Elle Fanning has watched her big sister Dakota on-screen since she was a toddler. But the sisters said that seeing each other’s work to this day still makes them emotional.
During a Spotlight Conversation at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit Tuesday, Dakota said that just watching a clip from her baby sister’s new film, Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” and hearing her voice pulls at her heartstrings.
“When Elle’s in anything, it makes me feel it deeper,” Dakota told TheWrap Founder and CEO Sharon Waxman.
Elle plays Sylvie, the girlfriend of Bob Dylan (Timothee Chalamet), in the upcoming Searchlight Pictures production. But her big sis said she can always recognize Elle no matter how transformative the work is.
“She never can fully disappear into a character totally for me as her sister,” the “Ripley” actress added. “She obviously does an amazing job, but I’m always gonna see my little sister a little bit.”
When asked about what it’s like to watch her older sister take on heftier roles, Elle remembered Dakota’s 2012 film “Now Is Good” where she played a teen dying of leukemia. Only 14 years old when the film was released, Elle remembered having an intense reaction to seeing her sister so vulnerable on screen.
“Because it was my sister, I had a real traumatic reaction after that premiere and the screening. I was uncontrollably sobbing,” Elle said. “Obviously the acting, but it was something felt on a deeper level.”
The sisters captivated the audience during their spotlight conversation, giggling and talking over each other (to the point where Waxman said “We have to get this back on track”).
At the end of the main stage panel, Elle said that without her sister’s example she would not have pursued her acting career.
“I’m doing this job, I’m an actor because my sister started before me and I watched her,” Elle said. “I wanted to do exactly what my big sister wanted to do.”
The sisters also teased a new project from their production company, Lewellen Pictures: a Paris Hilton biopic. The blondes have acquired the rights to Hilton’s memoir but still haven’t decided which sister will play the socialite.
Watch the whole panel below:
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