Oh Sister, My Sister... It's Dakota & Elle
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 1:03PM Everyone's favorite teen blonde star sisters are covering W magazine this month.
It's too bad nobody writes really great nuanced dramas about glamourous teenage sisters, huh?
Elle Fanning on Dakota leaving for college:
I went into her room at home in California, and all her clothes were gone! Her closet was empty! I don’t get to go in there and steal clothes anymore. It’s really strange. It’s sort of like she’s off making a movie, but this time she’s not coming back.
Big interview reveal: Dakota is learning how to do her own laundry now that she's at NYU. Hee. (I laugh not at her but with her since I also didn't learn to do my own laundry until college. I know that's pathetic but my mom is a workaholic martyr-type, needs to do everything for everyone.)
Controversy
The interview never raises the latest controversy about Dakota Fanning's Marc Jacobs ad being banned. Flowers as Vagina is such a symbolic cliché that it's hard for me to take it seriously and be offended. Particularly when sexualizing young girls is such a constant and constantly celebrated aspect of pop culture (not saying it's right but it seems so arbitrary as to when people get up in arms about it vs when they love it, you know?). But anyway this particular cliché makes me lol because of Dianne Wiest's awesome "magnificent vagina" monologue in Bullets Over Broadway.
But back to the sisters...
Who do you think scores an Oscar nomination first and how long are they both gonna have to wait?
more photos and interviews (weirdly not conjoined) at W magazine.
Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, gender politics, magazines
Reader Comments (19)
Wow, you must think I'm reeeelly pathetic -- I still don't know how to do my laundry and I'm way older than you were when you left for college... (Greek families are much different especially when you study at your city)
Re:The Fannings, I guess Dakota will be first because she'll have the "it's time" faster since she began earlier. But I wouldn't be surprised if she waited 10 years.
is there a new actress (or a young one) today who doesn't care or aspire to become a fashion icon?
In my list of dream films is an adaption of "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" with these two as the Blackwood sisters. They're a bit young yet but I think they'd be so perfect.
Marcelo - Carey Mulligan? Ellen Page?
Dakota already has two nominations in my book (for "I Am Sam" and "The Runaways"), so it'll be interesting to see when the Academy catches up. One would assume Dakota would get nominated first, but you never know. Maggie Gyllenhaal, the older sibling, did far more interesting work than Jake before either was nominated, but it took her so much longer to get recognized. It just depends on the movie and the year.
Ames: Carey Mulligan is another slave to fashion like the rest of them, just google her! Here's the thing with these actresses, don't get me wrong if you like it that's great! But it is overwhelmingly clear that to be a 'successful actress' today you need to be OBSESSED with clothes, have a stylist, plan your film promotional activity (and life) on what you are going to wear like it's some intricate war strategy, liase with fashion houses and designers, get some prestigious modelling contracts, go on talk shows like you're for sale... Etc, etc. When really their main focus should be the job; to perform in a film. Can anyone here actually name a young(ish) actress who does n't aspire to be a clothes horse apart from Ellen Page?
P.S. Elle is saying this to Dakota: Don't tell anyone but we're TOTALLY the new Gish sisters!
Maybe they'll both get in the same shortlist as de Redgraves did in about 5 years?
Carey mulligan Totally plays the Fashion icon game. The only one I can think of is michelle williams, but she's over 30. Other than her, all the others-the fanning sisters, emma watson, emma stone, keira, anne hathaway, mila kunis, chloe moretz who I cant stand, kirsten dunst, blake lively, kirsten dunst, zoe saldana, every single one of them-they all try to be Fashion ícons and they all sell themselves as one!
I meant the only one who I dont think is trying to Be a Fashion icon is michelle williams, but she is over 30
Dont care for the fanning sisters, and I think Elle is too young to Be doing this hollywood thing and parading herself like a Fashion icon and going to parties and being the face of high Fashion brands.... She should Be her own age, and not doing this.
Even halle steinfeld, who was not allowed by her parents to watch black swan is doing the Fashion thing and attending the Met gala and being the face of Miu Miu! It all looks/ feels a bit too "little miss sunshine" for my taste!
In my opinion they both have been Oscar nomination worthy before. Elle was so great in last year's Somewhere. Dakota is not getting as much work as we coul've thought and I can't recall her last good role (maybe The Runaways?) while Elle is everywhere: Babel, Benjamin Button, Super 8... I agree Dakota will get the nomination first, because of career longevity, if such thing exists when you're 17.
How about Saoirse Ronan?
How do we tell if an actress prioritizes "becoming a fashion icon" over the work of acting? Please tell me exactly how many dresses they have to wear. Must one wear a burlap sack or never leave the house in order to not be seen as aspiring to be a clothes horse? I think the quality of an actress' work should make it obvious what her true goal is.
I think Dakota is talented but I think she needs to do more indie roles. The same goes with Saoirse Ronan. I don't know what's wrong of being Fashion icon as long as they constantly provide solid performances; so the whole bunch of Carey Mulligan, Kristen Dunst, Emma Stone, Keira Knightley... are not sale-out for me.
michelle williams does not aply, not because of her age, but the fashion thing (even though she is supposedly doing things for some late "straight man").
To this day I still can't believe Sean Penn got nominated for that awful performance in 'I AM SAM' and Dakota Fanning, who literally steals the show right in front of him, gets nothing.
I mean, 2001's Best Supporting Actress is very strange...
Marisa Tomei, In The Bedroom (a very deserved nom and my winner)
Helen Mirren, Gosford Park (by this time people finally caught up on Mirren; deserved)
Maggie Smith, Gosford Park (nom'ned for playing Maggie Smith, a role she's perfected this last decade; but deserved)
Then...
Kate Winslet, Iris (I personally think it's one of her worst performances; they don't nominate her for Holy Smoke! in 99 and they nominate her for this?!)
Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind (the winner; SHE'S A LEAD!!!)
If Haley Joel got a nom, so could (and should) Dakota.
Anyway... Nowadays I'm all for Elle Fanning. And given the current state of affairs (Dakota at college/in that weird age period that doesn't get many awards-worthy roles) I think Elle might have a decent shot at a nomination if she plays her cards right.
A British period piece? (like Atonement) Or a indie darling? (like Little Miss Sunshine). I thought she was superb in 'Somewhere' and definitely much more worthy of a nomination than say Helena Bonham-Carter or Haillee Steinfeld who is a LEAD.
@Jorge Rodrigues: Have to disagree with you about Sean Penn's perfromance. I think the solid performances and the chemistry between them are main reasons I always want to watch it.
About Dakota Oscar nomination, well, at least she got nominated in SAG, which I think more prestigious than the Oscar , in term of acting.
I actually enjoy Connelly's performance in Requiem for a Dream much more than her Oscar winning. What a brave performance!
There's nothing wrong with looking nice or being interested in fashion, and yes if they are doing great work that's the most important thing, but it just seems that EVERY actress follows that fashion/clothes rule book, there must surely be some of them who are n't that bothered.
The thing about the relationship between young actresses and Fashion - and I say this as someone interested in Fashion who follows it to a degree- is that they all have the same pre-prepared speech about how they all "have always loved Fashion" how they all look at getting dressed as an " intellectual exercise", how it is a way of "self expression" and how its something they have loved and folowed from the womb. It is always the very same speech, and it doesnt always came off as natural or organic. The way they are all obviously trying to become the next icon in the history of Fashion feels forced- eventhough I must add that dunst and keira are two of my favorite contemporary dresses and big Style inspirations for me!
A Fashion icon is someone who is more than just well dressed. Is someone changed something in the collective way people receive and think Fashion. Is someone who crestes something entirely new! Who has an unique way of dressing and unmistakable personal Style, which will Be remembered for generations. Is someone who creates a signature Style, who twists, turns and re-creates things and changes the path. This is quite and achievement and thats precisely what these girls are all trying to do. But unfortunatly for them, its not something rachel zoe may get for you. Rachel zoe may get the dresses and the shoes, but not much else, and it is precisely the "something else" that sets people like audrey hepburn and edie sedgwick and jane birkin and twiggy and anita pallenberg and kate moss and grace jones apart from the rest.
I think the actresses who are not playing this game are all a bit older, like mid-to late thirties: kate winslet, amy adams, reese, hillary swank, Penélope Cruz.
There are two in this age group -actually only one, the other is older, above fourty- that are red carpet goddesses and know how to Make the whole thing sound and feel organic are diane kruger and obviously cate blanchett! Tilda is at an entirely diferent league, just like she is in everything else! And out of the three I just mentioned, is the only one I think may become an icon in the way I said it in my previous post!
Thats why I have loads of fun with Helena Bonhan Carter's approach to the whole red carpet thing. Its hillarious and she has a blast! All the "20 to 30" actresses trying waaaaaay to hard and posing as if they were grace kelly and name dropping what the stylists told them to say and not taking risks not for them to Be on the worst dressed list and sounding just like they stole each others speeches or like they are each others parrots and Helena is making fun of the whole thing!!!
"is there a new actress (or a young one) today who doesn't care or aspire to become a fashion icon?"
Aside from Ellen Page, there's also another actress (and she's canadian to boot, not to mention she and Ellen are both alums of Vaughn Academy in Toronto), it's Alison Pill. Come to think of it, back when Sarah Polley (very clearly anti-commerical and anti brand) and Anna Paquin where in this age range, they weren't shilling the shit out of brand x, or designer y either.
Huh. Must be a canadian thing. ;)
I personally don't see anything wrong with actresses getting lucrative contracts to be the spokeswoman or model for such and such and this and that. It's business, and can provide a hell of a lot of $$$ for them. Given the salary range disparity between actresses and their male counterparts, and the dearth of good roles and steady work, I say make the money while you can cause you never can tell what happens further down the line.
But back to the Fanning sisters. I think it's going to be Dakota who gets the first nomination. Sure, she's entering college and will likely be less available for films now. But then, Natalie Portman took some time off from college to film those Star Wars movies. Whose to say that Dakota won't take some time off to go and film something truly spectacular? The college years are the ones where people discover and experiment and grow mentally and emotionally. I think it's quite possible that Dakota will extend this real life theme into work. Oh as a side note, Dakota was the youngest person ever nominated for a SAG award, I believe. At the ripe old age of 8, she was nominated for best supporting actress for 'I Am Sam.' Who knows, she may yet be the youngest actress ever nominated for Best Actress in AMPAS.