Happy Sad Confused - Elle Fanning, Vol. II

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

She's an amazing actor and a self-proclaimed Happy Sad Confused fan to boot so of course we love Elle Fanning around here. She returns to the podcast to chat about her amazing 1-2 punch of SENTIMENTAL VALUE and PREDATOR: BADLANDS, plus finally working with Dakota Fanning, and much more. UPCOMING EVENTS Sam Heughan 12/15 in New Jersey -- ⁠Tickets here⁠ Walker Scobell 12/19 in NYC -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy. Say I Confused today on the show, one of our favorites. Elle Fanning is back, and for a very good cause, she's starring in the new film, Sentimental Value. Great film, great performance. One of my favorite human beings. This is a fun one.

Thanks, guys, as always, for checking out the podcast, whether you're enjoying us on YouTube or Spotify or listening, wherever you get your podcasts. I appreciate you guys. A very busy time of year. So many great films. to celebrate. So many great performances to celebrate. This film, in particular, sentimental value, is one of my favorites of the year. If you had a chance to catch our episode last week, I had a great chat with Renana Reinsva, who is Elle's co-star in the film. Both of them are being awarded left and right by all these great critical institutions, critics' choice awards,

Colden Globes, et cetera. So I'm really happy to help celebrate this movie, because it's It's a special one. If you've seen Joachim Trier's work before, you know he's the real deal. And this one, if you haven't checked out yet, put it on your list. Okay, before we get to Eldo, I do want to mention, as always, lots of cool stuff over on the Patreon. Patreon.com slash happy, say, and confused. Support us over there because it helps us make more stuff over here. And we've got so much cool stuff for you. Early access to every single episode of the podcast, a discount codes to live events. and some special treats just for the holiday season. So it's a good time to check out the Patreon if you are so inclined.

Speaking of live events, Monday at December 15th, chatting with Sam Hewain, the one and only, in New Jersey. We're taking our talents to Jersey to talk about his new cocktail book. Then next Friday, December 19th, do I have that right? Yeah, in the 19th, I'm talking to Walker Scobel at the 9th Street, Why? That is virtually sold out, but there are a few. Tickets still available. And speaking of virtual, you can watch that one live virtually. There is that option on the 9th 2nd Street Y website. All the information is in our show notes. More to come. January events are already cooking. So stay tuned for more really exciting announcements here. As for today's episode, not much more I want to say except to say that I adore L. Fanning, both as an actor and as a human being, she is just a great life force. to have in all of our lives, and I've been privileged enough to know Elle since she was a wee little girl, and now to see her all grown up and amazing in all these varied works,

whether it's Predator Badlands or Sentimental Value, The Great, she's just killing it. I'm so happy for her, happy for us, and she's just always easy to talk to. So I know you guys are going to enjoy this chat about sentimental value, Predator, working with Dakota very soon, their Paris Hilton project, and much, much more. So, without any further ado, here is my conversation with the one and only, L. Fanning. Enjoy. El Fanning, happy, say, confused royalty, long-time Patreon member, long-time subscriber. That's right. That's right. Guys, if it's good enough for El Fanning.

I'm Josh's biggest fan. Feeling is mutual. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you. The last time you did the pod, 2023. You've only done it once officially before, even though it feels like you're a veteran of it. And we were in the Bowery? What was it? I think it was a hotel.

Yeah. And that was for the end of the Great. That's right. Oh, and I remember that I think like right before I talked to you, I had just got a complete unknown. Yeah, we talked about it a little bit. Yeah, we talked about it a little bit. Maybe not on the podcast, but it was like, I told you about it, like after. So I should say also for the record, one of the last times we spoke on,

camera, just to close the loop on Predator Badlands and connected to the podcast, not to my own horn, but, Elle, you know this story. Dan Tractenberg did credit your last time on the podcast as helping getting you that role. All I'm saying is, there's a lot riding on this conversation. See, I'm like, what directors are watching? I can get my next job, but we got to make this good. Yeah, so be at your best behavior. I will.

I'm like, la la, la. Exactly. That just naturally comes up. comes up. I can dance, yeah. So he said to me in that, like he kind of vets actors by watching interviews sometimes to kind of get a vibe. Do you do that with potential co-stars or directors?

Like, will you go down a rabbit hole for an actor or director you might work with to see like what their vibe is or do you ask friends or what do you do? That's funny. I've actually, I've done that before. Yeah, I feel like talk shows are a really good kind of baseline for actors or directors to get to know them a little bit. I've definitely done that. Yeah, I'll watch like, you know, Jimmy Fallon clip or something.

How good are they at this game? That will determine whether they're a good actor or not. Exactly. Exactly. Or how, like, relax they are, what their sense of humor is. Yeah, I think that's a good thing to do. So let's take stock in the two and a half years since you've done, you were on the podcast. Got a really impressive couple years.

I mean, things were going well already. Thank you. Okay, so you had the Broadway debut, which I got a chance to see, which was amazing. You wrapped up the great. You did work with Mangold and Charlemais. Chalome, on a complete unknown, you're here for sentimental value, which is loved by every human being on the planet, or will be when they see it, Predator Badlands, you've knocked out a Hunger Games movie, you're working with Kidman soon, you and Dakota are finally getting together.

