She’s only 26, but Elle Fanning has built a pretty incredible acting career. From the rebellious Alicia in The Beguiled to her portrayal of the infamous Michelle Carter, the teen who was convicted of manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide, Fanning has managed to play a variety of complex women characters. Despite saying in past interviews that she’s not a big fan of the “strong female character” trope, her acting choices aren’t entirely meek. At 19, she stepped into the role of the wildly complicated empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, in the Hulu series The Great, which won her both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, then served as an executive producer of the show. “To just grow with that character and also have my voice heard very much in a big way was so empowering,” Fanning tells TZR. “I loved being in that space. So, now I’m producing more, but that was my first introduction to it. And, yeah, I like the power,” she laughs.
Just hours after our Zoom conversation, Fanning would attend the L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth dinner in LA alongside other L’Oréal Paris spokeswomen, including Cara Delevingne, Andie MacDowell, and Aja Naomi King. The beauty brand’s annual celebration has been spotlighting women nonprofit leaders for nearly 20 years. Throughout her life, Fanning has been surrounded by inspiring and powerful women. “My whole family is made up of very strong ladies, so I got to have that growing up. My grandmother lived with us, and my sister [Dakota] is such a huge role model to me,” she says.
A good female support system has also been a huge part of Fanning’s career. “I’ve worked with Angelina Jolie twice. I was 14 the first time I worked with her, and watched her command a film set and saw just how knowledgeable she is about that world,” says Fanning. “And I’ve worked with Nicole Kidman twice, and I’m about to work with her for a third time [in the series Margo’s Got Money Troubles]. She’s just a force in the industry. And Kirsten Dunst is a friend,” she continues. “All of these women are very opinionated and strong and have also been in this business for a really long time, so it’s nice to be able to feel like you can go and ask them for advice.” Now that Fanning isn’t the youngest person on set anymore, she recognizes that she’s the one who younger, up-and-coming actors can look up to and says they’ll sometimes turn to for advice. “It’s just important, passing that baton,” she says. “I’m very aware and conscious of that and we have to make sure to maintain it in the industry.”
Fanning’s latest film role in the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, is Sylvie Russo, who is based on Dylan’s first girlfriend and muse, Suze Rotolo, another larger-than-life woman. Fanning was destined for the film. She’s been a Bob Dylan fan ever since she was introduced to his music via Cameron Crowe on the set of We Bought A Zoo. But she also has a huge affinity for the past, which is evident in her love of vintage beauty and fashion. “I’ve always had a love of thrift shopping and vintage clothes, and since I was a little girl, I’ve been drawn to that and to antiques and just the history of things,” says Fanning. “And A Complete Unknown is set from 1961 to 1965, so it’s a very particular era in New York when times were changing.”
For her role as Sylvie, Fanning got to lean into retro fashion; something she’s continued during the press tour for the film. “She had a very specific hairstyle. She teased her hair really, really high, and had kind of a big beehive,” she says. “Jim [James Mangold], the director, didn’t want makeup on anyone, so I didn’t really have any except for a flick sometimes, a little ’60s cat eye. And then I had this cool shaggy, mid-length [style] with bangs. That was when [Sylvie] came back from Italy and was a little more mature. I had two different wigs to show the passage of time. So, that was really fun.”
Fanning credits the film’s costume designer, Arianne Phillips, for helping her get into character. While she has known Phillips for some time and says she’s a really good friend, A Complete Unknown was the first film they worked on together. “She had done so much research and had so many photos of the time, so getting to dive into that with her was incredible,” says Fanning. During fittings, Fanning realized that so many of the costumes could easily be worn now. “A lot of things that we would put together almost looked like modern-day Prada. [Philips] made things, but she also sourced a ton of vintage where you’re just like, gosh, this fabric and these patterns…you just don’t see it anymore. It’s so rich. The detail and the workmanship on it are so different from the clothes in a department store now. It’s a bit sad,” she says. “That’s a great thing that I get to do that as an actor. Just transport to different time periods and get to wear those clothes that these amazing costume designers have sourced.”
While she loves to play dress up, when it comes to her makeup routine, Fanning has a few go-tos. She loves a cat-eye, she says, pointing to the one she’s sporting today, and she’s obsessed with blush, which makes her feel “whole and happy.” Fake freckles are something she’s been doing for a long time, and she always carries L’Oréal’s Blush In A Rush lipstick in her purse. “It’s a shade darker than my lips, so it’s a natural look but enhanced,” she says. “That’s kind of like my everyday, then there are times when I’ll be more daring, and that’s a whole other situation.”
Overall, Fanning considers makeup to be both a creative outlet and an extension of her inner self. “Whatever I’m feeling that day and whatever mood I’m in is how I treat my beauty looks. It’s kind of an instinctual feeling,” she explains. Fanning appreciates the self-love side that beauty can bring — the morning rituals, the nightly routines. “That’s a moment for yourself entirely. You can just kind of exhale at the end of the day, look in the mirror, and just love yourself and, you know, be proud of who you are. I think that’s really important,” she says, then adds a big smile. “But then, of course, there’s that fun side with glitter and blush.”