
[“][I] was just raised to work hard and be kind to other people and do my best – that was all I was ever told,” says Dakota Fanning with a smile. It’s an effective way to be raised, for sure, as Dakota may just be the nicest celebrity I’ve ever interviewed. And that’s not to say she’s boring, she’s far from that, and in the hour we have following her cover shoot with Rankin, we traverse a wide range of topics from fashion – “I love it but I hate trying on clothes” – through mental health and social media – “It has created more stress in young people’s lives” – to having a voice – “I think in general, just as a human being, it’s important to help other people and give back”.
Dakota has travelled to London from Budapest, where she is currently filming her first TV series, The Alienist. She was initially hesitant to leave her life in New York. “Even though my job is super unstable I’m very much a routine person,” she says. “I love stability and routine – something I can hold onto. The idea of breaking it every time I have to work makes me feel like ahhhh! So I was really scared to move – alone – to a foreign country for six months, but I couldn’t be luckier.” During her time filming the Netflix series – adapted from Caleb Carr’s bestselling novel of the same name – Dakota has formed close friendships with the cast, including Daniel Brühl and Luke Evans, and is now enjoying the “relaxed energy” of the European spa town. “I love New York but you’re very go, go, go there all the time. We don’t cut ourselves a lot of slack to relax.” She counts New York as home, on par with LA, where she was raised following her family’s relocation from Georgia in 1999, but she’s enjoying her time away. “We work a lot,” she says, “But I’m definitely taking advantage of the easier going lifestyle.”

Hunger: How is it working on your first TV series?
Dakota Fanning: Amazing! I’m a total TV person – I watch so much of it, and before The Alienist was even a thought I realised that I was being so much more inspired and challenged by the TV I was watching than the movies. Not across the board, but in general there’s this real desire to play everything really safe in films, but in TV no one is afraid to be dark or subvert something, or go to a scary place. Also, the quality of the writing and sets and costumes is amazing. I’ve not worked on many films that have this sort of feeling or operate on such a large scale! I think working with Steven Spielberg is the closest I’ve come to this.
Is it similar to working on a film?
It’s not entirely dissimilar to making a film, but I’ve enjoyed the surprise of receiving each script one by one. I thought I was the kind of person that likes to know everything beforehand, and that I’d feel a little panicked not knowing, but actually it’s been really interesting to see where the character and story goes. I’ve been acting for a long time, and of course every experience is different and challenging, but I know what making a movie is like, so doing something new is fun and surprising.
It’s amazing that you need a shake up to your work life at 23 – an age when most people have barely begun their careers.
That joke gets made to me at least once a day, and I get it, I really do, but it’s totally the truth! I’m so grateful for the fact that I’ve had so many opportunities and experiences at this age.
And you love it?
I don’t really know any different as I’ve been doing it for most of my life, but yeah I do love it. I test myself when I’m on set having the most miserable day by asking: ‘Am I still enjoying this?’ Usually there’s some part of me that is. I grew up on set and I have so many memories from it. It’s been such a formative part of my life; it’s a part of who I am at this point, I can’t imagine doing anything else really. I’d love to direct or produce at some point, but I think I’ll always be an actor first.

There’s been a lot in the media of late about the treatment of women in Hollywood. What has your personal experience been like?
Really, I’m only now just starting to experience truly being an adult and a woman. I was a kid for so long, I’ve personally not felt any inequality on a production I’ve been working on, but for example with The Bell Jar – which we’re trying to get made right now – a lot of people think the story is only for women and I find that really offensive. It’s such an amazing story that means so much to so many people and means so many different things to different people. I do read plenty of scripts where the character hasn’t been written to do anything more than have sex with the male character or for men to fight over or be topless. None of which I’ve ended up doing.
Do you feel that the conversation around inequality, or gender discrimination, is improving?
Yes, but also that conversation has gone on for some time!
Did you see that placard at the Trump protest that read: “I can’t believe we’re still protesting this shit!?”
Yes! It’s so great that the conversation is being had, but I also think we should consider how long we’ve been having it. We’ve been talking about this for hundreds of years, and there’s been inequality for so long… I’m lucky; I was raised to think I could do the things I wanted to do. And I come from a very female dominated household, with very strong women to look up to. We’re mostly women in our house, so we’ve always run our world.

