Oh my God, it’s four in the morning?” marie claire’s October cover star, Elle Fanning gasps. “That’s insane. Surely we can pick a better time to talk?”

“It’s fine,” I assure her. “Australian journalists are used to waking up at the crack of dawn for interviews with international stars.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry. We need to make this quick! You have to get back to bed,” she insists. Even in our line of work, it’s not every day a Hollywood A-lister concerns themselves with your sleep schedule. However, Elle’s manners show the telltale signs of a Southern upbringing, even if her sunny Californian accent has no hint of a Southern drawl.

The actor and latest ambassador for Paco Rabanne’s new fragrance ‘Fame’ is chatting to marie claire from London, where she’s currently filming the third season of her hit television series The Great. It’s 9pm for her after a long day on set, her Chinese takeaway is waiting on the table until she completes our interview, and yet Elle is beaming.

I can’t actually see her—we’ve gone old school with a phone call rather than the “new normal” Zoom interview—but she’s one of those people who talks with such excitement and joy, you can hear her ear-to-ear smile as she speaks. And rightly so. The 24-year-old actor has plenty to smile about.

It’s been quite the year for Elle, who gained widespread critical acclaim for her surprising turn playing an uncharacteristically dark role in The Girl from Plainville, while also picking up an Emmy nomination for The Great.

News of the nomination came to her via her co-star Nicholas Hoult, who also received a nod for his work as Peter.
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The Emmy-nominated star of The Great talks growing up on-screen and her deep love of Paris Hilton.

For W’s third annual TV Portfolio, we asked 21 sought-after names in television to pay homage to their favorite small screen characters by stepping into their shoes.

At just 24 years old, Elle Fanning has had a career that would strike envy in the hearts of even the most seasoned actors. Her film credits boast a who’s who of top directors, among them David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), J.J. Abrams (Super 8), Mike Mills (20th Century Women), and Sofia Coppola (Somewhere and The Beguiled). Now, Fanning is conquering television with her Emmy-nominated turn as The Great’s Catherine the Great—a part created by The Favourite’s cowriter Tony McNamara and Fanning’s first leading role on TV. Determined not to be typecast, Fanning followed up the second season of the dark comedy with The Girl From Plainville, Hulu’s limited series in which she transformed into Michelle Carter, the real-life teenager at the center of the texting-suicide case of Conrad Roy. “With each project, I have to go from one drastic thing to the next,” she says. “I want people to expect the unexpected from me, in the words of Big Brother.” It’s an approach that’s proven to be particularly fruitful—so much so, it’s almost easy to forget that she got her start as a toddler, playing a younger version of her sister Dakota’s character in 2001’s I Am Sam. Here, she discusses coming of age on-screen and her respect for one of reality TV’s most iconic duos.

Your sister introduced you to The Simple Life, right?

Right, though every two years or so, I’ll watch the show again. I love Nicole Richie. I love Paris Hilton. I’ve gotten to meet Paris a couple times, and she is the nicest and coolest. It was so fascinating hearing in Paris’s documentary how she put on this persona for the reality show. It’s quite clever. My sister and I would watch it and act out the scenes. I would normally be Nicole Richie, and she would be Paris. We would say “That’s hot” and “Loves it.” Finally, I get to dress up as Paris and have the dog, because Dakota always had the Chihuahua

You’ve been working for over two decades now. Have you ever felt boxed in by the child actor label?

