Fanning might have grown up, but she isn’t sure that her face has. It can be frustrating, she says, “because you’re like, you don’t know me”. And yet she admits she can still be that child at times. “I look at photos, and I looked the same when I was 11. I’m told I have a very period face. I don’t know what that means. I probably will be 35 and people will still go, Awww! My sister feels that way too, because people feel like they’ve known you since you were the six-year-old kid in the film.”
Fanning has never owned a car (she has a licence but doesn’t drive), she lives at home with her mum and grandmother, who expect “Southern manners, Southern hospitality, being gracious,” and she brings her childhood pillow with her everywhere – in the car to the set every morning, on the plane. Her grandmother homeschooled her and chaperoned her on film and TV sets. (Her mum did the same with Dakota.) Yet in Fanning’s mind, she tells me, she was still simply playing. At home, initially in Georgia until the family moved to LA for the girls’ work, she and Dakota were “always dressing up and having these elaborate fantasies that we would play out”, so she hadn’t fully understood this was also a career.
Elle wears Gucci jacket, top, sunglasses, and sunglasses chain; 1300 442 878
Fanning’s genuine warmth, wit and glimpses into the real world, have garnered her fans on social media – for the most part. “Twitter scares me! Oh my God, Twitter is so intense. Instagram I do enjoy; I have a private account and a public account [with 4.3 million followers]. I do think there are dangers that I totally fall into, of looking down that rabbit hole, comparing yourself to everybody else and seeing, oh, their life, that vacation. I try to keep it light and tell fans about movies that are coming out or about a photo shoot. That can get really intense, too. People can say they don’t read any comments, but…” She does a disbelieving face, eyebrow raised. “Mmm, yeah, you do! I do! Of course you look! ‘Oh, your ankles look huge.’ What the heck? It is bizarre, like, who is this person?”
She says she ends up feeling bad for the trolls, wondering about their lives. Surely they’re simply jealous of someone who, instead of going to university or scraping by, is currently playing the empress of Russia, with her husband, Peter III, portrayed by Nicholas Hoult. She’s co-producing The Great (created and written by The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara), too and says it’s “a dark comedy, so fun. Wacky and raunchy and really out there. But I had to go in the rooms and pitch to all of the different studios or streaming companies. That was daunting. All these guys staring at you.”
As for if all this producing is leading Fanning to directing, “I hope so,” she admits. “Now that I’ve gotten older, I’m much more interested in developing projects and reading material, producing it, maybe not being in it but just getting it made. I really want to direct.”
“We’ll be back at this hotel, and I’ll be 35. And I will,” she adds, pointing at her beaming, apple-cheeked baby face, “look like this.”
The Great premieres on Stan on May 16. The June issue of marie claire is on sale Thursday.
