NEED TO KNOW
- Dakota Fanning said in a new interview that she does not “feel competitive” with her younger sister Elle
- “I don’t even see something that’s right for her as being right for me,” Dakota, 31, said, of roles Elle, 27, takes
- The sister duo are taking on their first movie project that will see them act together in an upcoming adaptation of the novel The Nightingale
Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning may be a close pair of Hollywood sisters, but the actresses don’t feel they have ever been competitive with each other.
“Zero. We obviously share a lot, but we’re very different,” Dakota, 31, told Vanity Fair in a cover story with her younger sister, Elle, 27, published Tuesday, Sept. 16, when asked if the pair feels competitive ever. “So I don’t even see something that’s right for her as being right for me. I don’t feel competitive. But I know that people probably don’t believe that.”
The Fanning sisters both began acting as small children; they both made their first appearances in a movie in 2001’s I Am Sam, when Dakota, then seven, costarred with Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle portrayed a younger version of Dakota’s character. From there, the sisters’ acting careers diverged for more than 20 years as each grew into a staple of screen acting until now, as they begin work on an adaptation of the 2015 novel The Nightingale, by author Kristin Hannah. (The movie is due in theaters in 2027; Elle and Dakota will produce as well as star.)
“When we were younger, we wanted to make sure that people saw us differently, and we wanted to give each other space to carve our own path,” Elle told the outlet about working with Dakota moving forward. “But as adults, it’s been very fulfilling to merge.”
Inez and Vindoodh / Vanity Fair
Despite both sisters’ success in acting through young adulthood, Elle still says that she simply likes to follow Dakota’s lead. “I just want to do everything that she does,” she told the outlet about her own career. “I’m a nepo sister. Of course, I got opportunities because people are like, Oh, it’s Dakota Fanning’s sister. We’ll see her audition.”
TriStar Pictures announced in July that The Nightingale will hit theaters Feb. 12, 2027. The movie follows two sisters in France during World War II as they cope with Nazi Germany’s occupation of the country.
“We have played the same character at different ages, but have never spoken to each other in front of a camera. For years, we have looked for a film to do with one another, and then this gem appeared,” the pair told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2019 statement, back when the project was first announced.
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Inez and Vindoodh / Vanity Fair
“We’ve literally never done a scene together, ever,” Dakota told Vanity Fair of acting together soon. “Am I going to laugh? Better to get it out of your system now,” Elle added.
Dakota most recently appeared in the 2025 movie Vicious and 2024’s The Watchers, as well as the 2024 series The Perfect Couple and Ripley. Elle, meanwhile, most recently appeared in the movie Sentimental Value, which appears to be a potential awards season contender following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. That movie is in theaters Nov. 7.