Yes, that's a lot of things. I don't want to say you're peaking, but this has been a really good, fruitful couple years. I mean, let's take stock for a second. When you think back to the last a couple years of, just professionally speaking, is this where you were hoping to be? Is this matching the kind of stuff you were looking for or what? Yeah, I mean, I don't think you can ever predict what's going to, what people are going to like or what is going to work. But I will say these last couple years, I feel like they felt like a grind. Like it's felt like a real push, like a lot of hard work to also make, you know, scheduling possible so I could fit all of these things.

things that I wanted to do in. I was very adamant and driven about the parts that I wanted to do. I'm not very, you know, it's not completely thought out in a way that I feel like, okay, I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do this. Like, no actor can really do that. No, I'm super like instinctual,

but there was a time where I didn't think I would be able to do sentimental value or predator, or at least maybe not do sentimental value, because I was signed on to predator already and then right before i went to new zealand yokim called me and said he had a part for me and sentimental value and i wanted to do both very badly um but there was a scheduling conflict and miraculously like two studios work together to make it happen that they kind of reschedule things and made it so i could do both it just meant that i literally had no days i had like one day off in between

but that was a travel day for so I was I went to Oslo first had rehearsals because that's very important to Joachim right so we had that time for a week which I'm really glad I had and then I went to New Zealand for maybe three and a half four months and literally the day I wrapped I woke up the next morning flew to France drove to Doeville because for sentimental value there's a section in the Doville Film Festival and Yoakim had to film that the festival was happening so we knew those dates already so I had to drive to Doville I had a fitting that night to try on Rachel Kemp's premiere look yes and

had that fitting and then I filmed the next morning that was like also quite a sense of like kind of badass right now I'm kind of like I just went from Predator so Joachim Trier and I'm alive and I'm thriving yeah there was something kind of like masochistic about it I was like yeah let's go I was like drooling drooling, sleeping in the car, and then I'm like slapping myself awake. I'm like, yeah, let's do it. But then again, there was also, I feel like coming off a big action film like that was actually helpful in playing Rachel Kemp because I felt like she had done a lot of action movies. And I'd never fully explored that world before, so that was a real first.

And very meta, like where we find Rachel of then her wanting to do a gritty kind of Autour-driven foreign film. Well, it also strikes me, you say, like, how very easily this couldn't have lined up if the studios hadn't worked it out. It's true. Like, sitting here today, if we're, like, talking Predator, which you would have been happy to talk about. Yes.

But, like, and maybe another actor was reaping the rewards of sentimental value. Not to go down that road, but, like, could you imagine? No. You'd be miserable. Yeah. I know. I mean, hey, Predator, Badlands is really, like, I'm like. You know me.

I love. And I love Dan, and I love that. But I'm, yes, I would have been, yeah, I would have been upset if it didn't work out and I didn't get to work with Yoakim. Are you, we've kind of had this kind of conversation last time, but like, is that, you don't get all the roles you want. Like, are you able to kind of watch the movies that you nearly get or that you really want it? Or do you need, like, distance or do you ever watch them? You know, it takes, I think it takes some time. I'm trying to think if there, if I ever have watched anything that I didn't get.

Like I'm petty. No, I mean, but it's, you get emotionally involved and invested. That makes sense. I get it. Yeah, that can't be hard. But then you're like, oh, you know, you might be curious. When you have the distance and then when you feel like, okay, because I didn't do that or that didn't work out, I was able to do something else, then you can kind of like put it to bed. You should also like take solace and like I've had this conversation with filming.

filmmakers, I'm thinking of, like, Edgar Wright still has not watched Ant Man. Guillermo the Toro has never watched, like, the Hobbit films, which he spent, like, two years in pre-production on. Gosh, which I understand. Yeah, it feels like, it's like you have to relive a heartbreak all over again. Why are we putting ourselves through that? Totally, totally. I mean, one of the cool aspects also of, like, doing this, like, silly award circuit,

all these fun, like, award shows. We're here, like, Gotham's or tonight as we tape this, is you mix and mingle with all these actors and filmmakers. Like, if I were you, not to be, like, you know, cutthroat about it, I would. would be like networking like hell like this is like such an opportunity to get like the next the o'keem trier experience that's true do you think about that i mean not in a net i mean i think that's a positive like why not have that conversation yeah with that filmmaker you admire that's also on the tour i agree i mean i do think it's an opportunity to get you know you're kind

of riding that train together and you know the people that year you kind of you get close because you keep seeing them at all these things and so 100 percent Chloe Zhao, have a chat. Hello. I don't think I've met her. Maybe I said hi to her and tell your eye, but I'm like, I need to get close. Building blocks. Yeah, building blocks.

Can I close the loop on one thing? When you were doing press for a complete unknown with Timmy, was it Timmy or was he Marty Supreme on that press tour? Oh my gosh. Well, I've seen Marty Supreme. I actually watched it alone. They did like a little screening for me. I got to sit in a theater alone and watch it.

