Page 97 - S Fall 2024

“I want to make sure that I’m super present in everything, really soak it in, and not try to ever hurry up and get to the next thing.”
and eating lobster rolls in Cape Cod with her co-stars. Kidman, who’d previously worked with Fanning’s younger sister, Elle, was a particular dream come true. “She’s such an icon, and she’s everything that you hope that she is when you meet with her and work with her,” she says.
Fanning also recently starred in Ripley, the latest adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s famed crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, for Netflix. Directed by Steven Zaillian and shot entirely in black and white, the series opts for a nuanced, neo-noir spin on the classic tale—as if created in the same era in which the story is set. She plays Marge Sherwood alongside Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf, with Andrew Scott in the title role. Ripley’s Marge is different than the Marge made famous by Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1999 film adaptation. “I am obsessed with that movie, but when I read the scripts and saw that it was going to be a fairly faithful adaptation to the novel and it wasn’t trying to be the movie, it seemed so different right from the start, so it was easy to not compare,” she says. “All things can exist and be great, so
it was like a relief that I didn’t have to compare myself to something that’s already been done perfectly.”
Ripley filmed in some of Italy’s most picturesque locales for more than a year, a stretch of time that Fanning could only comprehend once seeing her work crystallized into a final product. “I watched all eight episodes, and it was a day that I will really never forget because the whole experience made sense,” she says. Both Fanning and Scott were nominated for Emmy Awards for their performances. “It’s been ever-present in my mind ever since I started, because it’s taken up a big part of the last few years from me in such
a great way, so [to be nominated] is of course really exciting and I can’t believe it,” she says.
Fanning is an avid TV watcher, something that has surely made her an arbiter of good content (during our interview, there was a paused episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County in the other room at the ready
for her to return to). So, it tracks that she started a production company, Lewellen Pictures, to run alongside her sister, Elle—the duo has used it to explore mediums they don’t otherwise work in, from podcasts to docuseries. Lewellen owns the rights to Paris Hilton’s memoir, which is currently being developed into a series. “If someone told Elle and I as little girls, ‘One day you’re going to become friends with Paris Hilton and tell her story,’ we would have lost our minds,” she says. Before the pandemic, the Fanning sisters were slated to play opposite each other for the first time, but the project fell through. “It’ll definitely happen, and it’ll maybe be the scariest thing we’ve ever done, but the most exciting,” she says. “It’s one of the things that’s undeniable and those are the things you know you have to
see through.”
As Fanning settles into her third decade in Hollywood, she is poised to
take what comes in stride. “I feel life unfolds in the way that it’s supposed to and what’s meant for me will be mine, that’s kind of the way I live my life,” she says, sounding wise beyond her years. She sees her next chapter as having children and a family. “I am enjoying my time without that before that hopefully happens in the not too far away future,” she says. We can’t wait to see what’s next.
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