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Dakota Fanning says she doesn’t feel competitive with her younger sister, Elle.
“I don’t even see something that’s right for her as being right for me,” the 31-year-old actress explained, reflecting on the roles her 27-year-old sister chooses.
The Fanning sisters are set to share the screen for the first time in an upcoming adaptation of the novel The Nightingale, marking a highly anticipated family collaboration.
Dakota and Elle Fanning may be one of Hollywood’s closest sister duos, but the actresses insist they’ve never felt competitive with one another.
“Zero. We obviously share a lot, but we’re very different,” Dakota, 31, told Vanity Fair in a cover story with her younger sister, Elle, 27, published Tuesday, Sept. 16. “I don’t even see something that’s right for her as being right for me. I don’t feel competitive. But I know people probably don’t believe that.”
The sisters both started acting as young children, making their first screen appearances in 2001’s I Am Sam. Dakota, then seven, starred alongside Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer, while Elle played a younger version of Dakota’s character.
Over the next two decades, their careers flourished on parallel paths, each becoming a staple of Hollywood in her own right. Now, they are set to act together—and produce—for the first time in the adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s 2015 novel The Nightingale, slated for theaters in 2027.
Even with both sisters finding major success in Hollywood, Elle admits she still enjoys following Dakota’s lead.
“I just want to do everything that she does,” Elle told Vanity Fair. “I’m a nepo sister. Of course, I got opportunities because people are like, ‘Oh, it’s Dakota Fanning’s sister. We’ll see her audition.’”
In July, TriStar Pictures announced that The Nightingale will hit theaters on February 12, 2027. The film tells the story of two sisters in France during World War II as they navigate life under Nazi occupation.
“We have played the same character at different ages, but have never spoken to each other in front of a camera,” the sisters said in a 2019 statement to The Hollywood Reporter, when the project was first announced. “For years, we have looked for a film to do together, and then this gem appeared.”
“We’ve literally never done a scene together, ever,” Dakota told Vanity Fair about acting alongside Elle for the first time.
“Am I going to laugh? Better to get it out of your system now,” Elle added with a grin.
Dakota’s recent projects include the 2025 film Vicious and 2024’s The Watchers, along with the 2024 series The Perfect Couple and Ripley. Elle, meanwhile, stars in Sentimental Value, which made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May and is shaping up as a potential awards-season contender. The film hits theaters on November 7.