I think he is so phenomenal in that film. And there are pieces of in that movie too. I mean, he's such high energy. He's so dedicated and, you know, meticulous. And, you know, it was very familiar with that, like, drive and of himself. And I think that is so captured in Marty Supreme, particularly of, like, the strive for excellence and the strive for greatness, you know, which that movie is really about. And I think that yeah, Timmy has that in him. He's like an athlete in a way. Totally. Yeah. Well, he got like,

and I loved that speech. I think it was the SAG speech maybe. Yes. Yeah, I was there. When he talked about wanting to be great. Yeah, he's such a good speaker. He's still like off the cuff. I'm like, he wasn't reading that. You know, I'd be like blah, blah, blah. He's a good celebrity. He's like doing it right. I feel I know. I want a jacket. Oh, yeah, the Marty Supreme Jacket. Hello. I haven't, I haven't actually... I want the cruise cake. She wants the jacket. Yes, we get the cruise cake. Of course you do. This season is really rough on me, because everyone's getting, have you gotten it yet this season? I don't know because it's normally, it's into our mom's house, actually. It will be coming soon. Great. I'm happy for you. Yeah, it's really for Dakota. I, well... Yeah, but we reap the benefits.

Have you considered doing this press tour as Rachel in full, um, going character? I feel like I have. I'm like, it's so meta. Stellan and I, you know, we do press mostly together. They always pair us together. So we're literally seated like our characters in the film. They're asking me, how did you like Norway? And I'm like, oh, it's beautiful.

I'm like saying the exact lines that I have in the film. Is he ever breaking down the journalist, like the Netflix junk in the film? Oh, yeah, to protect me. He hasn't yet, but I think he would. Stellan would. At Desjardin Insurance, we put the care in taking care of business, your business to be exact. Our agents take the time to understand your company so you get the right coverage at the right price. Whether you rent out your building, represent a condo corporation, or own a cleaning company,

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Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the Joachim Trir experience. Because I've done a few Q&As with you guys. All of you love each other to a disgusting amount. And I get it. He seems like such like a genuine article and is, you know, he's not a video village. He does the rehearsal process. It's very actor friendly, very collaborative, yet knows what he wants. It feels like he's found that.

that sweet spot. Just talk to me a little bit about what was invigorating, what was unique about this experience versus others you've had. Oh my gosh. I mean, it's kind of like it's exactly the experience you want to have as an actor. Like he creates this playground for you that is just a perfect environment for an actor

to thrive and not shut down. Because I think sometimes you can, I don't know if you're working with, a director that makes you, I mean, it's not about intimidation because I think nerves are really good, but almost that they suffocate you too much or they overanalyze you too much. You can, yeah, you can get self-conscious and shut down and get embarrassed or not try the thing that you wanted to try because then you get nervous that you're going to mess it up or, you know, you just don't feel free.

And Joachim is just like the exact opposite of that. Even though he is completely staring at you like 24-7, but I really enjoy that. Like I like to be seen and that every little micro-expression is he's clocking and kind of bringing more out of you or push, you know, pushing things back in. And so he's like a conductor in that way. And you just feel, because you've also had that, the rehearsal. process of like sharing stories and personal stories and then he shapes the character to you a bit after after that that Eskil and him go and and rewrite

the character cut a lot of lines out that he feels like okay that can be said you know inside right so you just yeah you feel okay to be vulnerable because you also you've shared these kind of personal things you've already gone down the road yeah and so when you look at him you know that he's seeing why you're so affected. Right. And that brings even more out. Well, I would imagine also by the time you get to actually filming.

So you've been through that rehearsal process, that script has changed. Thanks to you in part, thanks to all the actors. So you're immediately empowered and excited like, oh, I've already affected change. Like he wants to hear from me. He wants my input. Yeah, to collaborate. So that's just like, it must have just a great tenor from day one on filming. You're like, oh, we're all in this together.

Yes. And it's a real, the set, I was trying to actively think in my mind while I was on the set, which I've never done this on a set before, of like, what is making this run so smoothly and so great? There's something, I mean, I think we had like 50-something days to film. So that was for an indie film. I mean, I guess it is an independent film. Yeah. We are, yeah.

Yes. For an independent film, that is like a really long time, really. But he, the crew is very pared down. He just kind of oversees everything. There's not something that, like, that he doesn't know what's happened. Yeah, he's attuned to everybody. He were, like, very much attuned.

Yeah. So, you know, we've talked a little bit about the meta quality, too, of like, you know, the American in the cast, the American in the film. I mean, knowing you, like, your taste to run the gamut. Like, you can happily do a predator movie and do sentimental. value.

Yes. Are your fellow castmates, do they have the high brow, low brow, varied? Like, did you feel like, oh, I have to pretend to have, like, really cool taste? Yeah, because I'm in Norway and, yeah. But Stellan is kind of like me. Is he? I don't know him too well. You tell me.

I mean, certainly his career would say such. His career would say such. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, he definitely has highbrow taste for sure. For sure. But Renata also doesn't seem, I'm about to talk to her, and I love Renata. Renata's very silly.

