Elle Fanning Interview
Elle Fanning talks about stealing her sister's clothes, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt and her new film, Ginger & Rosa
What attracted you to the role of Ginger initially?
Elle: I remember reading the script for the first time and just feeling for Ginger so much. She goes through every emotion you can think of, which I thought was so fun and also sort of challenging.
You play a very politically aware teenager, how closely does your character echo your own personality?
Elle: I think that Ginger is trying to figure out her place and what her views actually are. It’s that age where you want to be an adult, you want to have the responsibilities of an adult, but you still want the freedom of being a child. She’s questioning religion and death, like where do you go when you die? It’s that whole concept and I think that I’m still sort of trying, at this age, trying to figure out where I fit, what are my views. So I guess that’s how I relate to her.
What was it like working with Christina Hendricks?
Elle: She’s just amazing. Yeah, she is just gorgeous, like unbelievably pretty, and so good. We had a close relationship on set too. And especially when I had the red hair, we were like 'the redheads'.
Were you nervous about going red?
Elle: My hair’s never been any other colour but blonde before so I was like ‘I have to do the red.’ I was excited for it, for the change, and also because I knew that it was so crucial to the character to have the hair. I thought that the red hair, it was like another character. It had its own life, just because it represented the freedom of the movie, like the fiery loudness.... and obviously Ginger, as her nickname.
The film is set around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. What kind of preparation did you do for the role?
Elle: A lot came from Sally [Potter, the director], because she grew up in that period. I was always asking her questions about what it was like, and in a moment the whole world could be blown to pieces. I mean, that’s so scary, that you might not be here tomorrow; I couldn’t even imagine what it was like.
Now obviously, you have an English accent. Was it a challenge?
Elle: It was a challenge. I’d never done an accent before, so I was nervous about it. But we did a lot of preparation to get it perfect and polished so then, when we were filming, you just don’t really have to think about it, you can just think about what you’re feeling in the scene and the characters. We worked hard. My dialect coach, she was so good, incredible. It helped a lot.
We interviewed your sister [Dakota Fanning] a few weeks ago and she told us that you pinch some of her clothes. Is it true?
Elle: Yes it’s true. She’s in LA right now at our house and I see her in pictures with my stuff on and I’m like ‘wait, wait, wait’, this has never happened before, now she’s started to steal my stuff too! But yeah, I was in New York, in her apartment, I was all over her closet.
Is there anything in particular that you really like?
Elle: She has great coats and she has amazing shoes, but my feet are bigger than hers so I can’t fit in her shoes. I just go for the shirts and the dresses.
Would you ever consider designing a clothing range together?
Elle: I dunno, it’d be cool, I’d love to. I mean maybe...
You got similar styles. I mean you steal each other’s clothes so...?
Elle: Yeah, but we steal each other’s clothes and make the clothes look different. I definitely think we have different styles. I appreciate the way she dresses - I think she looks great - and I think she appreciates my way, but I don’t know if we would ever wear the same exact outfit... the whole ensemble. We would probably change it up, which is great, I’m glad that we don’t look like twins.
We’re all very excited about Maleficent. What was it like working with Angelina Jolie?
Elle: Ah, she is amazing. There’s no one better to play that part, she just looks so cool and she’s so elegant... even in just the way that she stands. She’s very motherly too; she was so nice to me. It was just a really fun time with her.
And obviously her daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, she plays the younger version of your character Aurora. Is she a natural actress?
Elle: Oh she’s so cute! They dressed her up in the costume and she looked adorable.
You shot your first fragrance campaign. How was that?
Elle: That was amazing. We were in France, in the woods, just running around, he [the director, Yohan] just had the camera, that was really fun. And I’m glad it wasn’t just a beauty campaign, it was a story as well. She goes through different emotions and it’s not all smiling at the camera, which is nice. It was something different.
If you could represent any fashion house in the world, who would it be?
Elle: That’s really hard. I mean I love vintage clothes, so most of the clothes I wear don’t really have a label, so maybe a vintage store.
Ginger & Rosa is out Friday 19th October
