not forget where she came from, proudly stating she is from Georgia. Her on screen presence makes her come across as confident, well-spoken and humble, not erasing her beginnings just because she has reached a point of success. Furthermore, this tightens a bond between her, her fans and those from her place of birth to relate to and see themselves represented in, potentially saying "if she can get her dreams, so can I".

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Elle Fanning Teaches You Georgia Slang | Vanity Fair

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The 2011 drama pushed Elle further into the light of Hollywood, playing outgoing and caring Lily in 'We Bought A Zoo'. Roles like these allowed her to continue building a youthful persona for audiences to identify her with.

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Beginning her career as an actress in roles separate from Dakota, she starred in 'Daddy Daycare' (2003) alongside well-known A-list actors. In this family comedy, she was seen as charming yet mischievous.

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Daddy Day Care (2003) ⭐ 5.6 | Comedy, Family

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The director of ‘Super 8’ (2011) recalls thinking that Elle was a star from the moment they met each other when she was a child on the set of Dakota’s film, due to her innocent looks and personality. Elle then later went on to star as the leading girl in his sci-fi horror. Her emotional performance was deemed incredible for her age and landed her the spot of a star in the director's eyes.

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J.J. Abrams is looking back at 10 years of and the "transfixing" quality of its breakout star Elle Fanning.

The director, 54, tells PEOPLE he knew Fanning, 23, was a star when he met her on the set of Steven Spielberg's Tom Cruise-starring 2005 alien epic, War of the Worlds.

"I remember meeting Elle when she was teeny on the set of War of the Worlds that her sister [Dakota Fanning] was in. And when we cast this movie and she came in, she was so immediately just transfixing," says Abrams. "She was so real and thoughtful and just in her skin."

Super 8 tells the story of six friends who witness a train wreck while making a Super 8 movie, only to discover that something unimaginable escaped during the crash. As they attempt to rescue one of their one, they discover that the only thing more mysterious than what it is, is what it wants.

One scene from the film stood out to Abrams in which Alice (Fanning) is required to cry in a homemade movie her friends are making. Later in the film, Alice shares a moment of vulnerability with Joel Courtney's Joe Lamb-something Abrams says showcased Fanning's talent.

"I remember, I think she was 13, and she and I were talking about how she cries in the scene before the train crash happens," he says. "She is sort of acting in the movie, and she has to cry as the character. But then later she has to cry as her character for real with Joe, when they're watching his movies of his mom."

He continues, "And I remember talking to her about the difference between these two crying scenes, that they can't look the same. Her crying in the movie has to be a thing that she's creating and she's making herself do. And just in that conversation with her, she so got it."

"I've always been struck by, even at that age, her ability to not just discuss the nuances of a performance, but then execute it as if it was utterly natural and effortless," he says. "And she is really a truly remarkable actor. Even back then she was."

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Originally released on June 10, 2011, the film is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a newly remastered 4K Ultra HD release, available today.

The 4K Ultra HD film features over two hours of bonus content from the film, including commentary from Abrams, the casting search for the child actors and deleted scenes.

Super 8 is now available on 4K Ultra HD.

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J.J. Abrams Reflects on Elle Fanning's Star-Making Super 8 Performance: She Was 'Truly Remarkable'

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J.J. Abrams is looking back at the making of Super 8 on the film's 10 year anniversary-and how he cast the movie's breakout star Elle Fanning

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Elle begun her career taking family-friendly roles in both Hollywood films and more niche, independent releases. For a long time she was seen as a copy of the 'innocent Fanning' sister.

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O'Connor, J. (2009) 'Beyond Social Constructionism: A Structural Analysis of the Cultural Significance of the Child Star', Children & Society, 23(3), pp. 214-225. (2)

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O'Connor, J. (2009) 'Beyond Social Constructionism: A Structural Analysis of the Cultural Significance of the Child Star', Children & Society, 23(3), pp. 214-225. (2)

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Elle’s appeal to audiences as a child may have been due to her ability to act realistic and sweet, seen as cute to older generations and therefore providing her that standout ‘Fanning’ child star image similar to her sister. This article discusses how the innocence of a child holds weight to the kind of roles they get and how the public perceive them.

