In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast features in-depth conversations with today’s most noteworthy actors and creators. Join host and senior editor Vinnie Mancuso for this guide to living the creative life from those who are doing it every day.
Arguably, no actor showcased their range more clearly in 2025 than Elle Fanning. The Emmy nominee stars in a pair of films that could not be more different in terms of tone and size, both of them debuting on the very same day: Dan Trachtenberg’s massive action spectacle “Predator: Badlands” and Joachim Trier’s intimate family drama “Sentimental Value.”
“I’m extremely instinctual, and if I want to do something there is no talking me out of it. I don’t quite think about the logistics of schedules and things,” Fanning told us on the latest episode of In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast.
Those scheduling logistics are where things got truly head-spinning in an ultra-meta way. In “Sentimental Value,” Fanning plays Rachel Kemp, a Hollywood star known for big-budget blockbusters who branches out by accepting a part offered by Norwegian filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård). To make that work, Fanning had to…take a break from her big-budget blockbuster to accept a role from a Norwegian filmmaker.
“I was like, this is a nightmare, because I want to do both. I’m so thankful that two studios worked together, and Joachim and Dan stuck with me,” Fanning says. “There were no days off. I went to Oslo, did rehearsals for a week [for ‘Sentimental Value’], went to New Zealand, filmed ‘Predator’ for three and a half months. Then, literally, the last day of ‘Predator,’ I got up early, flew to France, drove to Deauville, had a quick costume fitting, woke up, and shot my scenes with Stellan during the Deauville Film Festival.”
On this episode, Fanning takes us through her intense juggling act, the depths she had to go to for Trier’s drama, how she made it through the whirlwind of child stardom, and much more.
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