The Here & Now

Dakota Fanning is on the cover of the August issue of Town & Country magazine. Highlights from the issue are below.

On wanting to be an actress at a young age: “It’s hard to explain to someone who didn’t know me as a child. But even before I started working—when I was two, three, four, five—I was an exceptionally mature child. I just was. And my mom and I were able to have conversations like, ‘Do you want to go to California and go to auditions for commercials and TV shows? Is that something you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s give it a try.’ “

On her mother’s motivation to inspire her: “She realized I had the potential to do things that were bigger than the life she knew. And she recognized that in Elle, too. When she made that initial move with me to L.A., she completely gave up her own dreams and started over in a place she never imagined living. I mean, Los Angeles, to a person from 20 minutes southeast of Atlanta, might as well be Africa.” 

On choosing to attend New York University: “I’m obviously a woman in film, a part of this industry. I didn’t want to stop working to go to school, and I didn’t want to not go to school, so I thought that if I had them inform each other it would be interesting.”

You can check out more from Dakota’s interview here. This shoot is gorgeous!