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Elle has also worked with a lot of female directors (as well as male) on projects surrounding the themes of girlhood. This has influenced her into being seen as a muse to directors like Sofia Coppola and therefore casted as, and seen as in the industry, ‘the coming-of-age girl’. Her characters for a while were surrounded by romance, rebellion, beauty and euphoria, exploring the complex emotions of growing up in different environments (mirroring how she herself would have had multiple different experiences transitioning from a child to a teen to an adult in the industry over the years).

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Elle has also taken on queer roles, in 2015 playing a transgender boy in '3 Generations', vocally using the press release and the role itself to advocate for acceptance and teach audiences about suffering and stories they may not see in their everyday life. Although now this film has been remembered negatively for taking away the role from authentic transgender actors, Elle has said that it was one of her most important jobs as an actress and it also led to her branching out from being put in the ‘innocent, girly, child star' box.

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Elle Fanning is one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood, with nine films ready to roll out by the end of next year.

Back in September 2015, Fanning was a 17-year-old high school senior, and that's when we caught up with her at the Toronto International Film Festival.

She was there promoting "3 Generations," in which she stars as a transgender boy named Ray who is struggling to find acceptance from his mother, played by Naomi Watts, and his grandmother, played by Susan Sarandon.

Then titled "About Ray," the film was pushed back from its original fall 2015 release date, and it finally hits theaters this weekend.

Here's what Fanning had to say about the film and the role of Ray, which she called "the most important character I've ever played, and the most special to me."

The Detroit News: What was it like to take on this role? It seems like a lot of responsibility, especially now.

Elle Fanning: When I was given the script, they were like, "this is like a family comedy/drama, but you'll be a transgender boy,' and I was like, 'wait a second, like, whoa! Wow, OK!" So I read it, and I knew that it would be the biggest challenge that I'd ever have to do, but I think that it's the most important role that I've ever done and the most special, because there are a lot of teens out there that are like Ray, and I don't think I've ever played a role that could relate to so many people and actually help people, at least even a tiny bit. You know, every little bit counts.

TDN: It helps to get the conversation going.

Fanning: People aren't as educated about it. Going into the film, maybe they have the same opinions as (Sarandon's) character, but maybe they'll come out and think differently, and that would be, like, "oh my God, we changed someone's mind about this!" But I don't think people are educated, and they don't understand that (being transgender) is not an option, and it's not something you can change or make better, it's who they are, and that's them. So you need to accept them for that, because why would you want to stunt someone for just being who they are on the inside? It doesn't matter about appearance, it's how they feel.

TDN: How did you prepare for the role?

Fanning: I first talked to a lot of transgender guys that the director had met. I knew a few myself, but she introduced me before filming. Right from when I got the role, I was always thinking about it. I talked to these boys and they were so magical and extraordinary and they opened up and they told me their stories, little details about what brand chest binder they wear, which brand works and which one doesn't - they all suck, they all hurt and they're awful. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos. With the internet, it's so nice, I think the internet has helped the transgender community to come together, because there's a place you can go and actually see that there are other people that are like you. If you're in the middle of Kansas or something, and you're thinking, "There's no one like me at my school, I am so different, people think I'm a freak," you can go on and find other people and that's amazing. The YouTube videos helped me; there are journals and things where guys will be on there saying, "I had a horrible day today, it's just the worst," but then other days it's like, "I had the best day, I'm feeling OK because someone called me sir."

TDN: Did you experience anything like that making the film?

Fanning: We filmed in New York and we had these walkaway lunches - we didn't really have catering or whatever. So we would go to restaurants, and I kept all my clothes on (from filming) and everything. And I was at this restaurant sitting down and I was just eating my food. And the waiter came over and was like, "Are you done with that, sir?" And I looked up. The actor in me was like, "oh my God!" I was so excited it happened, that it worked. Then I realized that's a much deeper thing, because in Ray's world, if that happened to him, his excitement would be beyond comprehension. So that was a really special moment, because of how great that must feel. And I liked that.

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama
'3 Generations'
Rated PG-13: for mature thematic content, some sexual references and language

Running time: 95 minutes

Opens Friday

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Elle Fanning on playing transgender in '3 Generations'

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The actress talks about her role in the film, in which she plays a transgender boy named Ray

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In ‘The Neon Demon’ (2016), Elle starred as the main character, a sixteen-year-old girl in the fashion industry going through hardships like sexualisation and bullying in this fictional modelling world. Whilst the film tried to mirror the real world, it was criticised for not understanding women properly and taking advantage of the way they portrayed young girls, like Elle, in the film through a male lens.