She's, I, and she's like such, she's so good at physical comedy. Like, I would love to see her in, like, a full out comedy. And I think she would like to do that, too. And she came from theater, you know. She doesn't seem, though, like, the person that's going to necessarily, like, do the Marvel thing, which is fine. That's true. That's true.

Yeah, so maybe I was, like, trying. trying to, like, oh, yes, I love this silent film. Let's talk about Keenan and Chaplin today. Yeah, exactly. Have you, so Rachel feels miscast in this. Yes. Have you ever had that sensation, like, a week into filming, like, oh, God, they made the wrong choice.

Yeah. And how did you recover? I mean, I think that you, honestly, you always feel like that on the first day of set in a way. There is, because you're still trying to find the, like, the character, and And so you feel like, am I, am I right for this? Like you, in every film, you always think that just because you got to get over like a couple humps to like figure out, okay, how, who is this person?

I've never like walked away from something so far down the line. There were times that I would like, I was offered, you know, scripts and things. and I had like a seven-year-old child or something. Like, I'm like, wait, wait, I'm like, I'm not there yet. So I'm like, I can't do this. Like there were, I'm like, eventually, yes, there will be a time for that. But yeah, there were, I'm trying to think of these. There was one film that I felt like I was playing more like an adult.

Okay, and you weren't quite there as a human being. And I don't, yeah, it was called Sidney Hall. It was with Logan Rollerman. And there was like a, it worked there. I played younger. And then there was like a time jump where I like owned my own. Like I was like, I vividly remember I was like coming up a freight elevator in New York,

like my character and I like had groceries. I'm like, how old was I when I filmed that? I don't know. Too young. I was like, I don't, I'm like putting these groceries away. Like a woman, you know. How would a woman put groceries away? Yeah.

I was like, I don't know. I mean, I think we got away with it, but inside I was like, I might be a little young for this at that point. I'm like, now I can put groceries away. Now you're totally at least of that. Did you ever, like back in the day, like when you're a kid, a teenager even, was there a lot of discussion or argument back and forth with your family about roles that you could or should take? Like were they always in sync with the roles you wanted? Because, you know, at a certain point, yes, you're calling the shots, obviously. but early on, it's a discussion.

Totally. And it is, I mean, earlier on, it was mostly, obviously I was auditioning. So it was, okay, these are the big movies that are out there. The child, there's also not that many child parts to go around. So it was really also like director-driven, which is still the way that I approach everything. But, you know, you're not going to not go off. audition for Alejandro and Uri too, or, you know, or David Fincher and Benjamin Button and Sophia. And so it was like, though, it was just knowing, okay, these filmmakers are going to make me

better because I'm going to learn on their sets. And it's like, you can't, those are, they're the top, you know, so I'm like, I want to try to get in those parts. So I would audition for those things. And. But there's, but there was, but there's, no, just. Yeah, that's a pretty out there, adult thing. Yeah.

I'm trying to think if there was like a discussion. I mean, I'm sure there was like a discussion with, you know, your team and your, you know, family and stuff of reading the scripts. But I'm almost wondering if my mom even ever read that script. Because there was a time when she would read them, you know, when I was young. She wasn't our manager or anything, but just to, you know, when we were kids, she had to know what we were doing, of course. of course. But I was 16, I turned 17 on that film. And even though the subject matter was like, you know, intense, there wasn't anything, like, overtly.

Right, you're not doing anything that's horribly. I didn't do anything. And my mom was on set every day for that, too. Okay. I've been walking out in the blood. I'm like, what's what I'm doing? But, yeah, I mean, there was like more of a, okay, we'll protect and, you know, when I'm younger. And then I, but there was also no talking me out of things, like when I set my mind to it.

Like when Neon Demon came, I remember reading it like in my bedroom and like, and I had seen drive. And like, I knew who Nick Reffin was. And I was like, I have to do this. But I also, I had to get the part. I had to, I didn't audition, but I had a meeting at his house, I remember. unique guy oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah um here's a question about super eight that one of the podcast listeners sent in of jenny um she wanted to know if were there any lessons on that film um that you applied to your current projects like what is that a turning point film for you

in some ways it was i there are different milestones and different turning points that i can like pinpoint in my career life and i think that i'm i feel like i'm experiencing one right now for sure where you just feel a shift and Super 8 actually marries into sentimental value in a way because I've been thinking a lot about that experience because of something JJ told me when I was 12 I filmed it when I was 12 and it literally there's a scene in it that emulates kind of exactly what I did in sentimental value sentimental value was a little more so but I think it works together because there's a train scene in Super 8 where my character

plays she's in the play or in the super eight movie with the kids and she surprises all the boys by actually being good in the scene and so it's a moment where my character she gets emotional in the super eight film and all the boys are like whoa and then it's like a switch of like oh was that okay you know is that good and and so the meta of acting within acting and i remember jj telling me on set, the emotion that she's feeling in that is a different emotion from when we see her breakdown and cry later in Super 8 when she's talking about her dad and watching Super 8 footage of, you know, telling that story. So it's like, and I was like at 12, I was like, right.

