Dakota ‘Hollywood Darling’ Fanning, started her carrer as a little child, simply by being at the right place and the right time. She’s had many opportunities to appear next to some big film stars. The following are all Dakota movies I’ve seen: I am Sam (with Sean Penn), Sweet Home Alabama (w/Reese Witherspoon), Trapped (w/Charlize Theron), Uptown Girls (w/Britanny Murphy), Man on Fire (w/Denzel Washington), War of the Worlds (w/Tom Cruise), Hide and Seek (w/Robert De Niro), Charlotte’s Webb (w/Julia Roberts), Hounddog, Winged Creatures (w/Jeanne Tripplehorn), and Secret Life of Bees (w/Queen Latifah), which makes up to 3/4 of her filmography. My favorite has always ben Hide and Seek, where she played a kid with split personality. The movies she was in at the beginning of her carrier were more popular, lately she’s starring in more independent movies, which is fine, but the characters she portrays lately are average. She now stars in the infamous Twilight, which I would say is a major step back. I still haven’t seen The Runaways, but I am planning to. I don’t think she has had a chance to truly show what she’s capable of, that does not me she will not grow up to be a good actress.
Her younger sister, Elle, on the other hand, already seems to have developed the ‘it’ factor’. After watching the incredible ‘Phoebe in Wonderland’, her talent left me speechless. I haven’t seen much movies with her, but I’ll never forget the amazing this one, which in my opinion is one of five best movies for kids. Phoebe was sweet and mysterious, living in her own Wonderland. I did intially want to watch it for the amazing Felicity Huffman, as I had just seen Transamerica, but then the rooftop scene happened. Phoebe says “Sometimes I get this feeling; this feeling to jump off a roof…it’s what I feel like all the time with the things I do. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it. It’s like being on the edge of the roof all the time.” and this quote coming from a 10 year old or so, shook me to the bone.
Some other scenes I loved include her describing her decease: “Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. It’s a beautiful name I think. I was born with it. Starting now. It’ll get worse before it gets better. My shoulders, my fingers, and imitating. Spitting. It’s a voice in your head that makes you do the opposite of what you’re supposed to. It makes you break rules. But sometimes breaking rules is good. So I like to think about it that way.”
I’ve also seen Elle in ‘Because of You, Winn Dixie’, another movie for kids I love, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Babel and some more.
I will surely continue following both sisters’ careers.