MEDIA > ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS > 2005

FANNING'S A STAR CHILD
from The Star Online eCenter, July 1, 2005
Does Dakota Fanning get nervous when it comes to working with greats like Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise? STEVEN PATRICK finds out.
Dakota Fanning is the wide-eyed 11 year-old all-round American gal from Georgia. Like most of her peers, Fanning reads, plays the piano, knits and rides horses. Unlike many other kids, however, Fanning calls Tom Cruise by his first name.
Fanning is already an accomplished actress. Her resume reads like that of a seasoned actress, starring opposite talents like Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Denzel Washington.
Her latest co-star? Tom, of course.
Fanning plays Cruise’s on-screen daughter in the big-budget Steven Spielberg movie, War of the Worlds.
Despite all the Hollywood glitz that Fanning is involved in, she has no idea how much money she makes.
“I get an allowance,” she said, flashing her pearly whites.
Fanning is talking to the press at a roundtable interview in conjunction with a press event in New York to promote the movie. She exudes a childlike innocence, playing with her hair a lot and laughing regularly; yet she also displays a maturity that goes well beyond her years.
It’s fitting that in War of the Worlds, Fanning’s character (Rachel Ferrier) is the sharp witted little girl from New Jersey with “back problems.”
“I love my character. It’s me in some weird way,” she giggled.
Fanning worked nine-and-a-half-hour days (including four hours for school) on the War of the Worlds set and no, she wasn’t nervous being around the likes of Cruise.
“It’s hard to get nervous around Tom. He’s like my brother. Also, Steven (Spielberg) would explain things in a way we could understand it. It felt so real when we were filming,” she said.
She thinks the world of Spielberg.
“Steven’s a kid at heart,” she said of the acclaimed director. Her favourite Spielberg movie is E.T., which she saw when she was five.
“It’s weird to think that there’s somebody else out there (in space),” she said.
Both Spielberg and Cruise were bowled over by her while filming War of the Worlds.
Spielberg told the press: “She has a gift and she doesn’t know that she has a gift and that’s another gift. She just tells the truth every time, I say ‘Action’.”
Her co-star Justin Chatwin (who plays Fanning’s on-screen brother) also explains that Fanning acts so naturally that he doesn’t know how she does it.
“I would go to her and ask her how she did a particular scene (so well) and she would just go ‘I don’t know! I don’t know!’ ’’
Fanning was the first actress on Spielberg’s mind when he decided to make War of the Worlds. “I know no one her age that’s better than she is, and more intuitive about human nature. She has a very wise old soul – it’s like she’s been around about seven or eight times,” he said.
This inherent wisdom worked well for the actress playing the daughter of a dead-beat dad. The director explained: “In certain instances, her character is a little wiser than her own father and that made for some interesting interplay.”
Cruise concurred: “She is lovely, talented and has impeccable manners.”
Apparently, she can knit up a storm too – Fanning knitted scarves for Cruise, Spielberg and actor Tim Robbins on the set.
Fanning isn’t about to quit school even with her natural ability. “I want to be an actress and go to college at the same time,” said this forward thinking actress.
She lives in Los Angeles with her parents and sister. Fanning began her career only five years ago at age six. Guest appearances on such Emmy Award-winning television series as ER, The Practice, Malcolm in the Middle and Spin City led to her big break opposite Academy Award-winner Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in I Am Sam.
Fanning has just finished the DreamWorks feature Dreamer, starring opposite Kurt Russell, and is currently in a production of Paramount’s/Walden Media’s version of the E.B. White’s novel, Charlotte’s Web.
Fanning will also soon be in a DreamWorks adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Oh yes, she is also learning to speak both Spanish and French.

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