I was like, okay, that's a different, that's like authentic emotion. But when I'm playing, you know, the acting, it's still emotion, but it's like there's a little A little bit of facade. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, and Joachim and I talked about the same exact thing for Rachel with her kind of monologue. And then when she walks away from the film later, it's two different, you know, coming from a different place, which yeah, it's like sounds obvious, but it's just funny that I'd done

it before. Then there are done that. Yeah, yeah. I don't have there any connections to be made here, but I've never talked to, this is a random one that people, most people haven't even seen probably, but Coppola, not Sophia, Francis. Yes. You were in Twixt with one of my favorite actors, Val Kilmer, the late great Val Kilmer, and you had the rare Francis Ford Coppola experience.

I did. I don't know, what comes to mind when you think of that experience of Francis or Val? I have many. So it was, okay, that experience, I wish, and I, and it's somewhere. I've got to ask Francis to maybe give me one of these tapes. Because we would do rehearsals, because we stayed at his house. Right. Do the games, the soundball, all that stuff, like those things?

It was more actually, I forget what play it was, but he would give us pages to, there was a play. I was like this Southern girl, and he would video, like, home movies of these scenes, which that was not in Twix. I don't know if this was just, I guess it was exercise to, like, have us all kind of play together. Right. And then my grandmother was with me, and she is, like, the most shy. person ever and he made her play my grandmother in one of these home movies so like my grandmother's been directed by Francis Ford Coppola which I'm like I haven't ever seen that footage and it was me you have to track that like screaming crying and I was like chasing after a car and

please come back like I was like like a southern like girl and um he's like what clothes do you have Like, I put together my costume for it and things like that. And then we, I remember Francis, I don't know if I've told you this story before, but he should be the Red Shoes for the first time. Right. And we would, you know, he would make dinner for us, like, most nights, and we would eat with him.

And he said, he knew I did ballet. So he's like, I want to show you this movie that I love. It's called The Red Shoes. And so we, like, had a movie night. And he showed me the Red Shoes for the Fours. first time, which I will never forget that. And then I looked, I heard something and I looked over and he had fallen asleep. He was snoring really loudly. And I was like, do I stay or do I go? I was like, do I finish the movie? And I stayed. Yeah. Took some video, took some photos.

Yeah, I wish. I was sleeping. I know. And Val was, gosh, so nice to me. Amazing too. Bye, Kyle. Did the sound of those words call to you like Pavlov's dog? Then you might enjoy our podcast, Turtle Time. Every week you can join me, Riley Hamilton, and my co-host, Amy Scarletta, as we cover the most pressing Bravo news and dig into the new episodes to answer important questions like, who the hell is Adrian Maloof in this world? Listen to Turtle Time on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. From the darkest corners of our imagination comes a game show that's more ridiculous than terrifying.

Welcome to Tickled to Death. I'm your host, Roz Hernandez, and I'll be guiding guests through the creepy questions and chaotic games, all to win the ultimate title of Horror Movie Champion. Listen to Tickled to Death, wherever you get your podcasts, And hit Follow, unless you want the show to follow you. Okay, so a couple things I want to hit. We talked about you in Dakota collaborating.

It's actually literally about to happen, right? It's actually real now. I mean, I feel so bad for everyone because we've, like, announced this so many times over the years. But it is happening. This spring, we are going to Budapest and we are filming. So it does feel like, I mean, I think. You guys did the recent, was it, Vanity Fair cover together? That's so cool.

And I love the lie detector test, all the stuff we've been doing together. It does feel like you've obviously always been very, very close. But there's more of like the last couple of years as you've been trying to get this off the ground. And COVID was involved, et cetera, like a willingness and excitement to like finally like, let's just rip the bandaid. We got to just do this. I agree. Yes.

And it wasn't so, I mean, when we didn't do it last time, it wasn't because, oh, we weren't ready. You know, it was just like scheduling and directors changed. and COVID really derailed things. But I'm actually really glad that we are doing it now, that we have more time and we've been thinking about it and just the place that we're at now and working together and we get to produce the film now, which is huge. And yeah, we're just, I think we're both, we're nervous about it.

Whenever we look at each other, we're like, oh, we're going to do that, and we're just like, we're excited. but we just don't, it's going to be... Well, unlike those situations where, like, a married couple does a film and then half the time they break up, you can't break you guys up. It's not going to happen. Absolutely not.

Your blood, sorry. No, and we are incredibly close, but I think we'll bring, you know, all those sisterly emotions to it. And I think that it's going to be really cathartic and interesting. And our first scene on set, I don't know what it's... I don't have the schedule exactly yet, but I'm like, I feel like I'm just. going to cry like it's not it's just yeah was it was it tense when you got taller than her at certain point was there like did you see that happening in real time like her starting to resent you a little bit i know trying to think when that happened i mean i was always you know when you

went to the doctor or whatever i was always on like the 90th percentile of height growing up so i think she she and she was always on the low end right so i think she knew the day would come What's the most excited you ever were for her to be cast in something? Like when she gets like twilight, like were you into, maybe you were probably too young. No, that was, yeah, that was a time for me. I was, my friends and I were freaking out. I'm Team Edward all the way. Thank you for.