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Viewers first encounter the protagonist of The Neon Demon in a precarious position. The young girl, thin and pale and blank, lays prone on a chaise longue, drenched in blood. She is wearing a party dress. Her throat is slit, the blood coagulating thick and dark, and the camera takes its time sliding across her body and zooming out. There is loud electronic music.

The girl is 16-year-old Jessie, played with a soft and steadfast confidence by Elle Fanning. She is not dead but rather modeling, and the film follows her dark journey through the Los Angeles fashion industry, where she quickly learns that her natural beauty is the rare kind that will open all the right doors and turn all the right heads - as well as the wrong ones.

The film comes from director Nicolas Winding Refn, known most widely for 2011's stylish and adrenaline-fueled surprise hit Drive. With this latest effort, Refn paints a lurid, confused portrait of girlhood and the fashion industry that is flashy, loud, and gory but unfortunately fails at all turns to touch on anything close to truth.

The Neon Demon doesn't understand women, nor does it seem to want to try

During a recent roundtable interview, Refn spoke with me about how The Neon Demon subverts traditional expectations of men and women. He told me that "the males were written as the girlfriends of other movies." And in an interview with Vulture, he declared the film "beyond feminist" because it is "all about women."

The problem with this statement is that neither The Neon Demon nor Refn seems to actually understand women. At all.

In addition to Jessie, who feels more like a wounded male's idea of a 16-year-old girl - pure, soft-spoken and alluring, calculated and threatening in her self-awareness - the film also introduces us to Jena Malone 's Ruby, a gentle but intense and secretive makeup artist who immediately develops a strong interest in the young girl. As the film progresses, Ruby makes a series of less and less realistic decisions that undermine her character work while doing some notable damage to queer representation in media.

Elsewhere, Christina Hendricks is a bright spot, giving a solid, satirical take on an agent, but her expository scene is all too brief. Finally, we have a bevy of models jealous of how easily Jessie rises through the ranks of the industry. These bitter, beautiful people, scowling and slithering, are pure stereotype, their dialogue sounding like nothing I've ever heard come out of a real woman's mouth.

A film made by a man that is entirely about men but understands its characters and represents them accurately - both as members of their gender and as unique individuals - is much less a failure to women than a film about women, made by a man, which misunderstands and misrepresents women on every level, repulsively warping the ways they engage with the world and why.

At one point in The Neon Demon, Jessie tells a story about how her mother used to call her "a dangerous girl." She was right, Jessie says, "I am dangerous."

It's a common narrative. Young girls are raised to believe that their appearance makes them dangerous. That they "look like trouble." That their bare shoulders will distract boys from learning. That ungluing their knees from one another when they are sitting is both a threat to men and an invitation. These are lies. But The Neon Demon believes they are universal truths, which makes it difficult to take seriously.

Style doesn't trump narrative and tonal flaws, especially when it relies on flash and shock value

What makes Refn's best work (see: Drive) so successful is a combination of energy and well-modulated tone. Certainly his direction has always been notable for its emphasis on style, but as he would surely say himself, style can be awfully empty. If a film's only goal is to be stylish, it might as well be a music video, and that's what most of The Neon Demon feels like: a collection of flashy, colorful, high-concept music videos for songs that are dragged down by at least a couple of minutes of dull, self-satisfied noodling instrumental filler.

At one minute shy of two hours, the film is far too long and indulgent; the narrative is a meandering, joyless mess. During the roundtable, Refn admitted to that, in a sense, explaining that the protagonist and antagonist switch at the halfway point - which also marks the switch from "melodrama" to "horror film" - but that doesn't make the tonal and narrative transitions any more graceful or, frankly, logical.

The result is a series of disconnected vignettes. In one moment, The Neon Demon is a bloated, hallucinatory prep session for a runway show; then it's a smiley face with Xs for eyes being resentfully scrawled onto a mirror with lipstick. (Refn's female characters spend an inordinate amount of time gazing into mirrors.) All of a sudden, we're supposed to be invested in side characters who, just like that, have become sadistic protagonists.

