The actress talks to Teen Vogue about working with Timothée Chalamet and her dreams for the future.

After a summer spent darting between New Zealand, Norway, and Spain to film the movies Predator, Sentimental Value, and Rosebush Pruning, respectively, 26-year-old Elle Fanning has finally found a moment to breathe.

It’s a chilly night in November when she takes a seat next to her boyfriend, Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner, in Harlem’s renowned Apollo Theater to watch performers like Doechii and Brittany Howard in celebration of the magazine’s Musicians on Musicians issue. For a moment, she can be fully still, fully in the moment. In just a few days she’ll jet off to London to begin the press circus for A Complete Unknown, the new Bob Dylan biopic in which she co-stars with Timothée Chalamet. But for now, she’s a member of the audience.It’s not something Fanning is used to. Born in Conyers, Georgia, in April of 1998, she has been on set practically every year since 2001, when she debuted as a 3-year-old in Jessie Nelson’s I Am Sam, which starred her sister Dakota. 23 years later, Fanning has accrued an impressive cache of roles, awards, and nominations. “I really don’t know what else I would do. It’s just in my blood,” she tells Teen Vogue. “When I go stints of time without having a project or without working, I crave getting back on set so much.”Fanning and I first met last year through Gus, who is my brother. Underneath one of the most successful actors of her age is a real person — funny, lively, and engaging, she sparkles. Yet she is strikingly grounded, and she does not carry herself like a Hollywood star.It’s this Fanning who appears the next morning at the opposite end of the city for our interview, clad in blue jeans and a loose heather-gray pullover with a fluorescent-pink scrunchie on her wrist. In a quaint red-brick Greenwich Village townhouse belonging to her boyfriend — the actress has no home of her own, although she tells Teen Vogue that establishing a home base is one of her New Year’s resolutions — Fanning curls up cross-legged on a sheepskin throw. Looking out on a lazy Saturday morning in Manhattan, she is ready — if a bit nervous — to dive into one of her most exciting career years yet.

Elle Fanning: I just happened to be on set, and they needed a little girl that looked like my sister for a flashback scene. My mom was holding me, and they asked, “Can we just use Elle for this? Throw her in there?” All I had to do was get on a swing with Sean Penn, and I guess I did a good enough job. I didn’t cry, which, for little baby actors, is kind of the thing — if you like people and can be personable, then you can do the job.

You inevitably grow up. I did this movie called Neon Demon when I was 17, and it was quite shocking to people, because it was very out there. It was kind of avant garde, and the subject matter was edgy, to say the least. It was more of an adult role — and I got to star in it. I remember that experience feeling like a turning point where people saw me in a different way. But then you have to believe it in yourself.

I think when I started believing it in myself was when I did The Great, the TV series. Right now, it’s like my most precious experience, my favorite thing I’ve got to do, because I got to produce it. I did the pilot when I was 20, and it continued until I was 24 — so that was a big chunk of my life. It’s such a pivotal point of your life, where you’re in your early 20s, and you’re changing so much. I was changing with that character, and I felt like I grew and built more confidence, in the acting space, of just feeling very uninhibited and free. It was a comedy too, and I think you have to be free with comedy. Things are coming at you, and there’s no room for embarrassment. You have to be able to embarrass yourself to do comedy. The challenge of it too, because it’s not necessarily pure comedy, is that it has that dark side to it as well. It was something that I was nervous and tentative about at first. Through the seasons, you can see it grow inside me.

Fanning: I was homeschooled up until nine years old, and then my mom realized, “You don’t really have any friends your own age,” and I felt that. I was like, “I don’t have any friends; I need to go to regular school and have those experiences.” If you don’t have those experiences — being in high school, having a locker, going to prom — to look back on… I wanted those memories, and not just because of movies, but to have a life. So I went to school — I started in fourth grade, and then was at the same school till senior year. I went to the parties, I went to three proms; I was lucky, I had it all.

