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We're Hangin' With..... That "UPTOWN GIRL" Dakota Fanning by: Lynn B.
Blonde, blue-eyed Dakota Fanning isn't "precocious", she's dedicated to her craft and just very bright. If she and Haley Joel Osment got together some day, their kid would no doubt re-invent the universe. When we talked to the bouncy, happy but very professional Ms. Fanning recently she rushed into the room as we were wrapping up our chat with Brittany and the two compared their outfits of matching colors; Brittany in a black and white suit and Dakota in a cute, puffy-sleeved black and white lace top with polka dots. After hugging her young co-star, Brittany just had to give the word on Dakota. Brittany: The dearest present I ever received in my life was from Dakota; a 1920's tea set and I love the '20's. I would like to spend more time with the people I love and, unfortunately, due to working schedules that isn't going to happen enough. I'm working on changing that. The two kiss and hug. We think this is genuine and not a show for press since we saw the two hugging later in the halls when there was no one around. AGW: So what is Brittany really like? Dakota: Brittany is like my best friend. As you saw when you met her, she's so fun and nice and special and every day she would get on the set and say 'hello" to everybody. The first day, she introduced herself to practically everybody and she's nice and fun to be around. She's full of life. Every day to be on the set with her and see her was really energizing. AGW: In I Am Sam and this role, you are the kid that is smarter than the adults. In that the general case in life for you? Dakota: Not really. I just have fun doing what I'm doing and love meeting people like Brittany, as you just saw, and just having a good time. AGW: What was fun about making this movie? Dakota: What was fun in this movie and movies in general, is that you get to do things you never get to do in real life like be bragging [about yourself] to people. You would never get to do that. That's what I like about doing movies. I love to pretend to be other people and other things and that's what I love about acting. AGW: What did you do to get in character for this film? This girl seems nothing like you. Dakota: I think the wardrobe had a lot to do with it too. It was sort of straight, really serious. My hair was always up or down [indicates flat]. I think that helped a lot and I would go shopping and say 'Ray [her character] would buy that so I'm gonna buy that' and I would put anti-bacterial wash on my hands to get in character. [Ray is very paranoid about germs]. Some weird things like that. AGW: You had a lot of dialogue in this film. Was it hard to memorize it all? Dakota: You know, I just love doing it and I just read over it but not too much and we did ad lib in this movie so it doesn't have to be exactly all perfect. Boaz Yakin, the director was very open to ideas also. We would take something out here, add something in there so we would just do along and make stuff up. AGW: Was there anything in particular you ad-libbed? Dakota: Yeah. We had tons of ideas and props and picking up props that you might not have done before. I had this one idea that we didn't use but it was funny. I thought Ray might put plastic on her bed because she didn't like it getting dirty. We tried one [take] with that and it didn't work out. But one of my ideas was to put the towel on the sink and then put the purse down. That was mine. AGW: Did you research obsessive compulsive people? Dakota: I'm actually a very neat and clean person also; very organized. I'm like Ray in those ways. My sister is five and she's like Molly [Brittany's character]. Her side of the room is completely messy. There's toys everywhere. She like throws her clothes down. It's a mess over there and my room, everything is perfect in its basket. So, there's a Molly and a Ray in my house. AGW: Did you enjoy the ballet in the film?