You mentioned The Bell Jar. In the UK, the topic of mental health has gained a lot of press in the last year or so. Do you feel it’s something that deserves more attention?
Yes definitely. There’s so much stigma, I think partly because of the word “crazy” and the way that gets thrown around to mean so many different things. People end up feeling so ashamed. We’re told that we’re not supposed to lose control of our thoughts or mind, and that we’re supposed to be able to “get a grip”. It implies that there’s something you can get a grip of! That everyday language in reference to mental health means that the shame and confusion and pain that people feel when they are losing control is even more difficult. I don’t think we’re compassionate enough about that.
And at some point in their lives everyone experiences poor mental health to some varying degree.
Yes. I’m not going to pretend to understand the pain of somebody who is dealing with a mental health issue, but on a much smaller, different scale I get really overwhelmed all the time about very simple things, and I have irrational thoughts that something can’t be fixed, even if it easily can. But I know how much talking about it – whether that’s with my mom or my best friend – alleviates the worries. I really wish people felt they could be more open.
If you had a sprained wrist, you’d be telling people.
Exactly. I hope The Bell Jar can help conversations about that. It’s so important, and it’s so painful when you hear about tragedies that happen around a mental health condition that could have been fixed. It seems so hard to accept.
The topic of mental health can lead us seamlessly to social media…
Haha yes! I like to think the pure intention with social media is to connect people in a positive way, so when it’s used in that way it’s great. I love Instagram and I look at it all the time, but it’s a deep hole – and it can be vicious! I very happily didn’t have (public) social media accounts for a long time, but I eventually got them for one reason or another. They’re great when you have something to say – like with my work with Save The Children it can be really useful – and also to post about where someone can see one of my films or something like that, but I don’t pretend to be perfect on my Instagram. I use filters but I don’t Photoshop my pictures, and I’m not trying to make anyone jealous or pretending to have any sort of life that I don’t truly have.
Have you ever been asked about your social media following by casting directors?
I’ve heard of it happening but I’ve never had it myself. I don’t think creativity and art and an ability to do something can be judged on something like that. I’m really not concerned about the number I have and I never will be. I don’t worry about things like that.

Do you think it’s important as a celebrity to have a voice?
If that’s something that you feel comfortable with, then yes. But I think people put a lot of pressure on people who are well-known to always have a voice and I think that’s unfair as some people would prefer to do things in private and that’s okay too. I think in general just as a human being it’s important to help other people and give back and if that’s something you feel comfortable sharing and you have a platform – like 40 million followers on Instagram – then that’s great. I don’t think it’s something you should have to do, but I do think that it’s something you do have to be aware of.
And what about with politics?
There are so many more informed people to speak about it than me, and it’s become such an emotional discussion, I just remove myself from the conversations now as I end up not feeling great. Everyone has a right to his or her own beliefs and opinions; I don’t think anyone feels great at the moment. That’s what I feel comfortable saying.
What inspires or drives you?
That’s a hard question, as I’m worried that what I want to say is not going to sound right… As I was growing up I always felt I was waiting to be the age that I felt inside, not that I wasn’t a kid, I was. I was just always a mature child, even before I started working I remember full-on conversations with my mother from when I was about three years old. So I’ve never really been seen the way I felt inside, but now, I feel like I’m there. But then at the same time, when you wait for something to happen and then it actually happens you’re like, okay, what next? Something that has always been instilled in me by my mom, and that I’m realising more and more, is that the only thing you can leave behind in your life is your treatment of other people. That’s all people remember you for – your only legacy really is what you meant to another human being, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve realised how true that is and how all the other things, all the silly stuff, just doesn’t matter. So I am driven to be good to other people, and I try to focus on that.
Taken from Hunger issue 13, Mad World, out now. Buy here
The Alienist is coming soon to Netflix
Hero image dress Dior, rings Delfina Delettrez
Gallery




