Elle Fanning on Her First Oscar Nomination: I Like To Be Terrified

Elle Fanning swears she wasn’t expecting an Oscar nomination for her work in Neon’s Sentimental Value. It’s a line actors have repeated frequently on the awards circuit; however, in Fanning’s case, it appears to ring true — best evidenced by her plans the night before and during the nominations announcement Jan. 22.

“I was not watching it,” Fanning candidly tells The Hollywood Reporter, admitting that she had talked herself out of thinking she would get nominated. She and her sister, actress Dakota Fanning, were both at their mom’s house when the nominations were announced.

“Dakota and I had gone out the night before. We had quite a late night,” she explains, laughing, adding that she was “dead asleep” when the nominations came out in the early morning hours but was awakened by her phone lighting up. She assumed the slew of congratulatory texts were related to the movie in general, not a best supporting actress nod.

“I couldn’t compute. I go out bleary-eyed, and I’m like, ‘Mom! Dakota! Wake up. I think I got it. I think I got it,’ ” Fanning says, noting the confusion of her mom and sister. “I looked like a crazed zombie who was walking in circles saying, ‘Is this real?’ “

Once Fanning played back the announcement livestream and was able to comprehend it indeed was real, it became a day of celebration for her and the rest of the cast and crew of the Norwegian film. Sentimental Value scored nine nominations, including another nod in the supporting actress category for co-star Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Stellan Skarsgard in the supporting actor category and Renate Reinsve for lead actress.

The film also received nods in the best picture, director, screenplay and international feature categories. But Fanning says the most exciting nod was Olivier Bugge Coutté’s editing nomination.

“What Olivier has done with the film, and the way that it is edited and constructed — I’m so happy that he wasn’t overlooked because it’s so particular and he has such a keen eye and was so essential to the film,” Fanning explains. “Editors — I’ve come to learn now in the producing process, too — hold the key to your performance in a lot of ways.”

Fanning says the Sentimental Value team, despite how cheesy it might sound, has become a tight-knit family since the movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. “The fact that the family was held together and that no one was left out and that we get to continue the celebration with each other is really meaningful,” says the 27-year-old actress. “I’ve been quite emotional about this whole experience. I’m still a little glassy-eyed and in shock over it all.”

Fanning, who counts films like 2014’s Maleficent, 2017’s The Beguiled and 2024’s A Complete Unknown and such television shows as The Great (2020-23) and 2022’s The Girl From Plainville — for which she earned an Emmy nomination — among her acting credits, long has been considered a veteran of the film industry. “I’ve been acting since I was 2. I’ve never gotten to have this experience before. [It’s] my first time being nominated [for an Oscar],” she notes. “It does really mean something to me, to be recognized by my peers. I don’t think you realize how special that feels until it happens.”

The Oscar nomination caps a big and certainly varied year for Fanning as an actress — Sentimental Value opened in theaters the same day as another Fanning-fronted film, Predator: Badlands. “You don’t know what projects are going to come to you or what’s being written at the time, but I have been very fortunate to be able to have these varied projects,” she says.

Fanning notes that she became aware at a young age that she didn’t want to be put in a box when it came to casting. “I like to be scared. I like to be terrified a bit and step into something new because I feel like that’s how I have to keep pushing myself,” she says. “Maleficent, that was amazing and it opened up a lot of doors for me in that sense, but then there’s a box; people want to put the Disney princess on you. I’m like, ‘Wait, don’t do thattome.’ “

In Sentimental Value, Fanning plays Rachel Kemp, an American actress hired to lead Skarsgard’s director Gustav Borg’s film. It’s far from Fanning’s most out-there character, but it did offer up some reflection. “We’re at different phases, but there was a little feeling while playing her that maybe I was looking back at a younger version of myself in this world,” Fanning explains.

“[There are] definitely feelings that she has had that I am familiar with, and I’ve had before about myself because when you’ve been doing it for a long time, the relationship to it ebbs and flows,” she continues. “There was something cathartic for me to play her.”

The irony of being nominated for this role in particular isn’t lost on Fanning. “To be recognized for a character who is actually struggling in her work and then at the end does a very brave thing and walks away from something she wants, that’s even meta in and of itself,” she says.

“Rachel Kemp is nominated,” she exclaims, laughing about how shocked her character would be. “Once she walks away from the part, I feel like it’s quite hopeful for her. The next thing she’ll do, she’ll really give it her all. She’ll be really good in it.”

As for Fanning’s next role, the actress is preparing for her long-awaited adaptation of The Nightingale, which she’s producing and starring in alongside her older sister. The project, which begins filming at the end of March, was first announced in 2019 and was initially delayed because of COVID-19 and then the “puzzle” of scheduling. “I don’t know what I’m going to do on the first day. Our first scene, I think [I’ll be] crying or laughing,” she says.

“She can’t boss me around,” Fanning jokes about what the dynamic with her sister will be like on set — while The Nightingale marks the first time they’ll star in a film together, Fanning did play the younger version of Dakota’s character in 2001’s I Am Sam. “We’re fellow actors who will try to keep reminding ourselves of that.”

This story appeared in the Feb. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.