Elle Fanning 'didn't have enough Instagram followers' to book a major franchise role
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Elle Fanning is no stranger to franchises. Not too long ago, she played a Disney princess in two Maleficent movies, with co-stars like Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer. But you won't see Fanning in any of the genre tentpoles currently dominating Hollywood — think Marvel, DC or Star Wars.
When asked on the Happy Sad Confused podcast if she feels pressure to book franchise roles to stay relevant, The Great star shook her head. "I don't feel that way," she said. "It obviously does something for people. But you also don't know if they're gonna work sometimes, which is also scary."
Toni Anne Barson/FilmMagic Elle Fanning
In addition to her work playing Catherine the Great on the Hulu comedy, Fanning has also starred on projects like The Girl From Plainville and All The Bright Places. That doesn't mean she's avoiding blockbuster roles — in fact, she recalled recently being up for a franchise role that didn't work out. Though she neglected to mention the studio or project by name, she did share a juicy tidbit about why it fell through: "I'm not gonna say what it was," Fanning said, "but I didn't get a part once for something big because — and it might not have just been this reason, but this was all the feedback that I heard — was because I didn't have enough Instagram followers at the time."
Oddly enough, Fanning — who currently has more than six million Instagram followers — has proven her social media savvy in the past. When TikTok was exploding during lockdown, Fanning created a secret account that, despite its lack of promotion, garnered 600,000 followers within 3 months. Alas, that wasn't enough to book her this particular mystery gig.
During their recent press tours, Fanning and her The Great co-star Nicholas Hoult opened up about their brushes with Hollywood tentpoles. Hoult, for example, recently revealed that he was up for roles in Top Gun: Maverick and Matt Reeves' The Batman. The above interview sees Fanning reflecting on a potential role in Dune: Part 2, revealing that her commitment to The Great conflicted with an audition.
You can watch Fanning's full interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast above.
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