Category: Articles & Interviews

Dakota Fanning Joins Showtime’s ‘Ripley’ Opposite Andrew Scott

Dakota Fanning is doubling down on Showtime roles.

The Alienist: Angel of Darkness and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star is joining drama Ripley opposite Andrew Scott.

It comes after she was cast in Showtime’s scripted anthology drama series The First Lady (w/t) as Susan Elizabeth Ford, the only daughter and youngest child of President Gerald and Betty Ford.

Fanning will play Marge Sherwood, an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie affability the affability of Tom Ripley, played by Fleabag star Scott.

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s books, the show comes from The Night Of’s Steven Zaillian.

In the series, Tom Ripley (Scott), a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf, played by Johnny Flynn, who is living a comfortable, trust-funded ex-pat life in Italy, to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.

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Dakota & Elle Fanning Launch Production Company With First-Look Deal At Civic Center Media/MRC Television, Set ‘The Last House Guest’ Series

Elle Fanning, star and executive producer of Civic Center Media/MRC Television’s Hulu series The Great, is expanding her relationship with the indie studio partnership. She and her sister Dakota Fanning have teamed to launch Lewellen Pictures production company and have entered a first-look television deal with the studio, a joint venture between UTA and MRC. The Fanning sisters plan to develop feature film and television projects, as well as other forms of media, including podcasts.

Their first project under the pact is an adaptation of Megan Miranda’s bestselling novel The Last House Guest, which is being developed as a crime thriller series. Sarah Walker (The Secrets She Keeps, Wentworth) will write and executive produce the series. It centers on an intimate friendship between two girls who fall violently in love with each other’s differences, which, in the end, create doubt, betrayal and tragedy. The Fannings will executive produce alongside Brittany Kahan Ward and Mary Jane Skalski for Echo Lake Entertainment.

“Elle has brought such perspective and thoughtfulness as an executive producer on The Great,” said Elise Henderson, President of MRC Television. “We are excited by the vision she and Dakota have for Lewellen Pictures and for MRC Television to provide a home for the stories they will tell.”

Elle Fanning has received Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations for her work on The Great, which is now in production on its second season for Hulu. She recently starred in Sally Potter’s The Roads Not Taken and Netflix’s All The Bright Places, the latter of which she also produced.

Dakota Fanning was recently was seen in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and TNT’s Angel of Darkness. She will next star in The First Lady for Showtime.

The siblings will star together for the first time in the feature film adaptation of The Nightingale for Tristar and director Melanie Laurent.

They have also brought together existing projects in development that they had been production individually and will now fall under the Lewellen Pictures banner. That includes feature I’ve Got Your Number set up at Amazon Studios with Dakota and Freddie Highmore attached to star, Kiwi Smith and Jessica O’Toole adapting the Sophie Kinsella novel, Echo Lake Entertainment, Alfresco Pictures and Joey Plager producing; One Click podcast which Elle will narrate and is executive producing along with Brittany Kahan Ward, Vespucci and Cadence 13; and The Girl From Plainville, a limited series for Elle to star in for UCP and Hulu, with showrunners Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus. Brittany Kahan Ward also executive produces.

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Dakota Fanning to Play Susan Ford in Showtime Series ‘The First Lady’

Dakota Fanning has signed on to play Susan Ford in the Showtime anthology series “The First Lady,” Variety has learned.

Susan is the only daughter of Betty Ford and President Gerald Ford, who will be played in the series by Michelle Pfeiffer and Aaron Eckhart respectively. Susan was a teenager during her father’s time in the White House and is said to have often introduced progressive ideas to her family.

“The First Lady” will also star Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, and O-T Fagbenle as President Barack Obama, among others. The series is described as a reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House.

Fanning will be a series regular, appearing in six episodes. The role reunites her with Pfeiffer, with whom she starred in the 2001 film “I Am Sam.” Her appearance in the film earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, making her the youngest person to be nominated for the award at the age of seven. Fanning was most recently seen in the TNT series “The Alienist.” Her feature credits include “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” “War of the Worlds,” “Uptown Girls,” “Man on Fire,” the “Twilight” films, and “Please Stand By.”

She is repped by UTA, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Hansen Jacobson.