Meanwhile, the thread of Keanu Reeves 's motel owner character, a grotesque individual who makes vile sexual noises at Jessie and encourages her boyfriend to direct his attention to a 13-year-old girl in the next room ("real Lolita shit," he says), is mysteriously dropped in favor of brutalizing girl-on-girl body horror, right around the time he escalates his behavior to far more terrifyingly villainous acts. (You'd be tempted to call him a caricature, if not for the upsetting truth that men exactly like him are plentiful in the real world.)

Whatever horrors men can inflict on women, The Neon Demon tells us, are no match for what cruelties women will commit against each other because they're pretty and narcissistic.

If you've seen the film's trailer or know anything about Refn as a director, you know there's going to be blood. Refn is giddy for shock tactics, positively gleeful over the reaction this film - with its "cannibalism," "lesbian necrophilia" and "deep-throating [of] a knife" - has received so far.

However, the only truly shocking thing about The Neon Demon is how Refn, a middle-aged straight white man with wealth, power, and influence, can be so absolutely convinced that it's young girls who are the real threat in today's beauty-obsessed society.

The film is fundamentally mistaken in its belief that women control the fashion world - and the world at large

In one early scene, Fanning's Jessie visits the set of a renowned fashion photographer with whom, Jessie is told, she is lucky to be working. He clears everyone else out of the room for a "closed set," rebuffing Ruby, who cares for Jessie and offers to stay in a clear attempt to avoid leaving a young girl alone with an aggressive man in a position of power. In the lengthy scene that follows, the photographer forces Jessie to strip completely naked, shuts off all the lights, and slathers her with gold paint by hand, lingering on her neck and collarbones.

Jessie obliges at every turn, cautious and tense at first but ultimately resolved. Recounting the story to Ruby, she has nothing but praise for the photographer. Refn, in our interview, explains that the photographer "uses the women as pure props" but that "he's not doing it out of evil or anything degrading. He's just feeding a higher machine."

The director did not see an issue with an underage girl tragically participating in her own exploitation by a clear Terry Richardson stand-in because she's been treated her whole life as though her appearance is her only asset. Rather, he saw an innocent middle-aged man feeding a "machine" run exclusively by women. "Is she an evil Dorothy or is she a deer in headlights?" Refn asks me. "Is she evil? Is she going into this knowing what's going to happen?"
The Neon Demon's chief argument is that a 16-year-old girl believing she's beautiful is a crime of hubris that deserves punishment by death
When I pointed out to Refn that the beauty industry being aimed at women is a wholly different thing from industry standards and behaviors being created and controlled by women, he disagreed: "If you look at all the fashion magazines, they are edited by women."

Well, sure, there are women in the fashion industry. But rarely are they the ones with the most power. Anna Wintour is the editor in chief of Vogue, which is owned by Condé Nast. A woman editing a magazine founded and owned by men is not a sign that women control an industry.

Perhaps more significantly, CEO World Magazine found that of the 11 richest fashion moguls in America according to Forbes's 400 billionaires list in 2014, only three were women, and two of those three women were part of husband-and-wife teams that counted as one entry. The CEOs of the biggest beauty companies in the world are predominantly men. And according to a 2009 story in the Independent, women occupy only a third of the UK's top fashion jobs. There's a reason women are faced with an onslaught of sexually explicit fashion ads, and it's not other women.

The Terry Richardsons and predatory motel owners of the world are plentiful, yet Refn has chosen to make a film whose chief argument is that a 16-year-old girl believing she's beautiful is a crime of ego and hubris that deserves of punishment by death. And if it's not the narcissism (which apparently is completely unique and limited to teenage girls) that earns her suffering, then it's her other "crime" in the film - rejecting sexual advances.

Watching The Neon Demon, and later speaking with Refn, I was reminded of a recent news story: A teen girl was allegedly killed by a boy of the same age who was angry at her for breaking up with him. CBS News, adding insult to injury, called the suspected murderer a "teen" and the victim a "woman."

Refn and his film are right: Danger goes hand in hand with being a teen girl - just not in the way Refn thinks.

The Neon Demon is playing in theaters throughout the country.