My grandmother would go on set with me a lot, and my mom would normally go with my sister. I had a chaperone, a person that was always there to protect me and teach me manners — to not become a spoiled brat, essentially. It’s because of my family — they kept me in line. I wasn’t allowed to get away with things. And when I came home, I really was just a kid. It’s an odd thing. But I was happy that I had something that I loved doing, because then I felt like I had this purpose, or something to strive towards. I did movies, and some people did soccer practice. It was my outlet.

Fanning: My family was very free with allowing me to be my artistic self — and I’m so lucky that I had that. Even as a little girl, I was allowed to pick out my own outfits and wear crazy stuff. I loved thrifting, so I would go to vintage stores and get these vintage bathing suits, and I would wear them out as dresses and rompers. I was just allowed to be myself, which I’m very proud of.

You can watch old home movies of me growing up, and I was such a performer. All I wanted to do was dress up, and all my sister and I did was play pretend together all the time. But we wouldn’t perform it for anyone else. It was like our own little secret world. I was normally the assistant, and she was the Miranda Priestly. We would have all these crazy scenarios that we would do privately for ourselves.

My mom wanted us to be tennis players; she thought she was gonna have athletes as kids. It just didn’t work out that way.

Fanning: Everyone wants to put everyone in a box, because it’s just easier for them to metabolize. So I did Maleficent, where I played Sleeping Beauty, and I did two of those movies, which I loved and am so happy I did, but what comes with that too is how people perceive you. For me, it was like, “Oh, you’re the Disney Princess girl! You’re always happy and smiley.” And I was like, “Yeah, I do smile a lot, I am a pretty happy person, but not all the time. It’s a role.” You would think people would get it, but they still want to put you in a box.

I like to throw people off. So with a couple of the movies that I have coming up — because I did three movies this year, which is nuts; I’ve never done so many in a row before — I tried to make choices that are gonna surprise people. I feel like for all of us, our capacity for anything is so endless. I want to surprise myself. In The Great, I was playing a queen in corsets and all that, doing some quite raunchy, crazy stuff. It drives me. It gives me a spark.

Fanning: Ballet was something that I did for a little. I would go every day for two hours. I don’t think I was good enough to be a prima ballerina, but I still dreamed of that, you know? I was on point and did all that stuff, and gosh, it was hard. It really teaches you discipline. I still carry the ballet training in my body, because I think you need it in the movement of so many things in acting. What’s fun with acting is that you get to learn all these different skills. I had to learn ice skating for a project, and so I trained for that, and did that for real. I had to sing in a film, so I had to train for that. So, in a way, you are trying out all these different occupations — but you just have to learn really quickly, and then also pretend like you’re an expert at it. That’s where the acting comes in. I wonder if acting has taken away. I feel like it’s added so much, but you just don’t know. You do wonder, “What could I have done?” But I’m pretty sure that I’m in the right spot.

Fanning: I was a good student, but I never liked school. I’m just too antsy, and I dreaded having to do homework. I just could not wait to get out of school. I already knew what I wanted to do, so I was like, “Why waste the time?” Acting was already the love of my life.

Fanning: My sister and I have a production company called Lewellen Pictures that we started in 2021. Lewellen was our family dog growing up. In honor of her, we started this company together. My sister and I have never acted in a film together, but now I get to work with her in a producer space.

I also just like the power. It’s a funny thing to say, but as a child actor, sometimes you feel powerless. Being young and watching all these filmmakers, I’ve learned a lot about the behind the scenes and the editing process. I love editing. It’s always a discussion, amongst the producers, of what things should be like.

It’s about taking your power back. As a young woman, I think we are going in a better direction, in the sense that there are great projects for women now. I think we had a turning point. But when I started producing, it was also about getting projects that have interesting characters, especially for women. It’s about trying to acquire those things to put it together yourself — and also to work with your friends. I’ve worked with Sofia Coppola twice now — once when I was 11, and once when I was 18 — and she always says, “Just work with your friends.” She surrounds herself with the people that she loves.

