Dakota Fanning Interview, PUSH

At Comic Con we had a chance to catch up with Dakota Fanning and sit down and talk about her upcoming role in PUSH. Dakota Fanning normally plays very safe roles but as of recent has taken risks. Some that have fans and parents in outrage. HoundDog being case and point. Althouh PUSH is quite differnt from her previous roles it is still for the most part safe but a great deviation from her past work.

The action packed sci-fi thriller involves a group of young American ex-pats with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities, hiding from a clandestine U.S. government agency. They must utilize their different talents and band together for a final job enabling them to escape the agency forever. The film will hit theatres in 2009. This is what Dakota had to tell us;

What's this drunk scene I'm hearing about?

Fanning: Okay, here's the deal with that. In this movie my mom is also a Watcher. She's like the best Watcher that they've ever seen and can see the future. She's famous for drinking alcohol in a crunch, when she needs to see everything more clearly. It's like a last resort kind of thing and so Cassie is going through that. It's her last resort to see the future as clear as she can and she has to drink.

Is this a freeing experience for you having been this innocent child in other movies and now being able to do scenes like this?

Fanning: Yeah. I had never done that before and so it definitely was. I identified with a character who was desperate and had to do something to take her power to full effect. So it was. This movie is different, something that I've never done before and I felt really lucky to be  part of it. I like that it's an action movie, but there's also a story and characters that have relationships with each other and they're all very significant.

Do you ever sense that it's time you to start intentionally growing up your roles?

Fanning: I don't really do it intentionally. I think that as you get older the roles that you can do kind of are limited and also expanded at the same time. I don't really try to make conscious decisions about it. I just try to let it happen naturally and as I get to certain ages some things are right and some things are not. I've been lucky to find the right thing, I feel.

You look at scripts very differently as a fourteen year old as you did as a ten year old.

Fanning: Sure, exactly.

Do you find that people are sending you scripts for a teenage role?

Fanning: Yeah, I think definitely because people are seeing that I'm older and I can do more things. I do see that. I feel very lucky to have that and I hope and intend to do movies forever. It's what I love to do and I just think that as I get older I'm just excited for what's to come.

Are you prepared for the audience being resistant at all because they know you and love you in a certain way? They have to let you grow up onscreen the way that you grow up in real life.

Fanning: Yeah, exactly, but I think it's inevitable because the first time that everyone saw me I was in six and I was in 'I Am Sam' and now I'm fourteen. So I think that's inevitable, but I am getting older. I am growing up and I can't do anything about that. I have to do what I feel is right for me and grow as an actress. I have to do that no matter what, if I want to continue doing this and I do.

How was you experience in Hong Kong? What was it like shooting there?

Fanning: I loved it. Hong Kong was one of my most favorite places that I've ever filmed. It was such a new experience and so different from anywhere that I'd ever been before. I think it was almost like an another actor in the movie, just the city and just the landscape of the buildings and the colors of the people. I think that helped everyone to be in the moment there in this fascinating place.

I guess that 'Hounddog' is getting a limited theatrical release?

Fanning: Probably next year.

I thought it was sooner.

Fanning: I don't think so. I think it's next spring or something.

There was a bit of a backlash against that movie at Sundance. Was that surprising to you?

Fanning: Yeah, it was. I think a lot of the information that was out there wasn't true and so I think that people were going into the movie with a lot of preconceived notions about what it was going to be and I don't think it fulfilled what everyone thought that particular part of the movie was going to be. It was very unfortunate and very disappointing. I think that movie, I really loved making it and I got to work with Robin Wright Penn and David Morse and I got a great experience. I do really hope that people get to see that one day. I hope that people can go with an open mind and an unbiased opinion and watch it and enjoy it. If not, everyone likes different kinds of things.

How was working with Jennifer Hudson on 'The Secret Life of Bees'?

Fanning: It was great. I had so much fun. I got to work with Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Paul Bettany, Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds. It was so much fun. I had so much fun and it was totally like a switch of gears from this film and then going to do 'The Secret Life of Bees'. The characters are really different and the people were totally different. The setting was totally different.

Who do you play in that?

Fanning: I play Lily who's the main character in the book and it was so much fun and that's getting ready to come out. That's October 17th.

Are you going to be in Toronto for that?

Fanning: Yeah, I will be there.

Queen? What do you think of this scene with all the people dressed up? Are you jealous or are you over it?

Fanning: No. I love Halloween. I'm already thinking about what I'm going to be because I have to plan.

What are you planning on?

Fanning: Well, my sister and I, she just filmed 'The Nutcracker' so we decided that we'll be the Nutcracker. Well, not the actual Nutcracker, but the Sugar Plumbed Fairies and be like in full ballerina and her best friend is going to be the Rat King and then one of the best friends is going to be the Nutcracker and we'll all go together and we'll be like the whole Nutcracker brigade. It's great. I have to think about it.

Do you actually hand sew your costumes or how do you put them together?

Fanning: I don't. Usually I have a friend of ours make them for me. I could never do that, but they actually have a ballet studio and so they're very familiar with making ballet costumes.

Are you still reading a lot?

Fanning: I am. I've got my summer reading list for school this year and I've already read all the books.

What's the classic that you read and loved?

Fanning: Well, I just read 'The Name Sake'. I had to read that and I had to read a book about the holocaust called 'Those Who Save Us' and then another one called 'The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette'. They were all great. They were so good. I read them all in like a week.

How do you get ready to go back to school if you've already read all the books?

Fanning: I know. I'm kind of bored. I'm like, 'I should be reading a little bit.' But I watched the movie 'The Name Sake' so I could kind of refresh that way.

Any back to school preparations?

Fanning: Well, I love school supplies. I love going and getting my school supplies. I've already gotten my binders and everything. I love doing that. My mom and I would go and get unnecessary things, but I'm like, 'Oh, maybe I'll need that –' and then I never see it until two years later.

What grade are you going into?

Fanning: Tenth grade.

Do kids in high school treat you very differently?

Fanning: Well, I didn't go to school when I was in elementary. The only school that I've ever gone to was when I was in preschool and then first grade and then I was home schooled from second to eighth grade and then I went to high school in ninth grade.

How was that experience?

Fanning: It was actually, the transition was totally almost like it wasn't a transition. It was really very smooth and I have so many friends at school and it's been great and so natural. I'm really fortunate that my school lets me leave and take my work with me and come back. They've been amazing and I'm very fortunate.

How did this set compare on 'Push' compare to the set of 'War of the Worlds'?

Fanning: I didn't really notice that so much. When I was in 'War of the Worlds' it was about as grand and as big as you can imagine. It was amazing, but still doing 'Push' I didn't feel so much of a difference. It still felt like a big action movie because the stunts and the actual sequences weren't low budget or it didn't feel like that at all. So I didn't really feel that even though I know it obviously wasn't as big a budget. But I still think that it got the same result as far as the stunts and the action go.

Are you signed up for anything else at this point?

Fanning: No. I just have 'The Secret Life of Bees' coming out in October and then 'Coraline' which is an animated movie coming out early next year.

Who do you voice?

Fanning: Coraline.