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The Neon Demon tries to both fetishize and vilify young girls. It fails.

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It's a film about women, made by a man, that misunderstands and misrepresents women on every level.

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As Elle grew up, she began (from her early teens) to diversify in her roles. Taking risks in her projects, the characters and genres reflected real world issues and taboo topics.

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During a behind the scenes interview on the set of Studio Ghibli's 'My Neighbor Totoro', the cast and crew discuss how Dakota and Elle as real siblings make them embody the animated sibling characters they are recording together. They are seen quarrelling and joking around and are branded sweet and talented girls with great chemistry and a promising future. Elle also says how she follows in Dakota's footsteps not only as a sister looking for guidance and fun but also in aspirations - wanting to be an actress like her.

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Dakota and Elle Fanning - My Neighbor Totoro

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Elle Fanning on Instagram: "I have watched many make your acquaintance..."

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Dakota and Elle have been seen as an iconic Hollywood sibling duo for over twenty-five years, their bond in the industry allowing them to work alongside each other, promote projects together on the red carpet and in interviews and also uphold an image together. Elle gushes over how proud she is that she has Dakota as a sister during her Instagram birthday post dedicated to her, calling her “cool” and “delicate” and sharing stories of their arguments, humour/inside jokes and makeovers done together. Elle encapsulates girlhood and the relatability of the relationship between sisters, allowing these two to seem like any other sibling duo whilst simultaneously making their lives as celebrities feel desirable by fans.

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Elle Fanning on Instagram: "I have watched many make your acquaintance. And without fail, they leave sporting the same mystified expression. First, transfixed by your doll eyes then captured by the wisdom they hold. You disarm with biting humor, but can slay (if needed) with keen intelligence and an uncanny ability to win all arguments (sometimes fortunately & unfortunately for me). 
They all want to be wrapped in your pink glow and once in, your loyalty is forever. I get to smile extra though, knowing I’m the luckiest of the bunch. Because you are my sister. My big sister who I watch effortlessly layer jewelry in such a cool way and wear hair clips that I could never pull off and bake insanely good cakes because your measurements are scarily accurate, and knit scarves at the speed of light with your delicate spider hands. Also, you’re a grammar police and I’m sure there are a ton of corrections to be made here! Oh… and there’s the photographic memory thing. Essentially Dakota is the perfect person and she is ALL MINE!!!!! You’ll never see bluer eyes or bluer veins.🫀I love you. HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY! 🧝🏻‍♀️ @dakotafanning"

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760K likes, 1,878 comments - ellefanning on February 23, 2022: "I have watched many make your acquaintance. And without fail, they leave sporting the same mystif..."

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Elle Fanning: The c-word helped 'shatter' my child star image

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Taking the part of Catherine in 'The Great' (2020) has allowed Elle to remove herself from the ‘child star’ persona that has been holding onto her for twenty years. Swearing in a wild and raunchy role has made her feel more confident, as she expresses how she is no longer afraid of being weird on set and taking more older and mature roles. After playing a princess in previous roles already, this time she is playing a royal who is not child-friendly and modest, pushing the boundaries of not only her acting capabilities but her celebrity persona too.

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Elle Fanning feels more "confident" since taking on the sexually-charged role of Catherine the Great.

The 25-year-old actress shot to fame as a child alongside her sister Dakota Fanning with roles in 'I Am Sam' and 'Daddy Day Care' but since taking on the part of 1700s Empress Catherine the Great in the raunchy Hulu drama series 'The Great', she has been able to "shatter" her child-star image and feels more "confident" because of it.

She told The Sunday Times: "For a while I was mostly known for being a child actor or a Disney princess and I was trying to shatter my way out of that. Playing Catherine has the princess costume, but she's raunchy, violent and we're saying the c-word every other word. I did the pilot when I was 20, I'm now 25 and the formative years of my life have been moulded by this character. To make those crazier choices, to not be afraid to be weird and wild because this is what Catherine would do. When I started all I knew was this rumour that she had sex with a horse - s***-shaming, in a way, because she had a lot of lovers and loved sex. But now . . . it's the confidence level she has given me."

The 'Maleficient' star went on to add that she is now "hands-on and vocal" on the set of the comedy series and teased that since starting to play the Russian ruler, she is more involved behind the scenes and could eventually turn to a second career in producing.