Yeah. With the apologies to tell or it is the correct answer. Yeah, it is. It is. It is. Yeah, what does he say when he's like, oh God, what is the, he says like, what's up, Loka? Or like some, it's like some cringe lines. Yeah, there are a bunch of them.

Well, SpiderMonkey isn't a great one either. Spider Monkey's not great either. Spider Monkey's not great. But that was, like, my best friend and I were big Twilight, like, heads. And so she got to come to the premiere with me. She got to meet Robert. So I was, like, a big deal at my school at that time. Is Kirsten an honorary fanning at this point?

She is. She's the Lady of the Lake, we say, actually. Which is so my sister and her live in. Toluca Lake. Oh, I see. And I live in the Valley, too. So I'm technically not a lady in the lake, but they're ladies at the lake. Do you feel like Herson and Jesse are kind of like goals, like a cool couple goals? They are. They're so good and they're so fun and they're just the best couple ever. And she is a fanning. She's the third sister. That's what we say. Is there a dedicated what's adverb text group, just the three of you? Yeah, we have like,

it's not a, yeah, we just have like a group. We haven't named it actually, but we have a group. We'll drop photos and lots of gossip in there. So we talked off mic last time. You did shoot your, it's relatively small, just a few days for Hunger Games. Yes, I did. So were you were you a Hunger Games person growing up? I was. I was an OG Hunger Games

person of the, yeah, the OG films. And I always loved Effie. Who doesn't love Effie? Yeah. So this is like a dream come true to like get, but I feel like the fans like cast me. Right. When the studio called, they were like, okay, we're getting hounded by the fans.

We don't actually want you, we just want them to stop talking to us. Yeah, we just want them to stop messaging us. You're like, would you do it because it's like driving it's crazy? But Francis had directed you in something I saw. He had, yeah. He did a commercial, right? He directed me in a Tiffany commercial back in the day. That I have a song with ASAP FERG.

Sure. I could have guessed that, obviously. On Spotify. But yeah, it was like two days of, of that and he directed that commercial and I loved him we had a great time and then yeah we had a Zoom where he kind of had sent me the Hunger Game script and we talked about kind of how we saw Effie in this movie and he's so nice and he's so able I mean those films are so huge just the production of them yeah and he's just like cool as a cucumber I know I know

know it's like with ease you know and and you still feel like you get have fun it's like okay let's yeah do it again do whatever you want ad lib he's like say whatever like because i think that also elizabeth banks and stanley tucci they really added a lot of ad libs and things um and so i was trying to come up with some good i was like becoming a writer on at night i would like try to come up with little quips of things that maybe people would like for her to say so who is most of your stuff with can you say that it's i mean it's true to the book i mean i i I really worked with a lot of, like, not everyone, but Joseph, yeah, yeah, who plays young Woody.

So weird not to be the youngest person in the cast at this point when you're like. So weird, well, they were all younger than me, like apart from, you know, Glenn Close and Jesse. It is, and I've had that experience, I first felt that on The Beguiled, where I was 18, and so I didn't have a teacher, or did I, Maybe I was still in school at the time,

but because I was 18, I didn't have to do like the school hours on set. And like there were kids that were with their moms, like my mom wasn't there. And it was kind of, I was like, oh, like it was sweet. Like looking back, like they were looking up to me. Or I'm like, whoa, like the roles have reversed for sure. Yeah.

Yeah. So, okay, another random one that sounds like it's a little waste off. But so you and Dakota are producing this Paris Hilton. We are. This is a series based on her memoir. Yes. Yes. So what's the, was Paris always a mutual obsession?

I mean, I feel like there's been this reappraisal, thankfully, of Paris. Like, it was a part she was essentially playing for the public for many years. Totally. Well, she's like taken, you know, her power back that we've gotten to see. And she's, I think with her book and the documentary that she had and just to see what she's been through and kind of the defense mechanisms that she's had to put up to be able to cope with, especially during that time. especially during that time in like the early aughts of paparazzi and the magazine. I mean, just how, hey, it can be nasty now too, but it's in a different way.

Yeah. And we were talking about this, like, my sister and I, where she would be, like, you know, not like afraid to go places, but there was, like, this fan site called, like, Ocean Up. It was kind of like a Perez Hilton, but for, like, teens. Okay. Like, Miley Cyrus and Dakota would be on there. Selina, like, trying to catch them be, like, bad or, like, ocean up. It was, like, lived in fear of ocean up.

She's like, I'm just trying to, like, grow up, you know? Wow. And so it was just, yeah, like Paris, obviously on, like, a massive scale, but dealing with all of those things and what she had to, the PTSD, I think she had, too, from, you know, the horrible schools, I mean, can we even call them that, but there's places that she went to, And we, but we were in her, you know, in the early aughts, like Dakota and I were young and obsessed with The Simple Life and obsessed with her and Nicole. Dakota always got to be Paris. I had to be Nicole, which is fine. But we would dress up and we would play the simple life.

Got it. And we wanted the exact dog carriers. We didn't have a dog, but from Fifi and Romeo. It was like this pink with white polka dot dog carrier. for Christmas, that was on our Christmas list so we could properly play with the real props. Commitment to the authenticity, I appreciate that. We had stuffed Chihuahuas and I also really wanted a, I never got it, I wanted a pink trailer. Like the actual trailer. For Christmas.

