Q&A: 'Maleficent' Star Elle Fanning Talks Fairy Tales and Fashion Week

Elle Fanning leads a charmed life — and not just because she’s playing a fairy-tale princess in her new movie Maleficent. The 16-year-old, who made her film debut at age 2 opposite Sean Penn and her older sister Dakota in I Am Sam, is now starring as one of her favorite characters from childhood, Aurora (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty). And who lays the curse on Fanning’s young maiden? Angelina Jolie as the titular terror. In keeping with the magical theme, Yahoo Movies quizzed Fanning on her favorite fairy godmother and some other enchanted inquiries.

What’s the most magical land you’ve gotten to visit?
Paris is pretty magical. I was just there [for Fashion Week] and I want to go there for a longer period of time. I tend to go there, mostly for fashion shows, and it’s only for a little bit and then you fly out.

Do you have a fairy godmother?
I would say my grandmother is my fairy godmother. She lives with us, and she used to go with me on all my film [shoots] when my mom would go with my sister. And she home-schooled me up until third grade, so we’re really close.

You play Sleeping Beauty. What is the longest you’ve ever slept?
On the plane home from South Africa. It’s a 17-hour flight, and I slept 16 hours, straight through [laughs]. I was exhausted.

You’re famously fashionable. Have you ever felt like a princess?
We had a red carpet event for Maleficent in London — the costumes were going to be shown there, and it was at Kensington Palace. So I not only got to play a princess, but [I went to this event] and wore this really pretty gown [a strapless, cream-colored Georges Hobeika dress] that was very princess-like.

What is the best ball you’ve been to?
The Met Gala. I didn’t go this year because we were doing promotional stuff for Maleficent but I’ve been twice before.

What’s your definition of a happy ending?
I guess making sure that the good prevails. Which I guess is always what happens. [Laughs]

What was the most surreal moment on the set of Maleficent?
I think getting to film the finger-pricking scene. That was my last day, so they definitely built that up. It was the big moment for my character. I was actually doing what I watched in the cartoon when I was 5.

Photo Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP