Dakota is on the cover of the issue of April of Who What Wear. The magazine features a new photoshoot by Lauren Dukoff.
“I make sure that my personal life is as important as my professional life, and those obligations, like going to my goddaughter’s first birthday party, are just as important to me as going to a premiere, if not more,” she says. It’s a life lesson that’s been ingrained in her from her mom, primarily through example. “Really making an effort to prioritize the people in life [is] something that I see my mom do every single day,” she says. “My grandfather passed away recently, her dad, and [his best friend since he was in high school] said about him, ‘If he had something and someone needed it, it was [theirs].’ And I see that in my mom so much.” By allowing their principles to guide her, both in her career and her life, Fanning says she can’t help but feel grounded.
“There’s also just something about me,” she adds, not in a self-righteous way. “Of course, it’s because of all of those people helping to shape me into the person that I am, but I also think it might just be my nature. I certainly get overwhelmed, and I’ve certainly made mistakes, and I’m certainly not perfect. All the clichés are true, like with anybody. But I am pretty together.” Having known nothing else in her life but a professional environment, where being late or disrespectful can cost millions of dollars to the company that’s hired her, has taught her that much—as has working with the crème de la crème in Hollywood. (I’m talking about Denzel Washington, Jennifer Hudson, Robert De Niro, and Kristen Stewart, and those are just a few of the standouts.) “Now, it’s just second nature,” she adds.
It helps that Fanning found ways to ensure that any resentment toward her career never festered, which can happen when you sacrifice a normal life for one in the entertainment industry. “I didn’t want to miss out on those memories,” she says of the kinds of experiences a kid, teenager, and eventual 20-something embark on when they’re not working 24/7. From the ages of 15 to 18, when she was playing Volturi guard member Jane in the Twilight movies, Fanning was also attending Campbell Hall Episcopal High School in North Hollywood, cheerleading at Friday-night football games, going to parties in outfits she now calls “so embarrassing,” and being crowned homecoming queen. In between months spent on the set of TNT’s The Alienist, shot in Budapest, Hungary, she worked on getting her degree in women’s studies at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. “I didn’t feel like [school] was something I wanted to sacrifice,” she says. “And I didn’t have to.” – Read More
In case you’ve missed it Dakota worked on a new project “Last Looks“, a series on Quibi in which she is a narrator and executive produce.
“Even though the shows are quite short, I think that you do get a full picture of who these people are. It’s not a one-dimensional look at each person, you really do get to see all sides,” says Fanning. “I think the show does its best to delve into their psyche and try to understand why they do the things that they do.” What attracted you to Last Looks?
It’s a space and a theme that I enjoy watching as a viewer, like true crime series and docuseries, that’s something that I gravitate towards. So I was super excited by discovering the stories of people that I had maybe heard about and maybe some that I hadn’t heard about, and interweaving that with the world of fashion. As I got to narrate and learn the stories, it was super fascinating. I loved learning about each subject.
Sounds weird to say that you enjoy true crime, but I’m fascinated by the darkness of it all. What do you hope viewers take away from these stories?
I hope that they get to learn about them, [especially] the more tragic stories of women who lost their lives. I think getting to learn about their stories is honoring them in a way.
If you are a true crime fan, I think that you’ll get a quick hit of these stories in that Quibi way, which makes it very easy to follow and easy to understand and super fast in this time where everyone is starting to get back into… I mean, we’re not back into normal life, but we can go for a walk again. It won’t take up too much of your time. – Read more
Sad news about Dakota‘s newest project “The Nightingale“. The movie, that should have been shot this March, won’t come out in December as planned. Because of Corona Virus the production of the movie had to stop and it’s still not clear when it will start again.
The release date for TriStar’s “The Nightingale,” starring Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, has now been unset.
In December, TheWrap exclusively reported that Mélanie Laurent (“Galveston”) would direct the period drama from a script by Dana Stevens. Elizabeth Cantillon was to produce through her production company The Cantillon Company. The two sisters were to unite for the first time on screen to play sisters, based on Kristin Hannah’s worldwide best-seller of the same name.
“The Nightingale,” which was in preproduction before worldwide film shoots halted in March, was due to be released on Christmas Day this year. Production is expected to restart once it is safe to do so.
“The Nightingale” follows two sisters coming of age in France on the eve of World War II and their struggle to survive the German occupation of France. The story is inspired by the courageous women of the French Resistance who helped downed Allied airmen escape Nazi-occupied territory and hid Jewish children. – The Wrap