Fanning: Watching Timothée do Bob Dylan, I realized I want to do a singing biopic. I’ve sung in a movie — Teen Spirit — before, but I wasn’t playing a real person. So I think I want to play maybe Grace Kelly. I love her, style-wise, and she has such an interesting life; she was kind of taken away from Hollywood, and she became a Princess of Monaco. There’s stuff there. And then, of course, working with my sister, maybe playing sisters in something — I think that would be great. Just continuing to surprise myself. I’ve tried all genres, pretty much, I’ve done horror and drama and comedy, and there’s not one that I like more than the other. The most interesting thing is to not be just one thing.

I also think it’s important that, in the roles you play in movies, you aren’t always morally good. There’s a time and a place for a feel good movie, of course — we want to feel good, and sometimes in dark times in the world, we need to bring light, and we need to just to sit in a theater and have the feel-good popcorn movie. But it’s also really important to show the raw and the kind of underbelly of it all. So I’m not afraid of that. The darker, the better. Watching really difficult subject matter — it helps you heal, in a way.

And then there’s cancel culture, which was so big for so long. As an actor, I’m more interested in the human experience, and all facets of life — it doesn’t matter if I agree with my character. I leave my opinions at the door, because I’m playing someone else. That’s very important to keep separate. Especially with social media and being a public figure online; the lines can get blurry. There is such a darkness there, on social media. I find myself getting sucked in sometimes. It’s hard not to.

TV: What’s it like to be in the same industry as your older sister? Is it helpful or hurtful?

Fanning: When we were young, we used to fight so much, just over normal sibling stuff. But now, getting to work together, and ask her for advice… She’s like my favorite person. I wouldn’t be able to go on without her. Having a sister, a sibling, someone who understands your life experiences — it’s the most important thing. It goes so much deeper than just acting. I want her to succeed more than myself. She feels the same way; it’s vice versa. I’m her number one cheerleader.

With her, there’s a safety in me knowing that when I’m on a film set, she knows what I’m going through, and I can call her up and complain about this, or talk about that. It’s such a short hand. I think it’s needed, in this crazy industry, to just have that person that grounds you, and just gets it. So we are our shoulders. We lean on each other, through the highs and the lows of it all.

TV: So you have these two great and unique acting talents — you and Dakota — in your family. Although, of course, you often have prolific acting families, it’s so rare to have what your family has. What about your childhood do you think made that happen?

Fanning: I think it’s really our mom just cultivating our empathy, and cultivating our love of the human experience, and of being around people and being interested in people — because acting is a lot of observing and having to be open to people and their beliefs. That is something that I think was inside of us. The stifling of the freedom of expression can be so harmful. So I was lucky in that sense — I was allowed to be myself.

TV: You grew up in Georgia but moved to L.A. when Dakota’s acting career took off. Did you ever feel uprooted?

Fanning: I was so young. I don’t even remember Georgia that much. LA is my home. But my whole life, I was kind of always uprooted, because I was traveling so much. It was the living-out-of-the-suitcase life. I still feel that way. So I think, in the next couple of years, I want a base. I really want a home that’s mine. The amount of times I’ve spent in a hotel room ordering Postmates, or Foodora, in Norway — I know all of the food services from around the world. I love ordering food, but I’m putting that in the past. That’s one of my New Year’s resolutions. There always will be travel, but I need to have a place to go back to, someplace that’s my own place.

TV: So kind of pivoting a little bit, who are your favorite actors and actresses?

Fanning: I love Katherine Hepburn. Amy Adams is also one of my absolute favorites. And I love Tom Cruise; he’s such a movie star. I love Magnolia. It’s a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, who is a director that I really want to work with. I think he’s never made a bad movie; it’s unbelievable.

Nicole Kidman is unbelievable. I’m about to work with her again for a third time, on a dark comedy series for Apple TV that I’m producing next year. It’ll be a fun one. It’s called Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and it’s based on a great book. It’s about OnlyFans. Michelle Pfeiffer plays my mom. I play a young woman who has a child with her English professor, decides to keep the child, and then has no way of making money, so she falls into OnlyFans — and she starts making a lot of money.

TV: What’s it like to work with Timothée? Is it more difficult to work with such a teen heartthrob than other actors you’ve worked with?

