Elle Fanning

Thia keeps talking because silence seems to frighten her. In Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands (2025), Fanning makes the damaged synthetic cheerful, vulnerable and slightly too delighted with her own jokes. Opposite Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi’s wary Dek, she supplies enough conversation for two, and their stretches of travelling together are the film’s chief pleasure. The film is gentler than its monster promises, but Fanning gives us a reason to welcome the company.

Her move from child parts to the leads of Somewhere (2010) and Super 8 (2011) was followed by independent work in The Neon Demon (2016) and 20th Century Women (2016). The satirical series The Great (2020–2023), with Fanning as Catherine the Great, gave that adult career a substantial comic role. Across those changes, her emotional openness has remained useful. A character can look hopeful without the performance insisting that we should share the hope.

In Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value (2025), that approach makes Rachel Kemp, an American star who is out of place among the family, worth taking seriously. Fanning plays her sincerity without inviting us to laugh at her for being an outsider. Editor Olivier Bugge Coutté cuts between the family and the film being made about them, and Fanning gives those scenes the seriousness they need. She can ask questions the others have avoided for decades because Fanning makes her interest convincing.

The limits show in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown (2024). As Sylvie Russo, Fanning has a part largely built around waiting by the phone, and does more with it than the writing deserves. Her care cannot make those scenes as compelling as the songs. There is effort here, but not enough for us to recommend the film on her performance alone.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles (2026) gives her more to do as a single mother finding an income through OnlyFans. We warmed to Margo because Fanning made those practical decisions funny without asking us to pity her. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Shyanne and Nick Offerman’s Jinx give her partners who can answer back, and the family comedy benefits from their willingness to let one another be funny. The heavier drama is less persuasive. Start here for Fanning, and allow for the stretches when the programme takes itself too seriously.