Because I thought, because they would travel around in the trailer, like sleep in the trailer in some of the later simple life. They had like, yeah, the van that they would drive around in and sleep in. been. And I, that was on the Christmas list every year, never got it. Always thought I'd wake up in the morning and it'd be in the driveway outside. Christmas is still a couple weeks away. We don't know. That's true. And I think, look, I don't want to jinx it. Maybe an Oscar nomination equals future pink trailers. Put it in the rider. This is a new era for El Fanon. Yes, but that's, I mean, we would play that hardcore. So it is a pinch me moment to, because Paris is working with us and been to her house.

Now, do you know between, you haven't said who's playing, I bother. We haven't. We're still trying to figure it out. We're trying to figure it out because also in her memoir, it spans a lot of years. There's, so to hit that sweet spot,

to tell the story, there's, because then she's a lot younger. Yes. As well. So we're like, hmm, would we be able to play? So we're trying to, We're trying to crack the code on all of that. It's still being written and everything, but...

Here's something from our last podcast conversation that really resonated with the audiences that really traveled a lot. There's something similar that you and Maya Hawke told me, too. Okay. Which was about Instagram followers... Oh, yes. Yes. Like, equaling, you know, viability as an actor.

You were talking about, like, a kind of a franchisee role that you were up for that you think maybe you didn't get because of that. And Maya essentially said the same thing that she's very much made aware of that. Yeah. Are you feeling any change in that? Is that like something you're still keenly aware of?

I feel like it was definitely more of a thing. I don't know if it is as much anymore. I don't know why. But I do feel, but then also, someone told me the other day, a director, like, because we were actually talking about this exact thing, and they said they didn't feel like it was about Instagram followers, but like they were kind of peeling behind the curtain of talking about, like, what does go on when you're trying to cast someone and what people, like, put into consideration.

I'm sure you're digging, but you're telling me more and more. I want to know everything. Yes, yes. But they said that it was like, also who will promote the movie well. Right. Which I'm like, that's just a kindness. I think that we all should support and promote, but that is something apparently. apparently that's talked about, which I'm like, whoa, I didn't know that.

Good for you. I'm glad I'm sitting here. Okay, so as you sit here, next phase, you're busy. You have a bunch of things that you're going to be doing 90 years soon. You're producing Paris, et cetera. Is there a specific kind of experience that you are chasing right now compared to where we were a couple years back? This is the manifest moment. Oh, I'm happy, sat confused.

This is your Predator Badlands casting moment. Yes. Okay. Okay, I mean, it's so boring. I mean, but I'm thinking, I want something that feels very meaty. Yeah. That it's, I get to feel like I really can transform myself. Not, it doesn't have to be physically, I mean, it can be, but it doesn't have to be.

It's just that feels like a real challenge or a stretch and that it's, I don't know, like, it'll come, it'll come satisfying, yes. It is all that satisfaction in whatever form it takes. You got this, you got something out of this Joachim experience, like in a profound way. Yes. In a different way you got something out of the predator experience. You're like, you check that box, you're like, I can do that. So I feel like once that that is there, it's like, oh, and I felt that before.

in other parts that I've done like you know if people haven't you know seen the movies or not but like I felt I have felt that feeling like I remember when I did Ginger and Rosa and I was young I was like 12 but that movie was like so profound for me because it was like the first time I really didn't feel like myself and it was like kind of like very emotionally like driven and I'm like I want that yeah I just want that experience to sink into something I mean I do think the nightingale will be that. Are you, again, we talked before I think about, you're not the biggest fan of the auditions, the self-tapes, all of that. Are you, have you had any, whether you can name them or not memorable experiences that have, will haunt you or feel good in

recent, last year or two? No, I haven't had to really. This is the incentive to really rise up the ranks. I haven't had to audition in a while, or like, or at least if sometimes if they'll say, will you? and I'll be like, I don't know if that's going to do me any favors. I know, but I mean, hey, if something really did come along with the director, you know, like, but I mean, I fainted at an audition. Remember I think I've told you that?

It wasn't? Yes, it was. Yes, it was. That was it. And I was like, oh, crap. I mean, I fainted and I didn't get that part. You also fainted at Cannes? Yes, I've been known to faint.

There was a time when I grew, I was growing so tall. You thought you couldn't keep up. Yes, that's what my doctor said. It was like you were growing so much in that time. And so at school, like, I would faint and things. And it can. I was just like on my period. My dress was like too tight.

Got it. But, yeah, I just went, boop. I went down. And then who was, it was Colin Firth was standing above me. If you're going to have a gallant actor, it might as well be Colin Firth when you're going down. Yes. Yeah, he was like, are you okay? He was like, what just happened?

Made an impression. Yeah. All right, we're gonna end with the happy, say, confused, profoundly random questions. Some of these you've answered, some of these you haven't. Okay. I think I know the answer to this.

