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 Reservation Road
Character: Emma Learner Buy it now Site: Official  Benjamin Button
Character: Daisy Buy it now Site: Official  Phoebe in Wonderland
Character: Phoebe Lichten Buy it now Site: Official  Nutcracker and the Rat King
Character: Mary Release: Christmas 2010 Site: Not Yet  Vivaldi
Character: Cristina Release: 2010 Site: Not Yet Somewhere
Character: Cleo Release: 2010 Site: Not Yet 
-Elle on how she relates to her character, Phoebe (aged 10). 
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Name: Totally Elle URLs: elle-fanning.org, elle-fanning.net Webmasters: Jess & Sarah Online Since: July 2003 Hosted by: TheFanCarpet Currently: Elle fans online. 
This is not Elle's official site, nor are we in any way affiliated with the Fanning Family, their agency or management. Everything displayed on this website was written or created by the webmasters unless otherwise stated. Photographs are copyright to their respective owners and photographers and we do by no means imply that they belong to us by displaying them here, please do not publish elsewhere without direct permission from the copyright owner. Copyright infringement is never intended, please contact the staff with any inquiries or questions you may have. Copyright 2003 - 2009 Totally Elle |
ELLE > CO-WORKER'S QUOTES
"Elle Fanning is so sublime in this film. I asked [Dakota and Elle's] mother, 'what's in your womb?' She is just a stunning, magnificent actress."
"I've been fortunate to work with some very good child stars like Christina Ricci, who has grown into a great adult, and Elle is part of a very special tradition of being with people who are incredibly interesting to be around, Dakota as well. I'm amazed by how much privacy they can maintain while still having a public life."
"Elle would come on to the set every morning happy and excited to be there and would sort of emanate this white light and this joy. She'd go up to the grumpiest person who had just worked a 20-hour day and had three hours sleep and they'd light up."
"Actually, she taught me. We would finish these emotional scenes that were very emotionally taxing. And the director would yell, 'Cut!' And Elle would jump up and go, 'That was fun. Can we do it again?' And she meant it. I thought, "Oh, I've lost that sense of joy and play.' So she taught me that."
"My relationship with Phoebe in the film is how I organically felt about Elle. I believe the energy that lives off camera lives on. Shes just so kind and yummy and delicious. Shes just absolutely lovely and heartbreaking. Shes nothing short of astonishing."
"Yes, she has that command. Like her sister [Dakota Fanning], shes an incredibly gifted, stunning actress. Theyre consummate professionals and still, theyre delicious off-cameranormal, sweet, yummy, lovely kids."
Did he worry about placing the lead role on the shoulders of a 9-year-old? "Retroactively, I should have been more nervous about that. The truth of the matter is, from the moment Elle's face appeared on screen, we knew we were saved. She delivered time and again. The girl did not give a bad take! It's true. The other thing about Elle is you really wish her well as a person, because she's a good soul. Her parents keep her grounded, appreciative, grateful for opportunities; and I know, as a parent, how difficult it is to raise children in Hollywood. They're doing a magnificent job and you see the results not only in who she is, but in the kind of performances she can deliver."
"I watched Elle after the scene which you just described, where she's so amazing and so heartbreaking and so upset.. and she kinda hops off the bed and goes "wasn't that fun?". I forgot about the joy of pretend, she reinvigorated that in me and reminded me. I've since forgotten it but I appreciate it!"
"When I met her for the first time, there was like this marvelous ball of light and you can tell because you're sitting across from her. There is something that is so luminous about her. And I realized that to have that quality in this film was critical. Because it does confront some difficult and dark things. To have that sort of beauty and innocence right there was a no-brainer."
"We went to Elle Fanning, who had made an impression on me in both Door in the Floor and Babel. When I met her I was immediately struck as I think many people are by this kind of luminous quality she has about her. In fact, later on, when we were in the height of our pre-production stress and wondering how we were ever going to pull this off we did our hair and makeup tests. Elles face appeared on the screen there were probably ten people sitting in the room and there were audible gasps. It sounds like a clich but it was true she literally lit up the screen. It really reassured all of us, knowing that we had that kind of presence in the role."