AGW: You seem so grown up. Was Ray like you in that she's a kid who spends a lot of time with adults? Dakota: Yeah but when I go home I play with my baby dolls and strollers and stuffed animals, pretend like they're real dogs. I really do. I do all that stuff so I sort of just think of myself as 9 years old and do stuff that I really love to do. AGW: Your sister is getting into acting. Are you in anything together? Dakota: She played me when I was younger in I Am Sam and also in "Taken" the sci-fi mini-series by Steven Spielberg, she played me younger in one of those episodes. AGW: Did you give her acting advice? Dakota: She's done two movies. She did Daddy Day Care with Eddie Murphy and A Door in the Floor with Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges. I think she's kind of like me, she just loves doing it and has fun doing it. She loves meeting people. She called the sound guy "Mike microphone". She's hilarious. AGW: What's up with all this creativity in your family? Dakota: [She shrugs..who knows?] My dad was a baseball player and my mom played tennis so they thought we were going to be sports people and we're doing acting. But, my sister likes soccer. AGW: Brittany's character has a pet pig in the film. Did you like the pig? Dakota: I loved the pigs. They were soooo cute. There were two that played the same part. They were Springer and Softie and they were twins and the only way to tell them apart was Springer had a freckle on its bottom. They looked exactly alike, yeah, yeah. So every day you had to look on its bottom to see which one it was. Giving the pig a bath was a really fun day. There were bubbles everywhere. But they were so cute and they would lick you all the time. They were baby pot-bellied pigs. AGW: Did you keep one? Dakota: No. I didn't keep one but they eat bacon. Yes, they eat bacon. [We comment that ewww, that's like being a cannibal]. It was eating gum one day too. AGW: When you are on the set are you with a tutor? Dakota: On Uptown Girls I was on summer vacation but when I'm doing school I have a teacher that goes with me on all my movies and during breaks, we go and do our school, I'm with a home study program. When I'm not working, I go to my teacher's house and do it. AGW: What is your favorite subject in school? Dakota: My favorite subject is history. I just love it. I finished American History this year and I'm starting World History this next year. I don't really know why I like it. I just love doing it and that's the first subject I do in school. AGW: Do you get stressed before a test? Dakota: What I do is after I finish the test, I go in the other room and my teacher checks it and I go [yelling] 'Are you done yet'? Five seconds later, 'Are you done yet?' Yes, I'm done and you should hear me running down the hallway 'you're done!!'. AGW: You've met a lot of celebrities already. Who was the one you were most looking forward to or is there someone you would really love to meet? Dakota: All the people I've worked with have been great. It was an honor to work with them but the people I would love to work with one day are Cameron Diaz and Julia Roberts. I've met Cameron Diaz at the SAG awards for like ten minutes. It was so exciting. They were telling people to sit down and she talked to me. It was really nice. AGW: Are there any actors you would like to be like when you are older? Dakota: I would like to be like all the actresses I've worked with. I've learned something from every actor or actress that I've worked with. What I learned from Brittany is that she treats everybody so nice and makes them feel great. I know how good it makes everybody else and me feel. I would love to be more like her.
AGW: A lot of girls would like to be in your shoes. Dakota: [grinning] Yes. I know. AGW: Brittany said you were a big letter writer. I saw your letter in Entertainment Weekly where you thanked them for naming you to the "it" list. Is that something you naturally do? Dakota: Yeah, ever since I could write and read, always for my birthday and Christmas, I always sent thank you notes to everybody that gave me something because they didn't have to give me anything and they took the time to pick you out something. I just thank them for doing that. AGW: What is your favorite singer or band or group now? Dakota: My favorite singer is Britney Spears. I'm actually kind of a bad singer. But, I would like to learn to sing better. Britney has a beautiful voice. AGW: You are originally from Georgia. Do you ever go back to visit? Dakota: I do. I haven't been back there in about a year and a half because I've been going to Mexico and places but my aunt and uncle came out from Georgia for the premiere. Brittany was born there and brought up in New Jersey. AGW: Do you like amusement parks? Your character wasn't too sure about the tea cup ride in the film. Dakota: I love amusement parks. I do. I like Disney World and Disneyland. AGW: Do you ever feel like you are giving up any normal kid stuff to do this? Dakota: You know, I don't because I go home and I play with my sister and we have a great time. I think of myself as 9 years old. I have my ballet lessons. I have my three best friends that I hang out with. I just do something that I love to do.
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She's
nine years old and has already been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild
Award (for her performance in I Am Sam). She got her first acting
job at age six. She starred in Spielberg's sci-fi t.v. series "Taken"
and has been a guest actor on almost every highly rated t.v. series now
running. She'll co-star with Mike Myers in the upcoming The Cat in
the Hat and she loves dolls, stuffed animals, tea sets and her co-star
in the romantic comedy Uptown Girls, Brittany Murphy. 
Dakota:
Yeah. I've taken ballet for a really long time. I'm like Ray in that way.
I've done it since I was two and a half. I had fun doing that in the movie.
AGW:
Everyone was jealous of you at the Critic's Choice Awards. Do tell the
story.