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TRANSCRIPT OF DAKOTA FANNING GUEST APPEARING ON THE TODAY SHOW
June 29, 2005
(ROUGHLY DONE BY SARAH)

Matt: 11 year old Dakota Fanning is one of Hollywood’s most sought after young actors – her latest movie War of the Worlds which opens today, could be the summer’s biggest blockbuster. In the movie, she and her dad, played by Tom Cruise, have to run for their lives when the aliens from outer space rise up to annihilate mankind.

*clip of movie shows*

Matt: Dakota Fanning welcome back, how are you?
Dakota: (laughs) I’m good, thank you for having me!
Matt: Man, man are you good in this movie.
Dakota: Aww…
Matt: Man are you good. (Dakota laughs) Seriously, I don’t know if you’ve seen Jean Shalot’s review – he raved about you.
Dakota: Aww. Well you know we had so much fun making it, you know what I mean? And every day we just had a blast.
Matt: Is it true you were making another movie for Steven Spielberg’s company and you heard that they were going to make War of the Worlds and kind of said, “I want to be in that.”?
Dakota: Well I was doing a movie with, for Dreamworks, and then they asked me if I wanted to be in War of the Worlds, you know, during that time. And, I figured, of course, you know!
Matt: Did you know all about the story I mean the HG Wells novel that’s a long time ago and the radio broadcast and the Orson Wells movie, what did you know about it?
Dakota: Um, well you know I had of course heard about the book and the original movie and the Orson Wells broadcast and you know, I had heard all of it. But the script is very much, you know, it’s not like the original movie and it’s more similar to the book, but it’s kind of it’s own War of the Worlds.
Matt: And, and you play Rachel…
Dakota: I do.
Matt: …who, your dad is Tom Cruise, Ray, is his name in it, and they’re thrust together for a week-end (Dakota laughs) – it’s a divorced family we should mention, and it just so happens at the time these aliens come to annihilate humans…
Dakota: Exactly…
Matt: …and they don’t have the best relationship, at least not the easiest relationship.
Dakota: Right, and I think during the movie, during the beginning of the movie, um, during the alien attack, Tom’s like “Why did it have to be, you know, this weekend!”
Matt: Right! When I, when I have the kids…
Dakota: ..that my kids, you know, I haven’t seen them in like months, and this weekend they come to my house.
Matt: And, for the reason that he’s not all that great a dad. At least, he hasn’t had a lot of practice at it.
Dakota: No! Right. He hasn’t had a lot of practice and he has the potential to be a great dad and he’s kind of during, you know, while we’re you know, trying to save each other’s lives, he’s kind of learning who we are.
Matt: What, some of the most intense scenes are these kind of sweeping, panoramic views of the aliens attacking, but what I thought were probably even more disturbing, were the almost the claustrophobic scenes – when you, and Tom Cruise’s character, and Tim Robbins’ character, are in this basement, basically surrounded by the aliens. What was that like to shoot?
Dakota: Right. When we were there, um, the first day that we came in there - cause that was a really intense sequence, you know, when we were doing that, and you know when I was there I was like “Oh can I, I can’t even imagine having to hide in this place”. You know, for her, for like weeks.
Matt: You actually worked with a lot of special effects, and there’s one scene in the basement where you basically come face to face (Dakota laughs) with one of the probes from the tripod, the alien tripods…
Dakota: Yes.
Matt: You let out this blood-curdling scream (Dakota laughs) How many times did you have to do that?
Dakota: We did that a couple because it involved you know, the special effects. So we did that a lot.
Matt: What did you use mentally, to get you to the point where you could give that kind of a scream?
Dakota: Well there was actually a model of the probe in front of my face, so I actually had something to look at. And it’s kinda weird looking, you know? Because it’s really metal and it looks slimy at the same time.
Matt: Well give me the scream. Come on! Wait, audio? Audio boost, turn down the pots, real quickly!
Dakota: (Grins) Okay, are you ready?
Matt: Yeah!
*Dakota screams*
Matt: It’s like dishes break (Dakota laughs) it’s like, it’s an adducible level, it’s like a level, I think dogs can only hear that at some point! I mean that’s incredible! It really is, did you drive everybody nuts on that set with that?
Dakota: You know everybody was like “Stop! Stop!”
Matt: That’s a take, that’s a fine!
Dakota: Steven instead of saying cut, he’d be like “STOOOOOOOP!” (laughs)
Matt: You obviously had a lot of fun with this…
Dakota: Definitely.
Matt: What about other than the movies, your career is going so well. How’s being an eleven year old going?
Dakota: It’s going good you know, we were in New York and we had a bunch of days off, and we went to see plays, and we saw ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, and I saw ‘Wicked’ for my third time.
Matt: Do you love that?
Dakota: It’s my favorite.
Matt: Is it really, why, why do you love that so much?
Dakota: Um, well, I’ve seen it three times, so I had to have my sister go see it, and my grandparents and everybody and…I love it, I just love the characters. And I love ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
