Some of my favorites from Dakota's interviews for The Benefactor
In her latest movie The Benefactor (review here), Dakota Fanning plays a young woman, Olivia, who loses both of her parents in a tragic accident. Now that she's expecting a child with her husband Luke (Theo James, 31, Divergent), she realizes she's still in need of paternal guidance and turns to family friend Franny (Richard Gere, Bee Season), a wealthy, secretive philanthropist. We asked Dakota what attracted her to this psychological drama: "It was just so beautifully written and when I met Andrew [Renzi], the writer/director, I just connected with him."
But it was Olivia's warmth and sensitivity that Dakota was most interested in exploring: "It's such a stressful time in her life. She's young and having a baby and trying to stay calm while all this craziness is happening around her. She's trying to relax, put herself first, nurture her child, but there's the dichotomy of the craziness of Richard's character."
Director Andrew Renzi, Theo James, Dakota, and Richard Gere at the premiere of The Benefactor [then titled Franny] at the Tribeca Film Festival, April 2015.
Dakota, who will turn 22 next month, grew up in front of our eyes on film. We asked her to tell us about the best and worst parts of child stardom. "The best part is I have this timeline of my life. I started when I was 6 so I can go back and watch one of those films, which I don't do all the time, but I'm old enough now that it seems like I'm watching a different person so I can watch the movies without feeling embarrassed. They're not home movies obviously, but my life is captured on film and it's there forever, which is scary but also cool. When I'm older or even when I'm gone, my great-grandchildren can see them."
And as for the worst part: "It's all fine, I've kind of made my peace with the worst parts. But for the rest of my life, I will constantly hear, 'Oh, you're so grown up!' When you're 14 and someone says, 'I thought you were still 8 years old, you go, 'Oh! Don't say that to me.' It's the last thing you want to hear. So that was annoying for a while, but I think it's taught me that the only people who really know you are yourself and the people you surround yourself with - your family and your friends. Those are the only opinions that truly matter and I've managed to turn off the negative things and it's made me stronger. I know who I am, I know how old I am, even if no one else does. That's all that matters. I can't control anything else and it's taught me a good life lesson. Everything's pretty much out of your control... unfortunately, for a control freak like me [laughs]."
Then and Now: (left) Dakota, age 8, at the premiere of The Wild Thornberrys, December 2002, and (right) age 21 at the annual Young Hollywood Party, May 2015.
We asked Dakota if she's ever had a hard time finding roles that were challenging enough or struggled to find strong female characters to play: "I feel like I've been lucky in the things I've done. I've been able to find good roles. But there are a lot of times when you read something and the role is the girlfriend and I think, no, I don't need to be just the girlfriend."
Because the lack of good female film roles has been discussed so much lately, we asked Dakota what she thinks it will take for Hollywood's viewpoint on women to change. "It's difficult because you have to change a whole attitude, the way people think about women in life. I think women are expected to get married and have kids and be beautiful all the time, be sweet and nice all the time. But that's not the way it is. Sometimes, women don't want to have kids or get married and that's totally fine. Sometimes, women have bad days and don't feel like being polite. The way we see women on film will change when the everyday thought process changes. It's a difficult thing to do; sometimes it happens gradually over time, but I hear a lot of good conversations happening so that's a positive thing. But I just don't buy into stereotypes."
But it was Olivia's warmth and sensitivity that Dakota was most interested in exploring: "It's such a stressful time in her life. She's young and having a baby and trying to stay calm while all this craziness is happening around her. She's trying to relax, put herself first, nurture her child, but there's the dichotomy of the craziness of Richard's character."
Director Andrew Renzi, Theo James, Dakota, and Richard Gere at the premiere of The Benefactor [then titled Franny] at the Tribeca Film Festival, April 2015.
Dakota, who will turn 22 next month, grew up in front of our eyes on film. We asked her to tell us about the best and worst parts of child stardom. "The best part is I have this timeline of my life. I started when I was 6 so I can go back and watch one of those films, which I don't do all the time, but I'm old enough now that it seems like I'm watching a different person so I can watch the movies without feeling embarrassed. They're not home movies obviously, but my life is captured on film and it's there forever, which is scary but also cool. When I'm older or even when I'm gone, my great-grandchildren can see them."
And as for the worst part: "It's all fine, I've kind of made my peace with the worst parts. But for the rest of my life, I will constantly hear, 'Oh, you're so grown up!' When you're 14 and someone says, 'I thought you were still 8 years old, you go, 'Oh! Don't say that to me.' It's the last thing you want to hear. So that was annoying for a while, but I think it's taught me that the only people who really know you are yourself and the people you surround yourself with - your family and your friends. Those are the only opinions that truly matter and I've managed to turn off the negative things and it's made me stronger. I know who I am, I know how old I am, even if no one else does. That's all that matters. I can't control anything else and it's taught me a good life lesson. Everything's pretty much out of your control... unfortunately, for a control freak like me [laughs]."
Then and Now: (left) Dakota, age 8, at the premiere of The Wild Thornberrys, December 2002, and (right) age 21 at the annual Young Hollywood Party, May 2015.
We asked Dakota if she's ever had a hard time finding roles that were challenging enough or struggled to find strong female characters to play: "I feel like I've been lucky in the things I've done. I've been able to find good roles. But there are a lot of times when you read something and the role is the girlfriend and I think, no, I don't need to be just the girlfriend."
Because the lack of good female film roles has been discussed so much lately, we asked Dakota what she thinks it will take for Hollywood's viewpoint on women to change. "It's difficult because you have to change a whole attitude, the way people think about women in life. I think women are expected to get married and have kids and be beautiful all the time, be sweet and nice all the time. But that's not the way it is. Sometimes, women don't want to have kids or get married and that's totally fine. Sometimes, women have bad days and don't feel like being polite. The way we see women on film will change when the everyday thought process changes. It's a difficult thing to do; sometimes it happens gradually over time, but I hear a lot of good conversations happening so that's a positive thing. But I just don't buy into stereotypes."