I haven't asked you this. Dogs are cats? Dogs. Right. Do you have a dog? I know Lou Ellen was-Ellen was our late, yeah, our family dog. But, no, my sister has a dog, Bunny,

who looks exactly like Lou Ellen. Not a clone. Not the Barber's, you do the Barber's Risen and Brown. No, but it is the same breed is the Barber Streisand dog. It's a Catan de Tullier. I've thought about it for my dog. I will never do that.

I love my dog so much. But like I did go down the road of Googling for a bit and then I'm like, no. One of them, no. It's like we can't do that. But I'll get a dog eventually. I want a Cocker Spaniel. Nice.

Do you have a favorite video game of all time? Oh, gosh. And I know, hey, I'm in Death Stranding too. I know. And that, you know, the video game world. But I am not super video game. I mean, I played a lot of work. We sports.

I like guitar hero. That counts. Yeah. What's the current wallpaper on your phone? Last time it was Lou Ellen. Yes. This time it's my boyfriend and I. We're holding hands.

Very sweet. A photo of our hands. Last actor you were mistaken for? Mmm. I mean, it's always Dakota. Some people could say, well, Bill Hater, we know. That I look like, Quaid also gets Bill Hader. Do you ever get Jack Quaid?

Really? I can see that too. I could see that too. And there's also, not that I don't, I don't really, but, and I've never really gotten mistaken for it, but I feel like Emma Stone, there's something, it's in the nose. Bill, Jack, Emma, me, it's like, it's in the, you know, it's in the nose. We all are like, we live in Whoville a little bit. I'll take it. Last time you gave me, let's see if this is a different note. Worst note of director has ever given you, what jumps out? Oh, um, see if it's changed. I wish, gosh, I've probably had some real, like, doozies. Um. Also, I imagine just directing kids, some of the things that come out of people's mouths are like, they, I think with kids too, they want to like, not all, but something like talk down to.

And then you're just a little like, no, it's like, I know, it's like, I know. what the story is, I know I'm playing a character. I mean, I was a kid that knew that. Right, right. Some kids don't. Sure. But it was like you don't have to like pretend that you're filming me. You know what I mean?

You don't have to trick me into this. I know that you're filming me. Yeah. I see the camera. I'm not an idiot. I'm not an idiot. Exactly. I'm like, I know.

So if you want me, you know, I know that. But yeah, I don't know. I, yeah, when it over analyze, like, I like, and I probably say this, but it's like, I like, okay, weirder, sadder, more angry, like just simple, specific and, yeah, succinct, I think. What's the current movie that makes you happy or a recent movie that makes you happy? Ooh, recent movie. Well, it makes me happy. Yeah.

You can also go back further. I'm just watching TV shows. That's the thing. I mean, I am watching Pluribus. I was just watching it all over the weekend. Yeah, I mean, I'm caught up, so now I'm like, it's definitely. definitely dead bodies in there. I've seen a couple episodes ahead.

Oh, you have. It's even worse. No, I mean, I'm not saying that. I can't say anything. I want it to be as bad as possible. But plurib is, I mean, not that it's like, ooh, making me like in a great mood, but I'm enjoying it.

Also, never have I ever? Have you ever watched that? Okay. I'm like, it was, it's like, I don't know. It's just a fun idea. Like, John McEnroe, like, narrates the whole thing. Oh, right. That's right. Yeah, yeah.

And, like, I'm just in, like, I'm invested. It's making me happy. It's putting me in a good mood, for sure. A movie that makes you sad. A movie that makes me sad. Well, I always, I mean, Arrival, which I probably said last. No, he didn't. He said about time.

Arrival's a great call. Okay. Arrival makes me sad. And then wrecks me. Yeah. Every time arrival makes me cry. Have you seen Hamnet yet? You know about the music thing.

I have. Okay, so actually with Hamnet, I was in Tell Your Ride, and we all went together. right and I don't know if it was the altitude though but I got so oh I could have I was on the brink of painting it was like midway right when it happens and I I had to I think the altitude there is bad so I had to get like the oxygen but I had to to leave midway through which I did not want to do the movie is so beautiful but I I think it was just working me up yeah I'm It's very emotional. But, yeah, so I actually, I'm going to, I'm actually not even just going to finish.

I need to, I'm going to watch from start to finish because I think it deserves that. When you see it from start to finish, you'll see there's a connection with arrival. Oh, okay. I don't want to say anymore. Okay. And finally, you said pickles last time, a food that makes you confused. Is it still pickles, anything else? Oh, cucumbers.

Oh, they're adjacent to pickles. Okay, in the family. Or like celery. Okay. They're all connected. Yeah, celery is, I'm with you. Like, it's wild. It's all water.

It just takes up space in the salad. Why are we doing this? Yeah. I agree. It's not nutrients, really. No. Yeah. She said it.

I think we talked about sentimental value a little bit too. It's a great movie. Thank you. You know I adore this movie. You're fantastic in it. We're in month four or five of the run. It will continue. It's a worthy cause to spread the good word of this one.

Congratulations as always and thank you for the time. Thank you. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't sure to do this by Josh. From the parents behind Law and Order comes a mystery the whole family can enjoy. Patrick Pickle Bottom Everyday Mysteries.

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