The star and executive producer of the bawdy historical comedy on boundaries, blood, and bare bottoms.

As Emmy nominations approach, Vanity Fair’s HWD team is once again diving deep into some of the shows that struck us most, and asking actors and creators how the season’s greatest scenes and characters came together.

The Character: Catherine the Great, The Great

In The Great’s first episode, a pink-cheeked Catherine (Elle Fanning) pilots a flower-entwined swing and burbles to a friend about how romantic her wedding to Russian Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) will be. But after Catherine is delivered from her sleepy German village to the Russian palace, her girlish dreams are dashed when she meets the tyrannical and narcissistic Peter. As she solemnly presents him with an evergreen as a symbol of their love, he turns to one of his minions and barks, “She gave me a twig. She’s not another inbred, is she?”

It’s the abrupt end of her innocent imaginings, as well as the start of a young woman’s campaign, aided by her wit and charm, to plot a putsch—after Catherine learns that if Peter just happens to be killed, she can claim the throne.

“It’s been phenomenal to watch Elle grow into this character as a performer, to balance a tightrope in bringing her to life as this woman who is naive but strong, and also powerless at times,” says Hoult. “[She’s] understanding this new world she’s been thrown into, and also her raison d’être.”

Fanning brings great depth and dimension to her character’s evolution, holding fast to Catherine’s humanity and vulnerability even as she grows ruthlessly cunning—particularly in the season’s final episode, when she learns just what her power grab will cost her. Below, Fanning explains what drew her to Catherine, the toughest part of filming The Great’s intimate scenes, and the surprising request she made as an executive producer of the show.

Vanity Fair: As Catherine immerses herself in court intrigue and consolidates power, she wavers between confidence and naivete. Was that a hard balance to strike?

Elle Fanning: [The role] challenged me in a way that I haven’t been challenged before. As a character, Catherine has one of my favorite qualities, which is that she’s extremely arrogant. She has a huge ego and doesn’t apologize for it, which was so fun to play. But she also questions herself, and has these weaknesses—these moments of really not knowing if she’s up for the challenge too—which was important to me. I’m not interested in playing “She’s strong all the time. She’s the bravest and she always makes the right decisions!” I don’t want to watch that.

I also love that she’s very romantic, but she learns that her love affair over the whole season is really her love for Russia. Which was interesting. Her most important quality, too, is her youth. Youth is such a big factor in the decisions she makes—and sometimes they’re a bit rash, but she’s young and she’s learning. And she’s a different woman at the end of it.

You have known your costar Nicholas Hoult since you were 14 and costarred in the film Young Ones. Did that familiarity make things easier during the sex scenes? Continue reading  »

How does Hollywood see you, Elle? And is it how you want to be seen?

ELLE FANNING When I was 14, I was cast as Sleeping Beauty in Maleficent, and that phone call definitely changed my life and my trajectory and it differentiated me from my sister [Dakota]. That role is very important to me, but also it’s a Disney princess, and I’m this blond and it comes with a certain stigma, right? And that’s the biggest movie I’ve done, so I’m recognized most for it. What was exciting for me about The Great was getting to try out the comedy world. People think of me as doing these serious, dramatic roles or just playing the kid, and I feel like I’m a funny person in real life and I love shocking people and proving that I’m not exactly who they think I am.

Elle, there are a lot of sex scenes in The Great, but there’s considerably more male nudity than female. How does that change a dynamic on set?

FANNING It’s interesting, Catherine the Great, in real life, was kind of the first woman who was slut-shamed. I mean, the whole horse rumor [that she possibly had sex with a horse] was created because she loved sex, she was very open and had multiple lovers. Obviously, our story is not a historical document, but a lot of truths are in it, and that’s a big part of Catherine’s character, so sex is incorporated into the show a lot. And of course it’s a period show, so we’re corseted up with multiple layers of skirts and just the logistics of actually getting naked — for the women, it takes a long time. So everyone’s just having fully clothed sex. It’s like, “All right, girls, we’re going to just lift up your skirt, and that’s fine.” And there was an intimacy coordinator on set, which was new to me.