“The First Lady” is written and executive produced by Aaron Cooley. Davis is also executive producing along with Julius Tennon and Andrew Wang of JuVee Productions. Cathy Schulman of Welle Entertainment executive produces along with Jeff Gaspin via Gaspin Media, and Brad Kaplan of LINK Entertainment. Susanne Bier is attached to direct and executive produce. Showtime and Lionsgate Television will produce.

Source: Variety

‘The Nightingale’: Elle And Dakota Fanning’s WWII Sisters Pic Pushed Another Year – Again

Those wishing to see Elle and Dakota Fanning in WWII drama The Nightingale will have to wait even longer. Sony is pushing the film to Dec. 23, 2022. It previously had been moved to December 22 of this year. Elle Fanning currently is in production on Hulu/MRC’s second season of The Great.

Christmas falls on a Sunday that year, and Nightingale will square off against Paramount’s Babylon on Dec. 25 and an untitled Illumination and Universal title on Wednesday Dec. 21, 2022. Pic is produced by Elizabeth Cantillon.

In addition, Sony is dating Stage 6 Films’ R-rated romantic comedy Long Weekend for March 12. Pic follows Bart’s (Finn Wittrock of American Horror Story) chance encounter with the enigmatic Vienna (Zoë Chao), which leads to a whirlwind weekend together. The two fall fast and hard, but both carry secrets that could be their undoing or the chance for a fresh start.

Steve Basilone is making his directorial debut off his script. Pic is produced by Deanna Barillari, Laura Lewis, Theodora Dunlap, Sam Bisbee, Audrey Rosenberg and Jess Jacobs. Executive Producers are Franklin Carson, Lance Acord and Jackie Kelman Bisbee. The film stars Finn Wittrock, Zoë Chao, Casey Wilson, Jim Rash and with Damon Wayans, Jr. The film is produced by Invisible Pictures, Park Pictures, Fifty Seventh Street Productions, and Rebelle Media.

PREVIOUSLY, April 30: Sony’s The Nightingale WWII drama starring Elle and Dakota Fanning, which was suppose to come out at the end of this year, has been pushed to Dec. 22, 2021 due to the COVID-19 production shutdown.

Real-life sisters Elle and Dakota Fanning will play on-screen sisters in the coming-of-age story adapted from Kristin Hannah’s international bestseller. Pic, which is being directed by Melanie Laurent, is set on the eve of World War II and follows the sisters’ struggle to survive and resist the German occupation of France. The story was inspired by the courageous women of the French Resistance who helped downed Allied airmen escape Nazi-occupied territory and hid Jewish children.

The project reteams Laurent with Elle Fanning after the duo worked on the 2018 movie Galveston together.

The Nightingale has been published in 45 languages, and went on to sell 3.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and became a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller for a total of 114 weeks on the list.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

Amazon Studios And Echo Lake Entertainment To Adapt NY Times Best-Seller ‘I’ve Got Your Number’

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios and Echo Lake Entertainment are adapting the NY Times’ bestseller I’ve Got Your Number by author Sophie Kinsella. Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Jessica O’Toole are attached to pen the adaption.

Dakota Fanning will produce along with Brittany Kahan Ward & Mary Jane Skalski of Echo Lake Entertainment as well as Joey Plager and Freddie Highmore, through his Alfresco Pictures. Alfresco Pictures’ Claire Londy will serve as an executive producer.

The novel is a romantic comedy of errors featuring a lost engagement ring, a stolen cell phone, and two strangers who find each other…just as one of them is about to marry someone else.

Kinsella is well-known for her Shopaholic novel series, which was adapted into the film Confessions of a Shopaholic starring Isla Fisher in 2009. Since her debut in 1995, Kinsella’s books have sold over 40 million copies in more than 60 countries, and been translated into over 40 languages.

Smith’s credits include Legally Blonde, The House Bunny and the Emmy winning series Trinkets on Netflix. She is also co-writing a reimagining of 10 for Warner Bros. O’Toole co-created the Charmed reboot for The CW, and her credits include the hit series Jane The Virgin, Selfie and The Carrie Diaries.