"I'd admired Elle Fanning from Babel and The Door in the Floor; it was immediately clear that she had this inner light about her, which sounds hokey until you meet her in person or see her in the film."
"You will not believe Elle Fanning in this movie - she's off the charts. "
"In essence, Elle and I are kindred spirits in the film, Elle is wise beyond her years and when she acts, she becomes someone else."
"I told Elle Fanning's mom that I was going to steal her. I fell madly, madly in love with her."
[When asked what it's like working with a kid who seems so aware, and vulnerable, and understanding] "Just fuels envy, rage; I'm very tired of being set up by this girl - (turns off sarcasm) - no, it's amazing. You know, she has what we all want. You know? She has what you're trying to give her and the ability just to be in the moment and to react. It's a beautiful thing to witness somebody experiencing that, you know, where from take to take, she literally - it just depended on what was happening around her. There's one take where she seems in shock, and then the next take she's bawling her eyes out because Jennifer suddenly starts crying. And she's just completely reacting to what's happening in the room, and it's extraordinary. And that's all that you want.
"She's incredibly bright and talented. I think that the gift she has is utter empathy, and ability to just react in a situation. Depending on what was happening in a scene, her performance adjusted; it was incredible to watch. I mean, youre learning from a 7-year-old."
"And Elle Fanning One take at an audition and I knew. She is a genius actor. She has that acting talent that will be with her all of her life and she will be the next generations Meryl Streep or something like that and Eddie Alderson had worked a lot in television and soap operas and so the casting was not a problem in the slightest."
"[I'm] blown away by Elle and Eddies humility and their normalcy. Theyre sweet kids, but they also worked so hard on their characters."
"I was a child actress myself, though not yet at Elles age; she has been working basically since she was a baby and shes great, so energetic and enthusiastic. She watches carefully, takes everything in, and considering the subject matter of our movie has a good time."
"Elle Fanning plays our daughter. [She's] really great. I was [a child actress myself], though not quite that young. I think Elle has been working since she was a baby - that's a different league of child actor."
"Elle has an innate ability to engross her whole being into her character. She is honest at every moment and never egocentric. I have worked with many child actors over the years, and Elle is truly a joy. She is at once, a truly giving actress and an unspoiled child."
"Elle is both a child and a grown up little lady. She is always endearing and her stamina and concentration are amazing. Elle 's approach to her work is very mature and the energy she puts into every moment is astounding."
"You are doing a great job, Elle. Because you are taking your imagination, and a little bit of your experience, and that's your tools for work. That's great."
"Elle Fanning is more mature than me I think, thats scary sometimes, they are like little adults."
"There was a point in the film where the Mexican kids were playing tag with Nathan [Gamble] and Elle [Fanning], and they were just kids, they were mingling together. As a child you dont question differences. Theyre the first ones to reinforce the fact that we are all the same."
"My personal favorite was Elle Fanning - Dakota's little sister. She was an adorable little girl, and really had fun for the camera. She was very well-behaved and a sweet girl."
"She was very supportive and stuff... she was very nice and we were best friends when we were there. She paid attention... to her acting, but she's also very nice."
"Elle is refreshingly normal and real. We'd play Crazy 8's [on set] while we were waiting for lights."
"I'd let the camera run and she could improv - in sign language - and never break the scene until we cut. Elle is a very special young lady."
"It really fell upon my relationship with Anna to show the lighthearted side of Joe, and I think that Elle and I really captured a nice, lighthearted father-daughter relationship in the midst of dealing with something very serious... So the relationship between Joe and Anna is key to the rest of the journey in terms of the audience buying it and rooting for Joe to find his daughter."
"The kids in this film are great. There's a wonderful actress, Elle Fanning, who plays my daughter. She's Dakota Fanning's sister. She celebrated her fifth birthday on the set, and she's just spectacular. I get to live vicariously off that freshness in [the kids'] eyes. They keep you on your toes, too, because often, you know, they haven't worked too much. Or even if they have, they've worked with good directors and haven't developed a lot of bad acting habits."
"Elle is very, very talented and very smart. You'll see what she brings to the table in night one, and it's twofold in night three."
