Dakota and Elle Fanning have yet to decide which of them will play Paris Hilton in the biographical project they’re producing on the world’s “first influencer.”
The Fanning sisters acquired the rights to “Paris: The Memoir” in October 2023 and are attached to executive produce a TV series adaptation with A24 and their own Lewellen Pictures alongside partner Brittany Kahan Ward and Hilton herself.
When asked Tuesday which sister will play the socialite during a Spotlight Conversation at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit, Elle laughed and exclaimed, “We haven’t figured that out yet!”
“I think it’ll be really dependent on what makes sense for the story,” the sisters’ manager and producing partner Kahan Ward said. “And what stage in her life.”
Watch a clip from the interview below:
#PWS2024 ✨Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning shared exciting news about their upcoming project: a TV adaptation of @ParisHilton’s memoir. Through their production company Lewellen Pictures, they’re diving into the untold layers of Paris’ journey—from her early challenges to… pic.twitter.com/otShgPApQu
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) December 4, 2024
In Hilton’s memoir, she discusses her turbulent childhood, struggles with ADHD, traumatic experiences at teen wilderness camps and her rise to pop culture stardom. As the adaptation is still in development, the sisters did not reveal which stage of the star’s life they will hone in on.
“In the memoir, it really explains her behavior in a lot of ways. A lot of it was PTSD and the tabloids, especially of that time in the early 2000s were so horrible to her. We live in a different time, thank goodness, that now she can come out and really tell her story,” Elle said. “We want to subvert people’s expectations.”
Dakota agreed with her younger sister, saying that her favorite thing to do as an actress and producer is to similarly go for the unexpected. The “Ripley” actress said that producing has allowed her and her sister to take bigger swings and surprise audiences.
“Talk about subverting people’s expectations. I think Paris is such an amazing example of that. With her story that she’s now been telling and the behind the scenes of what she was going through,” Dakota said. “Her childhood traumas, the things she went through as a teen, and also just being kind of the first influencer in L.A. in the early 2000s and the trials and tribulations of that.”
The actress, who has also been in the limelight from a young age, said that it has also been fulfilling to work closely with Hilton on the screen adaptation.
The sisters teased several other new projects from Lewellen Pictures, including another true crime docuseries and a book adaptation that stars both of them.
