Elle Fanning might be 25 years old, but she’s been in the acting game for a long time. She made her film debut as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning’s character in the drama film I Am Sam, but in the era of her starring role as Aurora in Maleficent when she was 16 years old, Fanning was consistently sexualized by Hollywood talent scouts.
She opens up about a particular experience during a comedy actress roundtable discussion for The Hollywood Reporter. Other attendees included Jenna Ortega, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ayo Edebiri, Devery Jacobs, and Natasha Lyonne. Fanning was selected to participate for her role in The Great, in which she portrays Catherine the Great, the titular empress of Russia.
The actresses share their thoughts on the Hollywood agenda, including the way that they — as females in the industry — are treated. Fanning tells a rather powerful story about how she was discriminated against for a movie role because she wasn’t conventionally attractive enough to be considered.
“I was trying out for a movie, I didn’t get it – I don’t even think they ever made it. But it was a father-daughter road trip comedy, I remember this. And there was someone involved with the project that.. the feedback, which I didn’t hear from my agents and things, because they were very protective, they wouldn’t tell me things like this, but I heard it from an outside party. I was 16, I was literally 16 years old, and this person said: ‘Oh, she didn’t get the father-daughter road trip comedy because she’s unfuckable.’ At 16, yes. It’s so disgusting. There’s so many stories like this.”
And all of this occured when Fanning was still a teenager. This isn’t the first instance where a woman has been denied certain privileges based on her perceived attractiveness to others, and unfortunately, in today’s society, it won’t be the last either. But Fanning didn’t let that stop her from becoming one of the most accomplished child actors of our generation, going on to star in such hits as The Neon Demon, Mary Shelley, and Teen Spirit.
In the near future, she’ll be voicing a character in the video game Death Stranding 2, the sequel to the immensely successful action game by Kojima Productions starring Keanu Reeves.