It’s maybe not so much about the child actor label. As an actor in general, no matter what age, people want to put you in a box and describe the types of roles you should be doing or what you’re capable of. That can be hard when you’re a child, because you haven’t learned your limitations yet. But that really fueled my fire, because I would always try to make the daring choice, to challenge myself and really push the boundaries. Like with The Great and The Girl From Plainville, I had two weeks between those shows, and they are polar opposites. It was such a challenge, going from one set that’s a satire comedy to this very raw, real-life-drama, true-crime story.
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While Memorial Day Weekend is the kickoff to the summer season for many, it’s Cannes Film Festival for in-demand celebs. It’s the day after Elle Fanning’s Cannes red carpet debut, and she’s gushing: “Cannes is such a glamourous place, but it’s also on the beach, so during the day, I try to be very glowy; I want to stay fresh, and I like a dewiness to the skin.” The Great actress is on the go—right after Cannes, she is heading to Paris and then back to London to start filming Season three of The Great. Nevertheless, she takes 15 minutes from her beach day to talk with ELLE about her summer beauty routine, which era inspires her red carpet looks, and the key to kicking nail-biting.

For Elle Fanning, journeying to the South of France means it’s time to kick up her sun protection. “My summer beauty must-have is sunscreen because I’m the palest person ever,” she laughs. Low-maintenance beauty looks are in, focusing on skin, which is in alignment with the beauty looks Fanning loves. Fanning likes to keep her off-duty routine simple when not on the red carpet simple: “I always have a concealer; L’Oreal has this kind of crayon, True Match Concealer. It’s like, the lightest one, but it’s so perfect,” she reveals. Like many fans of the affordable product, Fanning raves about the formula—“It goes on easily. I love it. That’s always in my bag.” In addition to concealer, Fanning loves blush. “That is my number one,” she states regarding her “must-haves”—“I want to look like I have rosy cheeks,” she explains.

However, when it’s time to turn up the glam, Fanning isn’t afraid to go bolder and looks to Old Hollywood to show her the way. “I have always loved [Marilyn Monroe]—Grace Kelly [too],” she shares, which is no surprise, as it’s public knowledge of Fanning’s love for vintage clothing. Her style choices are reminiscent of the era. The star was spotted wearing Lapima’s Julieta sunglasses in black days before. The chic cat-eye frame paid homage to an age she loves. “The 50s-60s are my favorite beauty era regarding makeup. I think it’s glamorous and sexy for a woman,” she coos. She’s a fan of the cat-eye, originating in ancient Egypt and popularized in the United States in the 1950s. “I think it really can make you stand out, but I’m not doing it myself,” exclaims Fanning before adding, “Oh God, I can do one [eye], I just can’t do the other one!”
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The former child star, who is now 24 and garnering career-best notices for her work on a Hulu comedy series and limited series, reflects on growing up in the industry alongside Dakota, when she took ownership of her career and what led her to projects on the small screen.

Elle Fanning is a gifted actress who is already a widely respected veteran at the age of just 24. She is the younger of two sisters — Dakota is four years older — who both made tremendous impressions as child performers en route to impressive careers as young adults, with no major personal bumps along the way. Of her work on the big screen, she is perhaps best known for 2010’s Somewhere and 2017’s The Beguiled, both directed by Sofia Coppola. But she has also starred in films big and small under the direction of, among others, Francis Ford Coppola, J.J. Abrams, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, David Fincher, Cameron Crowe, Sally Potter, Jay Roach, Mike Mills, Nicolas Winding Refn, John Cameron Mitchell, Tony Scott, Terry George, Ben Affleck and Woody Allen.

This year, Fanning played substantial parts on and executive produced two TV programs, both for Hulu, and both of which could bring her Emmy nominations to go with four prior Critics Choice Award noms, two Golden Globe Award noms, one Spirit Award nom and one SAG Award nom. The first is The Great, a comedy series on which she portrays Catherine the Great, who arrived at the Russian court of Emperor Peter III with a twinkly eyed vision of life as his wife, mother of his heir and reformer of an empire, only to get a rude awakening. And the second is The Girl From Plainville, a limited series on which she portrays Michelle Carter, a high school student in Massachusetts who encouraged her own boyfriend to kill himself, and then, after he did so in 2014, wound up on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

During a recent episode of THR’s Awards Chatter podcast, Fanning reflected on all of the above and more. You can listen to the full conversation or read excerpts of it below.