Fanning on an episode of The Great; the show’s third and final season concluded in May.
Christopher Raphael/Hulu
When she was playing Catherine on Hulu’s The Great, Elle Fanning’s co-stars often encouraged her to do theater. Many of them had stage experience, and after watching Fanning’s Emmy-nominated turn on the show, which itself was adapted from a play, they told her she was ready. With that encouragement, and her own motivation to try the medium, Fanning accepted the offer to make her Broadway debut in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ darkly comedic family drama Appropriate this winter.
It’s her first stage experience, aside from playing Persephone in a mandatory sixth-grade school play, and she’s been learning the ropes from co-stars including Sarah Paulson and her director, Lila Neugebauer. She’s quick to admit that she’s still “extremely nervous” to act onstage, but she’s learned to welcome that feeling.
“I always want to challenge myself. I feel safe when I feel nervous or terrified because I feel like it’s telling me that I’m doing the right thing, and I’m in the right place,” Fanning says. “Normally really good, interesting things come out when you’re nervous or on the back foot, because you’re just lost in yourself. There’s no time to react.”
When she received the script for Appropriate, she was drawn to the writing and to the role of River, a free-spirited young woman who’s trying to keep the peace among siblings settling their father’s estate — and uncovering disturbing family secrets in the process. But she did not think she could join the Broadway run because of her filming schedule.
Then came the cancellation of The Great after three seasons. After being approached again by Neugebauer, she agreed to take on the role. The timing also aligned with the start date of her next film project, the strike-delayed Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, which is scheduled to start immediately after the play’s limited run.
While Fanning mourns the end of The Great, she says it had a “beautiful run,” and she’s happy with the show’s arc, particularly the fact that the last scene shows her character dancing through the halls of the palace, finally free to start her reign. The cast also had a chance to commemorate their time on the series with a dinner and candle-burning ceremony in London, with everyone giving speeches about their memorable moments on the show.
“I feel I learned so much through playing that character and getting to be a producer on the show and feeling included in that way,” she says. “It really is, up until now, the most significant role and part in my life.”
Throughout her career, Fanning says she’s been choosing roles out of gut instinct, rather than veering toward certain archetypes. There’s also a degree of manifestation involved, in that the right part seems to come to her.
For example, Fanning has been a Bob Dylan fan since age 13, after being introduced to the music by Cameron Crowe and later collecting one of the singer’s harmonicas, so her role in the biopic was a quick yes. She’s also become more involved in producing and is teaming up with her sister, Dakota, and A24, to produce a TV series about Paris Hilton, another person to whom she has longstanding ties.
“All we did was play Simple Life growing up,” Fanning says. “Dakota was Paris, and I was always Nicole.”
As she prepares for her next role, and the Dec. 18 opening of Appropriate, Fanning says she’s been enjoying working within an ensemble cast, which also includes Corey Stoll and Michael Esper, and finding more ways into her character — she’s recently been researching temporary tattoos she could wear onstage to complete the look. She’s also learning the ins and outs of theater, from mastering stage lingo to being responsible for doing her own hair and makeup and hitting all her cues.
A live audience will be yet another test of her nerves, but it’s one that she thinks will deepen her performance. “I’m craving the energy that they’re going to give us back, because I think we’re just going to discover so much more.”
A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.