"Elle's terrific in the movie. She has a small part -- she only worked three days -- but everyone in the cast and crew adored her."
"On the set there isn't much to do so I had the opportunity to talk to Elle's mother and grandmother who were on set. They were very nice and down-to-earth people and Elle was a sweetheart! In between takes, she played with the other kids on set and was basically just a sweet and charming little girl. I came away [from the shoot] away extremely impressed with how real her family was. It seems like she and her sister are very grounded and very loved!
"[The redubbing of Totoro] was actually quite easy. We were worried because it has such big roles for two young girls. But Dakota Fanning and her little sister Elle Fanning turned out to be such amazingly talented young actresses that it was a blast. Eerily, the way Dakota and Elle relate to each other is so similar to Satsuki and Mei, that you would think Miyazaki had known the girls and based the characters on them."
"The two little girls that play my daughters are just fantastic. I wasn't surprised to find out they're sisters in real life because they have a wonderful rapport."
"It's an intangible thing but once you hear it you just know, okay, [Dakota and Elle] must definitely be related. Much more than being very, very talented actresses, their being sisters was integral to their playing these parts realistically. Those two girls were lucky to have each other. I have to give them both a lot of credit, I think their performances were very central to how everyone else around them was going to perform."
"[Dakota and Elle] are wonderful. You know, I want to pluck them off the screen and go *mwah*!"
"I wanted to make sure I [cast] somebody [in the role of Ruth] who really knew the difference between the fake stuff, pretend, that we do, and real life. The tough stuff [Elle] goes through in the movie I don't feel like she ever took off set with her. She was such a fun, playful spirit to have on set."
"She was so enamoured of Kim but Kim kept a distance. Jeff and Elle would draw children's books together, they had a ton of fun but there was a longing, as any little girl might have, to hang out with Kim. She was looking forward to seeing her the whole time."
"My original plan was to not talk to Elle at all, but to direct her through the actors that she was working with. I did that a little bit, but I very quickly found that I didnft have to play games with her. You could talk to her like you'd talk to an adult."
"[Elle] is the cutest little girl, I just love her so much. We had a great time working together, she is so joyful and cute."
"I found that all the 3-year-olds were great but had no idea what was going on, and many of the 6-year-olds were totally hammy and over-processed. Then Elle Fanning came in. She sort of manages to have the direct honesty of a 3-year-old, plus she has the sophistication, probably from watching her sister [I Am Sam's Dakota Fanning], so she can tell when we're on and when we're off. So even in the difficult scenes her character had to do, I didn't feel like I was going to be messing with her mind. The great thing is, she's been able to watch her sister do it, so for her it's very natural. It doesn't seem to be something she's desperate about; it seems like fun for her. And their parents are great parents. They've raised their kids so incredibly well that you'd be amazed if they were not working. They're the ultimate poised, sweet, well-behaved, pleasant people."
"We had a great time working together. It's wonderful to work with a child, especially one that's as talented and as free as Elle. We used to draw together all the time, and I made books for her, like I used to do with my girls."
"She is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my whole life. She's so together; she's like a little woman. So smart!"
"Working with little girls like Elle can be an acting lesson, because they're so free, and there's a part of acting that's very much like playing pretend when you were a kid. They're much closer to that, and they bring a lot of that into it. For an older guy like me, that's fun to tap into."
"I met a sea of four- and five-year-olds, and she was the only one who knew the difference between acting in a make-believe world and the real world. I could ask her to do difficult things, because she got the difference."
"When she first had to cry, she was in the room with Jeff, and we were all out in the hall. I said, 'Action!' and she let it rip. It was horrifying. In retrospect, it was funny to see Jeff looking so panicked. He completely bought her acting. She was so real, yelling and crying and hitting him. I think we all thought she was very, very upset. Then I said 'Cut,' and she laughed and ran out of the room to go back to whatever she was playing with between takes."
"Elle is needless to say magically gifted. She is the most beautiful definition of a child. I simply fell in love with her. It was very hard for me when the time came to say goodbye to her at the end of the movie and I've missed her ever since."
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