The Fanning sisters might have debuted as child actors in the same film — 2001’s I am Sam, where Elle Fanning played a younger version of Dakota Fanning’s character. But over the years, they have taken their own paths, and proven themselves as talented performers. While the 24-year-old Dakota went on to star in films like War of the Worlds (2005) and more recently Ocean’s 8, the 20-year-old Elle, made an appearance in films like Babel (2006) and Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (2010), before she went on to star in independent productions. Last year, she played the role of Alicia in The Beguiled, where she reunited with Coppola after 10 years.
Based on a novel named A Painted Devil (later renamed as The Beguiled) by Thomas P Cullinan, the first film adaptation (of the same name) released in 1971, starring Clint Eastwood. Set during the Civil War period, The Beguiled is the story of a wounded soldier who is rescued by the headmistress of an all-girls school and her students, who all eventually end up fighting for his affection. While the ’71 version of the film had Eastwood play the soldier and the film was told from his perspective, Coppola’s rendition, Elle tells us, is quite different. “There are these Southern girls who live in the school, and they haven’t seen a man in a long time. One of the girls helps the wounded soldier and brings him home. That’s just the gist of the story that Sophia told us, but she switched perspectives from the girls' point of view to how it all affected them.”
In the film, Elle plays Alicia, one of the older students at the school, where Nicole Kidman plays the headmistress, and Kirsten Dunst, one of the teachers. “She is kind of hitting this point where she is about to enter womanhood, so there are a lot of emotions and hormones involved because we are seeing a man after so long,” she says.
Talking further about her character, Elle explains, “She is so self-absorbed and dramatic. Everyone’s so dramatic at this time because it’s so scary. She is quite funny, I have never played a comic role. When Sophia and I talked about the timings, there’s definitely a twisted dark side in the film. So Sophia knows how to balance that with humour.” Ask her what it was like working with Colin Firth, and Elle laughs, “We had this sexy calendar shoot with beauty shots of Colin posing in the garden shirtless with the water hose, it was so well done. He’s so great in the film and so charming too.”