SEDARIS Wow. Continue reading  »

On IMDb’s new podcast, ‘Movies That Changed My Life,’ the star of Hulu’s ‘The Great’ opens up on just that — the films she watched growing up that influenced her career.

Elle Fanning is allergic the phrase “strong female characters.”

That’s what the star of Hulu’s new MRC-produced series The Great explained on the latest episode of IMDb’s newly launched podcast Movies That Changed My Life.

“What does that mean?” Fanning asked, in reference to her character Catherine, as in Cathering the Great, to host Ian de Borja, best known for his work on The IMDb Show. She wanted to show all sides to the historical figure, who gets a reimagining in the Tony McNamara-created series in which she stars opposite Nicholas Hoult. “I was really aware that I wanted to humanize her. She makes mistakes; sometimes she waivers, sometimes she’s weak and sometimes she’s incredibly brave. There’s room for that on TV — to have complicated female characters.”

There’s nothing complicated about Movies That Changed My Life. The weekly series features actors and filmmakers discussing the movies that inspired them and helped launch their careers. The podcast joins other popular IMDb original video series including The IMDb Show, IMDbrief and What to Watch. The inaugural episode features Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright, who was followed by Joel McHale, Judy Greer, Felicia Day and Kevin Smith.

New episodes come out every Thursday wherever podcasts are found, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, IMDb.com/podcasts and through IMDb’s iOS and Android apps.

Says Nikki Santoro, head of IMDb Consumer: “These personal and in-depth conversations with our customers’ favorite actors and filmmakers will reveal the defining moments in their lives, ultimately providing listeners with a greater understanding of their favorite performers, as well as recommendations for new films to add to their IMDb Watchlists.”

On the episode with Fanning, she also dishes on her upcoming film The Nightingale, a role that put her opposite sister Dakota for the first time in their careers; how the first time she watched The Neverending Story was with Bijou Phillips at Sean Lennon’s apartment next to John Lennon’s piano; and how she would dress up as the iconic Sandy while watching Grease. To listen to Fanning, click here. [Source]

The Great is the latest historical drama to revisit the life and rule of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Unlike previous versions, however, creator and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Favourite Tony McNamara makes no apologies about its satirical take and disregard for historical accuracy in the stylish and bitingly funny Hulu series starring Elle Fanning as a younger version of the aspiring ruler adjusting to royal life as wife to Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult).

Believing she’s marrying for love, a wide-eyed Catherine is shocked to learn that she’s seen as nothing more than a means to an heir when she arrives in Russia. Over the course of the season, with the aid of her servant, Marial (Phoebe Fox), and other newfound allies in court, the disenchanted consort sets out to kill her horrible husband and uproot the depraved kingdom she’s come to call home.

Similar to The Favourite, the series mixes humor, wit and a modern point of view with plenty of sex and nudity to bring to life this darkly funny version of events. “That’s so unique to Tony,” Fanning tells ET’s Katie Krause about McNamara turning this entire world on its head. “It’s just such a fascinating way to tell that story.” Hoult agrees, applauding McNamara for transforming a genre of “dull and dry” period dramas. “This felt just completely different to all those.”

If there are any other comparisons to McNamara’s film about Queen Anne, which also starred Hoult as Earl Robert Harley, it’s all in tone. “Tony’s voice is so idiosyncratic. Having done The Favourite, I did recognize the kind of rhythm and the pacing and that humor that is in this show,” Hoult continues, adding that Peter was “a really fun role to inhabit.” Continue reading  »

Dakota and Elle Fanning have both been in show business since they were very young, but they’ve never really shared the screen together. All that will change when they take on their roles as sisters Vianne and Isabelle in the film adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s bestseller, Nightingale.

