MEDIA > ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS > 2004

FANNING THE FLAMES OF MAN ON FIRE
from Extra, April 23, 2004
It's been said that "dynamite comes in small packages," and that's certainlythe case with 10-year-old Dakota Fanning. In Dakota's latest silver-screenadventure, "Man on Fire," she stars alongside two-time Academy Award winnerDenzel Washington.
"I would look over and I'd be like, 'I'm in the car with Denzel Washington,'" Fanning laughs. "It's like, somebody pinch me; you know what I mean? It's so weird."
But don't let her tender years fool you. According to Denzel, Dakota, "knows how to do her job, she is a professional." Denzel was definitely blown away by this little star, who in just five years of acting has worked alongside Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mike Myers and just wrapped a film with Robert De Niro.
"[Denzel] was always trying to do things and we would ad lib a lot and improvise," Fanning reveals. "It would be so fun, and I couldn't wait to see what he was going to say."
And Washington insists that although she's a kid, Dakota was still, "Hitting them back harder than I was hitting over the net. I was like 'Wait a minute.'"
"This is what I really want to be doing the rest of my life," Fanning tells us. "So I'm having fun."
At eight years old, Fanning became the youngest-ever actor to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, for "I Am Sam," and her on-screen magic keeps smoking with "Man on Fire," opening on Friday.

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