Fanning: I’ve worked with Timothée once before — in A Rainy Day in New York — and back then, Call Me by Your Name hadn’t even come out yet, so he was still this up and comer. He wasn’t who he is now. So I was happy that we were friends beforehand, or else I think I would have been really nervous to work with him. It became more of a reunion of sorts. When I got the part, he texted me and was like, “I’m so happy it’s you.” It was really nice. And I think specifically for the part that I play in the movie, it was very important that we felt comfortable around each other, because, honestly, the only person in our film that we show that Bob’s really genuinely close to is my character Sylvie, because she’s based on Suze Rotolo. Her name was changed because Bob didn’t want it to be used — she was a very special person to him, she’s no longer around, and she wanted a private life. In the film, that’s what my character is grappling with — Bob’s become such a big star, and Sylvie wants to remain a private person. So they’re kind of going in two different directions, which is quite heartbreaking, but they did really love each other.

Working with Timothée was very special, because we were very open with each other. And he was so incredible playing Bob Dylan. I am a real big fan of Bob Dylan. I always have been. I did a movie [We Bought a Zoo] with Cameron Crowe when I was 13, and he introduced me to Bob’s music. From there, I listened to it all the time. So getting to be a part of this project, at first I was like, “I feel like I manifested this part.” It was just kind of a dream. I had posters of Bob Dylan on my wall, actually, so then to finally see Timothée embodying Bob… It wasn’t a caricature, it was still Timothée, but he also created his own version of Bob that was really fascinating. And he kept to himself with other people, but with me he was his normal self. We would laugh in between takes. I think that was also a choice, because it was with my character that Bob was most himself. I think you can see that in the film; there’s a warmth between his character and mine. It’s maybe not quite there with other people.

TV: Has playing Sylvie given you any insight into that sort of, musician life?

Fanning: Suze informed so much of his music at the time, and she was such a muse for him. And it was also just so special to be on that set, because James Mangold hired a lot of real musicians to be around the actors. So there was always music playing — or just someone picking up an instrument and playing it in the halls — during fittings and rehearsals. You would always hear music playing. It was like being transported to the 1960s. And Arianne Phillips is our costume designer, and she’s a legend. She did Girl, Interrupted, and she’s phenomenal. She had so many photos of that time, of the Beatniks, and of the youth culture on the streets and just, you know — the ‘60s. It was such a beautiful time, it seems, when you hear about it. So I think the spirit of the ‘60s was in us all a bit.

TV: What do you want people to know going into its release?

Fanning: I hope — and I kept thinking this during filming — I hope I honored Suze’s legacy. Some people will say, “Oh, it’s just a fictionalized version.” But it’s not. Sylvie’s not fictionalized. Everything that’s in the movie is completely real. Actually, the most accurate out of anything in the film is Bob and Sylvie’s relationship. The timeline might be off, but their emotions, their fights, and the love and the scenes that they had are all really accurate to their relationship. So I think going in with that, there was weight on my shoulders — I wanted to honor that and make it authentic and not have Sylvie just be the girlfriend part in the Bob Dylan movie. I wanted her to stand on her own two feet. She was also very politically active, and Bob wasn’t as much — but when he met her, she introduced him to that world, and then he started singing about it. So she had so much influence — and I just wanted to do justice to her.

I don’t know if Bob will ever see the movie. He probably won’t. But he has read the script, and he did add in one line — I forget exactly what it was, but it was in the fight scene that Timothée and I have. I thought that was so interesting. I wondered, “What does that mean? Did he really say that to her, or is it a regret that he has? Does he feel guilty about something that he said to her?” So that was touching. I just hope that I can honor her and her life — and if Bob ever sees it, I hope that he’s touched by the relationship. I hope he sees a little bit of truth in what Timothée and I did.

TV: Now I know the election is something on everyone’s minds. So I do want to ask you, what gives you hope?

Fanning: I think it’s in our community. Being around people that fill you up. That’s kind of what Brittany [Howard] said last night — fill your cup. Be around people who inspire you and try to do something good each day. Donate to organizations that you believe in, and get out, be in your community. And I’m just one singular person, so all I can do is try to live my life the best way. That’s all we can do, is try to just live our lives to the fullest. We have to go day by day.