Fanning is repped by Echo Lake Entertainment, United Talent Agency and Hansen Jacobson. Highmore is repped by ARG, UTA and Felker Toczek. Kiwi Smith is repped by Verve, Kaplan/Perrone and attorneys Karl Austen and Adam Cooper. Jessica O’Toole is repped by Verve, manager Sukee Chew and attorney Eric Brooks.

Source: Deadline

Dakota Fanning Reveals What She’d Tell Her Younger Self and Reflects on First TV Role (Exclusive)




This year marks the 20th anniversary of Dakota Fanning’s first TV role. In 2000, the actress guest starred on an episode of NBC’s ER when she was 6 years old, and remembers it “like it was yesterday.”

“My character was named Delia. I was in a car accident, they found out that I had leukemia,” Fanning recalls to ET’s Keltie Knight of her character. “The props people gave me a whole, real medical kit at the end. Like, a neck brace, and they gave me all the all the props to take and play with. I literally thought it was Christmas Day.”

The 26-year-old starlet says she remembers “that feeling of fun and that feeling of excitement” while on set of the hospital drama. “I was very young to watch ER,but at the same time, it was a show that my family watched, so I was familiar with the story.”

As for what she’d tell her 6-year-old self, Fanning would stress “never forgetting to sort of soak in the fun of it all and the excitement and to not lose that kind of child.”

Decades later, Fanning has a thriving acting career and is now returning to star in the second season of TNT’s The Alienist alongside Daniel Brühl and Luke Evans. This time around, former police department secretary Sara Howard (Fanning) has opened up her own private detective agency and has reunited with Dr. Kreizler (Brühl), the alienist, and John Moore (Evans), who is now a New York Times reporter, to try to find the Spanish Consular’s kidnapped infant daughter.

Evans tells ET that the story will resonate with audiences because the struggles in 1890s New York City are quite similar to what society is facing now. “For everybody who watches it, you see the fight isn’t over, and the fight began a long time ago,” he explains. “But it’s very interesting to see it portrayed such a long time ago and to see that we not might have come as far as some other avenues.”

Brühl agrees, noting, “There’s so many things you can explore about New York, about the society back then, about the similarities between then and nowadays. It was a very fascinating journey.”

Fanning adds that it was fun for her to play such an independent woman in that time period.

“You see [Sara’s] detective agency sign and you see the young women that she’s kind of mentoring, but at the same time, it’s not all roses for her,” she shares. “You still see the inequality that she’s facing and not being taken seriously and being considered a lady detective.”

Fanning adds, “I think that’s something I also love about the show, is it is very progressive and it is very forward-thinking and modern, but at the same time, the reality of the time is still very present. It’s not just an easy road for everyone.”

Source: Entertainment Tonight

Dakota and Elle Fanning List Their Valley Village Home for $2.7 Million

Actresses Dakota and Elle Fanning want to move on from their shared home. The Fanning sisters are listing their six-bedroom, six-bathroom house in Valley Village for sale, with a $2.7 million price tag attached.

The Fannings haven’t owned the 4,550-square-foot Los Angeles home for all that long; they purchased the property for $2.3 million in April 2017, using a trust to complete the transaction, per Variety.

The home, located in the San Fernando Valley, features vaulted ceilings, wide plank French oak flooring and custom trim throughout, as well as wainscoting and crown molding.

The airy, almost entirely all-white kitchen is equipped with custom cabinetry, a center island with stone countertops, bar seating and a separate breakfast nook, plus a walk-in pantry. It’s open to a family room with a fireplace and built-in bookshelves. There’s also a formal dining room elsewhere on the main floor.

The master suite is on the second level of the home, with a fireplace, private balcony and a walk-in closet. The bathroom is fitted with a freestanding tub and a glass-enclosed shower.

Outside, there’s a pool and spa, a covered patio sitting area and a built-in barbecue with counter bar seating.

Dakota, the elder of the two, already upgraded to her own house on the West Coast; she purchased a Toluca Lake residence for $2.95 million last year. It’s not yet clear if her younger sister moved onto a new pad just yet, but she could always stay with her older sister for the time being—there’s definitely enough room, as Dakota’s new home spans 4,428 square feet, with five bedrooms and six bathrooms.

Source: Observer