She said: "I'm pretty hands-on and vocal on set now. I love the editing process. So many actors tell me that I need to find my own material and produce it. It seems simple, but thanks to Catherine I'm learning that it can be, you know, it can be...it can be fun."

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Elle Fanning: The c-word helped 'shatter' my child star image

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Elle Fanning feels more "confident" since taking on the sexually-charged role of Catherine the Great and reveals how playing the Russian empress could send her career in a new direction.

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During an interview, she shares that the first take of her first kiss at thirteen years old is captured on film and used in a movie. This reinforces how invasive the industry can be, forcing someone to do ‘grown up’ things before they would have done it themselves outside of set. Since she has grown up in the industry, moments of her childhood and life that should be kept private are publicly available and used in a form of entertainment.

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Elle Fanning Had Her First Kiss On Camera | CONAN on TBS

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In the video, it jokes about how Elle has only one male fan, her audience mainly being made up of women. The idea that girls find her relatable, attractive and inspiring is intentionally repeated throughout.

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Narrating a dream she had, Elle comes across as a witty and imaginative teenager.

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Elle Fanning Relives Her Dreams | Teen Vogue

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Elle not only takes on roles in films and television, as she also has taken part in a lot of short videos on Vogue and other channels over the years. The mix of scripted acting and her showing off her personality allows people to form their own opinion on who she is outside of her mix of different genre acting roles. These videos are usually quirky and silly, mimicking her name or her ‘sweet girl’ status, furthering her image as a cheerful and playful individual.

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In a 2019 interview about the film ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’, Elle expresses how just because - her character - Aurora wants to get married and have a child and dreams about love, doesn’t mean she isn’t a strong woman. Compared to how other princesses are written to be warriors in armour, Elle wants to reinforce the idea that femininity can be beautiful and powerful. Whilst she takes roles that may be seen as ‘pure’ or ‘innocent’ she incorporates her feminist ideals onto the characters. She also uses her mother as an example of the strength in motherhood, adding onto her persona of being a family-oriented girl. She was praised for her modern take on being a Disney princess and how women shouldn't be shamed for wanting stereotypically 'girly' things.

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Elle Fanning explains why playing Aurora in Disney’s ‘Maleficent’ is special to her l GMA Digital

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Quirky Instagram behind the scene posts (2 & 3)

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Quirky Instagram behind the scene posts (2 & 3)

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Elle often uses her Instagram to promote projects, implying she cares deeply about the roles she is in. Posts like these reinforce the idea of her ‘authentic self’, being playful on set with the cast and crew, seeming like she is someone fun and comfortable to work with. However, due to the ‘scandalous’ nature of these images and the role in 'The Great' (2020) she is talking about, some people see her as ‘promoting sex’, shifting the once perceived ‘innocent’ image of her they had.

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Elle Fanning on Instagram: "Season 3 and we haven’t matured one bit ! TONIGHT @ midnight PREPARE TO JOIN THE DEBAUCHERY and be let in on all the juicy secrets! It is my favorite season so far!!!!!! SEASON 3 on @hulu !!!! TUNE IN TUNE IN TUNE IN 👅"

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682K likes, 3,226 comments - ellefanning on May 11, 2023: "Season 3 and we haven’t matured one bit ! TONIGHT @ midnight PREPARE TO JOIN THE DEBAUCHERY and..."

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She values her family a lot, frequently posting pictures of her and her sister, mother and father. Sharing these parts of her life not only allows us to get to know her better, fans feeling like she is opening up, but also pushes the narrative that she cares deeply about her family. Since we have seen her that young in the industry already, pictures like these can come across as nostalgic to certain audiences she has.

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She also, shortly after, played a younger version of her sister in the 2002 miniseries ‘Taken’. From the beginning of her career she was seen as an extension of her sister. Instead of being known by name, known as ‘the other Fanning sister’.

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Elle Fanning’s film debut and breakout into the industry was in the 2001 film ‘I Am Sam’. She was three years old, her character playing the younger version of her older sister in real life Dakota Fanning. Due to how she got her first role, her success can be boxed into the power of nepotism, arguably it can be seen that she only became famous due to her attachments to the ‘Fanning’ name and her age at the time.