Matt: I was talking to Dakota before we came on the air and you were telling me about your teeth, you’ve got your little braces on…
Dakota: My braces, yes.
Matt: You have no baby teeth left!
Dakota: Well…
Matt: Well in the front, in the front here…
Dakota: In the front.
Matt: You have eight adult teeth here…
Dakota: I have four in the top and four on the bottom…
Matt: You actually had…
Dakota: But they’ve all, they’ve all been pulled, and my sister just got her bottom two teeth pulled.
Matt: Yeah? And so, you’ve never had that experience of having that great loose dangly tooth in your mouth.
Dakota: Never! You know they’ve always been sort of loose, where you have to like really clench your finger on there to wiggle it, but I never could wiggle it with my tongue.
Matt: How long do you have to wear the braces?
Dakota: You know, I don’t think for that long. I have to get an expander put in when I go home.
Matt: I’ve worn an expander too.
Dakota: And they fit it for me and they had to wrench it in between my teeth, I was like “UGH!”
Matt: Yeah, yeah, it’s not fun. Isn’t it fun being an eleven year old? (laughs, and Dakota laughs too) Well you are as I said fantastic in this movie. Congratulations.
Dakota: Thank you.
Matt: It’s great to have you here.
Dakota: It’s good to be here.
Matt: And we should tell you that War of the Worlds opens nationwide – everywhere –today. Dolphin’s good.” But when I was also learning the piano, and Spanish.
Craig: Yeah?
Dakota: I have to, I have to tell you something in Spanish…
Craig: Tell me, talk to me, I’m here.
Dakota: Okay, okay - *talks in Spanish* (applause)
Craig: Oh si!
Dakota: Which says… (audience still cheering, and Dakota laughs)
Craig: What did you say?
Dakota: ‘Your hair looks good tonight’.
Craig: Well thank you!
Dakota: You’re welcome!
Craig: I…that means it doesn’t look good some nights, but thank you!
Dakota: No! (laughs) Craig: Thank you very much. Now wait, I have good news, I want to hear about this: everytime you come here, you’re obsessed – you love coming here, by the way -
Dakota: Yes! Oh, it’s so fun, it’s great! (audience cheer)
Craig: - because we always, we always give her like gifts, right? What, what did we give you last time?
Dakota: A Fifi and Romeo gift certificate.
Craig: Because, because you want a dog badly.
Dakota: I want a dog so badly! But the dog has changed! I don’t want a Pomeranian.
Craig: You don’t want one?
Dakota: *shakes head* Not a Pomeranian.
Craig: Oh, take it away. Take the dog away! (Dakota laughs)
Dakota: No, no! No, but now I want a long haired Chihuahua.
Craig: How come? Why’d you change your mind?
Dakota: Well I went to the Westminster, because my Uncle Henry is the superintendent…
Craig: Sure.
Dakota: And um we went to a bunch of dog shows and everything. And I fell in love with this long haired Chihuahua named Fancy.
Craig: Named Fancy.
Dakota: And Fancy has the same colored hair as me… (audience laughter)
Craig: Oh very pretty!
Dakota: And um so now, that color is called ‘Light Fawn’.
Craig: *points to Dakota’s hair* This is called ‘Light Fawn’?
Dakota: Well the hair color of the dog, I don’t know about me. (laughter)
Craig: Wait, so, I thought it was blonde, it’s light fawn?
Dakota: It’s light flawn, light fawn. And um so now I have to get a long haired Chihuahua just like Fancy with my same hair color, light fawn.
Craig: But your Mom may not buy you a dog…
Dakota: Well. Well she is kind of leaning towards it. And she’s thinking about getting two, because my sister doesn’t know what she wants! She wants like a short haired, then a long haired, but then like a smooth coat, and then the one with the hair.
Craig: Just give your sister…(audience laughter) …yeah. Give the sister the mask.
Dakota: And then she wants a white cat! With a pink nose.
Craig: Say, say again?
Dakota: She wants a white cat with a pink nose now but then it changed, like a Chihuahua again, so…she’s gonna get two!
Craig: That’s amazing.
Dakota: I’m like so excited! I didn’t think we were gonna get, like, any!
Craig: How exciting is life right now? (audience cheers) Are, are you gonna name the dog?
Dakota: I’m gonna name the…
Craig: This is, this is true, before you even get a dog, you have a name, you think of a name. Like Spot or Rover or… (Dakota laughs)
Dakota: No I’m going to name it London. (audience “awws”)
Craig: London?
Dakota: Like England.
Craig: That’s, wait a second, that’s a city, you can’t name a dog after a city…(Dakota laughs)
Dakota: No I love the name.
Craig: That’s too confusing, that’s...
Dakota: No it’s so pretty - London…
Craig: No it’s very clever, it’s very clever. So, London. “Hey London! London calling! London calling!”
Dakota: *pretends to call a dog* London!
Craig: That’s great. Have you been to London, is that why you did that?
Dakota: No I’ve never been to Europe!
Craig: Oh that’s right. (laughter) *Pretends to take something out of jacket pocket* Guess what we have for you right here? I’m just kidding.
Dakota: Oh (laughs).
Craig: Alright, you got to come back, we’re out of time, you got to come back.
Dakota: Well thank you.
Craig: Will you have the dog next time, or not? London?
Dakota: I don’t know…I hope so!
Craig: So do I.
Dakota: I hope so. I’ll bring it if I do.
Craig: Okay, good to see you again… Dakota: Thank you for having me on your show!
Craig: …Man on Fire, number one movie in America, Dakota Fanning! We’ll be right back! (applause and cheers)

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