MEDIA > TRANSCRIPTS > THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW

Elle appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, to promote Phoebe in Wonderland.
Friday March 13 2009

Ellen DeGeneres: At only ten years old, our next guest has already worked with Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, and Cate Blanchett. Her new movie is 'Phoebe in Wonderland' - take a look.
[A clip from 'Phoebe in Wonderland' plays]
Ellen: Please welcome Elle Fanning!
[Audience cheers and applause as Elle dances on stage. She and Ellen dance together and hug]
Ellen: Hi Elle!
Elle Fanning: Hi!
Ellen: I'm so happy to have you here - we've had your sister here, and now here you are for the first time.
Elle: Yes.
Ellen: What's going on with that family?
Elle: I know! [laughs]
Ellen: Really, really, special acting. Very natural, very incredible.
Elle: Thank you.
Ellen: Alright, so it's your first time here, but you're taking advantage of the gifts we're giving Dakota, right?
Elle: Yeah! On Christmas, we wore the pajamas that you gave us!
Ellen: Do you have a picture?
Elle: Yeah, it's my dog! It's of my dog wearing her little outfit.
[Elle squeals as the picture of Lewellen wearing pajamas comes up on screen]
Ellen: Did we give you an outfit for your dog? We did?
Elle: Yeah! With her name on it, yes!
Ellen: Aw, that's cruel, we should not have done that.
[Audience and Elle laughs]
Ellen: Did your dog enjoy it?
Elle: Yeah, she loved it! That was on Christmas.
Ellen: It doesn't look, really, like she's thrilled.
[Audience laughs]
Elle: No, we put it on there, I think she was like about to jump off the cushion, I don't know. [laughs]
Ellen: I bet.
Elle: Yeah.
Ellen: Well, I'm glad that you took advantage of that. And now, both of you have been homeschooled most of your life, right?
Elle: Yes.
Ellen: By your grandmother?
Elle: Yeah, I was by my grandmother.
Ellen: Uh huh. And now you're in regular school?
Elle: I am, I'm in fifth grade.
Ellen: Fifth grade. And what's that, is that an adjustment to go from being homeschooled to being in school?
Elle: Well it was not really... But I was homeschooled kindergarten through third grade.
Ellen: Uh huh.
Elle: And then I started regular school last year.
Ellen: Oh, you did then. And now you're in fifth grade...
Elle: Yes, very excited.
Ellen: And what are you studying?
Elle: OK, we had this whole thing, it's Colonial Immersion Week this week.
Ellen: Mm hmm.
Elle: OK, so what it is - everyone in fifth grade gets assigned a colonial character. I'm Jane Hunter Carlton, a middle class milliner.
Ellen: Uh huh.
Elle: And a milliner's like, someone who makes hats and dresses and everything.
Ellen: Sure.
Elle: Yeah [laughs] I made the clothes.
Ellen: You, or...?
Elle: Yes!
Ellen: When you say 'we'?
Elle: I mean me, yes, but like...
Ellen: You made those?
Elle: Yes.
Ellen: Wow! That's impressive.
Elle: Yeah, I made them.
Ellen: That's really good, had you made clothes before?
Elle: Yeah, it was so much fun. I haven't, but it was so much fun. We learned to stitch, and everything, it was really fun.
Ellen: Uh huh. Wow, I tried in high school and I was very bad at it. You hand stitch stuff?
Elle: Yes. Yeah, we did like the bonnet, and then I sewed on the lace. Then we had to thread the ribbon through the hat.
Ellen: Yeah, no, that's pretty impressive.
Elle: Yeah, it was really fun!
Ellen: That's really good. And this is something you sketched for me, you designed?
[Ellen holds up a drawing]
Elle: I did, I love sketching clothes.
Ellen: So you designed this for me.
Elle: I did, I thought that you could wear that on the show.
Ellen: OK, well sure I could.
Elle: Yeah. [laughs]
Ellen: Tell me what you have here.
Elle: So, that's like the purple stitching.
Ellen: Uh huh.
Elle: And then that's just like a plain white clothes shirt. And then there's, like, silver buttons. And then the tennis shoes.
Ellen: The tennis shoes.
Elle: Yes.
Ellen: I look a little jaundiced, how come I'm yellow?
[Elle and the audience laugh]
Elle: I thought, like, skin color...
Ellen: Yeah, no.
Elle: And then this is like a white jacket, and the white pants, with navy blue pinstripe.
Ellen: I like that! And you signed it and everything.
Elle: Mm hmm.
Ellen: Thanks a whole lot.
Elle: You're very welcome.
Ellen: Is that something like - do you want to act for a living, or are there other careers that you're interested in?
Elle: I love singing, and dancing.
Ellen: You're a good dancer.
Elle: Thank you!
Ellen: Yeah.
Elle: And then, I love sketching clothes, that's really fun.
Ellen: Uh huh. So there are lots of different areas to go in.
Elle: Yeah.
Ellen: But so far, acting - you're doing very well. But then you could act, and sing, and dance - you could do a whole musical.
Elle: I know, that would be great! Everything.
Ellen: Yeah, that's probably what you really want to do. Yeah. Well you're certainly happy, aren't you?
[Elle and the audience laugh]
Elle: Yeah!
Ellen: I like how happy you are.
Elle: Thank you.
Ellen: And why shouldn't you be? You've got a lot going on, you're very happy. I know your birthday's coming up soon, so I have a gift for you, OK?
Elle: Uh huh.
Ellen: And pink is your favorite color?
Elle: Pink, yes!
Ellen: Alright, so we have 'laugh. dance. eleven.'
[Elle squeals as Elle pulls out a pink shirt]
Elle: Yes, I'll be eleven!
Ellen: Yeah, yeah! Alright.
[Audience applauds]
Elle: 'Phoebe in Wonderland' is in select theatres now.

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