Dakota Fanning covers the August issue of Town & Country. I can’t tell if she’s wearing a wig or if this is her natural hair. She looks a bit like an anime goddess in this shoot. We haven’t heard much about Dakota lately, which makes sense. She’s been quietly studying at NYU and only breaking for the occasional bit of film work. This year’s tally includes Night Moves and Very Good Girls. I was a little alarmed when Dakota said the latter film was a great excuse for a nude scene, but it turns out she used a butt double. Yes, I’m relieved. Dakota doesn’t need to rush into nude scenes. There’s plenty of time for that later in her career. God, I sound old.
This interview is mostly harmless. Dakota is only 20 years old, but she is wise enough to know that her audience still thinks of her as a kid. She started acting when she was only five years old and says it was mostly her decision. Dakota ordered vegetable dumplings and brown rice during the interview, just FYI:
Acting was her idea: “It’s hard to explain to someone who didn’t know me as a child. But even before I started working–when I was two, three, four, five–I was an exceptionally mature child. I just was. And my mom and I were able to have conversations like, ‘Do you want to go to California and go to auditions for commercials and TV shows? Is that something you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s give it a try.'”
Her upbringing: “It’s very interesting to grow up with half a Southern mind-set and half a California mind-set. Like going to high school in Los Angeles and living in New York City and going to NYU, but having a family that was very traditional. I credit my family pretty much with everything–and especially my mom. I’m super-happy that you’ve enjoyed watching me grow up. That’s cool,” but “because people saw me grow up, there’s this weird sort of ownership that they feel for me and that is…difficult. Because it’s not real; it’s in their minds.”
How critics jumped on her for the Hounddog rape scene: “That’s what the movie is about, that she is made to feel responsible. There is a real little girl who that is happening to right now.” All the busybody calumny was “very, very upsetting–horrible” for her mother, she says.
Fans still see her as a child: When people meet her they frequently exclaim, “You’re so tall!” She rolls her eyes at this. “Actually, I’m not even that tall,” only five-foot-four, though she’s in reasonably high heels today, her pants rolled up stylishly. “But compared to a childI am!” She laughs with sarcastic glee. “I feel as if one day I’m going to be married and pregnant and people will still be saying, ‘Oh my god, you’re so tall!’
Dakota on her mom, Joy: “She realized I had the potential to do things that were bigger than the life she knew. And she recognized that in Elle, too. When she made that initial move with me to L.A., she completely gave up her own dreams and started over in a place she never imagined living. I mean, Los Angeles, to a person from 20 minutes southeast of Atlanta, might as well be Africa.”
Will Dakota let her kids act? “The only reason I wouldn’t is that I know how much work it took from my mom: driving me to auditions every day all over the city, making sure I had the right thing to wear. I am the person I am because my mom put that energy into me to make sure that I was not going crazy and that people weren’t taking advantage of me. I plan on having a career, so if I couldn’t dedicate that time to my children, I wouldn’t.”
She wants to create her own roles someday: “It’s very hard to find a movie about a strong woman–one that doesn’t have anything to do with a guy or the love of a guy or the heartbreak of a guy. Is that the only crisis that women deal with: love and loss of love and sadness? There’s more to life than that.”
[From Town & Country]
Did you catch Dakota’s offhanded comment about flyover country? I can’t hate on her for it too much. She didn’t mean to make a statement about Africa, it was just a poorly worded metaphor about culture shock. It IS bizarre for a person from an Atlanta suburb to transplant to Hollywood. Was it wise to include Africa in the analogy? Probably not, but Dakota is still one of the most adjusted former child stars in the biz.
Photos courtesy of Town & Country
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