Naomi Watts: Elle impressed me the first time we met [while making the 2015 film “3 Generations,” in which Watts plays the mother of Fanning’s character]. She was 16, but with such emotional intelligence. When I was trying to get my start in my late 20s, I was already being told I was too late. They said, “You’d better get going. You’ve got only seconds left!” I think that’s changed — for the better, obviously. We’re now seeing women in their 50s carry films. There even seems to be a bit more movement in the opposite direction, like aging is suddenly trending.
On the Cover
With women, but never with men, “ambition” always gets labeled an ugly word. I’ve always been hungry, and that’s what got me here. I spent many years under the radar, not getting jobs — just tiny bits here and there — until David Lynch gave me an incredible role [in 2001’s “Mulholland Dr.”]. Had I not maintained that level of determination or ambition, whatever you want to call it, I would have packed it in and just tried to find something else. Knowing why you love what you do is important. What’s feeding you that makes you keep coming back for more?
Elle Fanning: Naomi’s kind of genre-less; it’s her own path that she’s forged. That’s what I hope people will one day say about my work. I always want to surprise people and push against what they think I can do.
When I was shooting the first season of “The Great” [the Hulu series that premiered in 2020, and that will soon air its third season, with Fanning playing Catherine the Great], it was also my first time producing a show. I hadn’t been behind the scenes much before, making those decisions, but I’d always been curious about how everything’s put together. Now I can feel myself evolving, not being as afraid to speak up in rooms that I wouldn’t normally be in. I’m still young, but I keep having to remind myself, “You’ve been acting since you were 2 — you’ve been on a lot of film sets, and you’ve seen a lot of things.”
Interviews have been edited and condensed.
Hair by Marki Shkreli at the Wall Group. Makeup by Romy Soleimani at the Wall Group. Manicurist: Julie Kandalec. Production: Resin Projects. Tailor: Cha Cha Zutic
Ella Riley-Adams
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