Though they both appeared in 2001’s I Am Sam, Elle, 22, tells ET’s Katie Krause that she doesn’t count that as sharing the screen with her older sis.

“Technically, in I Am Sam I played her at a younger age, so we weren’t really acting together and I was so young, so yeah, this is the first,” she says of her upcoming role in Nightingale.

The story follows two sisters torn apart at the start of World War II.

“Your sister knows you more than anyone. She can sniff anything out of you, she can push your buttons more than anybody,” Elle adds. “It’s like that dynamic is so special and unique, you’re family more than anybody. That’s the closest, she is my closest person. The book really explores that. They’re a bit misunderstood more in the book but still we have that foundation. That we won’t have to work hard for, that’ll be there.”

Unfortunately, the film was just about to start production when the coronavirus pandemic hit, putting a halt to filming on almost all major shows and movies.

“We haven’t shot it yet, so that’s the thing. We were about to go shoot and then everything happened, so it was kinda put to a halt and I know as much as you,” Elle admits.

But that doesn’t mean the actress isn’t busy. Even while quarantined at home with her family in Los Angeles, Elle is hard at work promoting her new Hulu period dramedy series, The Great, in which she plays Catherine the Great.

She co-stars alongside Nicholas Hoult, who was also on the video call to talk about their hilarious new project.

“Tony McNamara, who is our showrunner, creator, wrote the pilot and is the man,” Elle says of The Favourite scribe. “His tone and irreverence and just that dark humor is completely up my alley… It’s just such a fascinating way to tell that story full of humor and really delicious language. That’s so unique to Tony. And just Catherine as a character, I absolutely loved playing her. It was just the ultimate gift to be a part of this show and get to bring her to life and show our version of Catherine.” Continue reading  »

Elle Fanning has spent most of her 12-year career making movies. Now, at 22, she’s jumping into television, starring as Catherine the Great in Hulu’s 10-part satirical comedy series “The Great,” which debuts on May 15. Written by “The Favourite” scribe Tony McNamara, the show follows Catherine’s rise to power, from her arranged marriage to Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) to becoming empress of Russia in 1762 after having her husband assassinated.

“I didn’t know much about her. I knew the she-had-sex-with-a-horse propaganda,” Fanning says. “That’s what I knew about her, which is extremely sad. But I came to learn that she’s this kind of feminist icon, and she brought enlightenment to Russia and brought female education and art and science, and really did amazing things. She invented the roller coaster as well. She’s quite fun.”

What have you been doing during quarantine?

I’ve been with my sister [Dakota Fanning] and my mom and my grandmother cooking and baking a lot. My sister has been doing paint by numbers, and also this kind of bedazzling thing. Everyone’s embroidering. We’re getting creative. I’m doing a jigsaw puzzle of the “Top Gun” movie poster.

I love the paint by numbers.

She did a giant, a really big one of a flamingo. I got one. I haven’t done it, but it’s of spotted dogs.

Let’s talk about “The Great.”

It starts when Catherine is quite young and she arrives in Russia. She’s extremely optimistic and open and romantic and slightly naive to what is about to happen to her life. She’s going to marry Peter, who is the emperor of Russia. She meets him, and he is definitely not anything that she thought he was going to be. Reality hits her in her face, and she quickly realizes that she needs to kill her husband for her life to be OK. We’re not here trying to give a history lesson to anyone, but there are elements in each episode that are true, slightly based on what Catherine did. It was a play that was put on in Australia that Tony had done years ago. Then it was going to possibly be a movie. I read the movie script that actually spanned much more of her life. It was her young, up until her death. Then there was talks of, “Hey, there’s so much information, TV is so hot right now, or whatever.” Let’s do a TV show. Tony asked if I would help kind of develop it with him and come on as a producer, which was huge for me. Also, I felt a lot like Catherine in finding my voice in that space as a young woman. Continue reading  »