Becoming a Big Girl

I’m sure the first time I noticed Dakota Fanning was the first time you noticed her too back in 2001 when she starred as “Lucy” Sean Penn’s seven year old daughter in I Am Sam. It’s a trip to watch the trailer now and see how young she was then, which by the way was only 8 years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EROTbDCr5ag

Crazy, right? She was so good in that movie. It was kind of amazing to watch her. She was seven years old when she that movie came out. Seven…when I was seven I’m sure I was trying to remember that eating play doh wasn’t good for you and she was spending her days with Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer. And she wasn’t just the token cute kid that has a few lines; she had a huge part in it where she had to express true emotions. At the time she was seen as a bit of a child prodigy because of how good she actually was.

Dakota’s performance in I am Sam really set her up in the movie business. After that film she appeared in the sci-fi miniseries, Taken, directed by Steven Spielberg, followed by the Cat in the Hat, Man on Fire, War of the Worlds and Charlotte’s Web to name a few. She went through a bit of an awkward stage and I actually found her annoying…particularly in War of the Worlds, but luckily she seems to have grown out of that as most kids do. She always chose very age appropriate films, but now that she is a teenager you can see her starting to make that transition from child actor to adult actor. Earlier this year Dakota took on a much more mature role in Push and this week she will be stepping out onto the screen as Jane from the Twilight Series, where she gets to play the villain for the first time in her career. She also scored her first Teen Vogue cover for this December/January issue. The picture above is from that shoot. Legit Magazine Covers = Growing up and Teen Vogue = Growing up with Class. Well played Dakota.
You can check out the full interview here: http://www.teenvogue.com/industry/coverlook/2009/11/teen-vogue-cover-girl-dakota-fanning
She talks about her new BFF KStew which kind of surprises me. Kristen seems a little too rough around the edges for Dakota's sweet demeanor, but I guess I could see how they relate, both being child actors and all.

You can tell this kid is solid. Her parents must keep her that way. Although she is a full time actress, she’s also enrolled in a private school in L.A. where she is a cheerleader…so all American mixed with a Hollywood privilege, oh what a life. But you can tell she’s not a bragger or a one upper,although I’m sure most of her girlfriends are jealous of her at times. I imagine a conversation like this.
Friend says: “Hey Dakota, do you want to come to my birthday party?”
Dakota: “Um, no I would really love to but I have to go hang out with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, but thanks for asking”.
Friend politely says “That’s ok” but is thinking “Die bitch, die.”

In all fairness I think she really does want to have that “normal teenage life” as much as possible and good for her for giving it a go.

Dakota was on Ellen today to promote New Moon and she looked so grown up and super cute. Check out the video here: http://ellen.warnerbros.com/videos/?autoplay=true&mediaKey=09669bf2-05ef-46f5-be8f-da9dbf7d6646

I think the future is bright for Dakota as long Lohan version 2.0 (Lindsay’s younger sister Ali) stays away from her.