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Elle Fanning Takes the E!Q in 42 and The Beguiled Star Is Most Enchanting

Beyoncé, Katy Perry's new album and Arrival all have one thing in common

By Natalie Finn Jun 20, 2017 1:00 PMTags
Watch: Elle Fanning Takes the E!Q in 42!

Elle Fanning's favorite emoji makes sense.

We're not going to tell you what it is—she'll tell you herself when you watch her E!Q in 42—but it shares more than a few qualities with the 19-year-old actress: They're both beautifully groomed, hard to pin down and rather dazzling to behold.

One difference: Elle exists in nature.

Anyway...the star of Sofia Coppola's latest film, the super-stylish Southern Gothic thriller The Beguiled, was game to answer as many of our questions as she could in 42 seconds during a recent sit-down to talk about the movie, which co-stars Nicole KidmanKirsten Dunst and Colin Farrell.

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Fanning, who over the past decade has gone from child star to calculated risk-taker to commanding her first Vogue cover, plays Alicia, one of the sheltered residents at a girls' boarding school whose world is upended when the ladies take in Farrell's wounded Union soldier, John McBurney, to nurse him back to health.

Ben Rothstein/Focus Features

Charming, romantic, manipulative, eerie and downright shocking events unfold.

Fanning told E! News that she made sure to chew a little gum before a kissing scene with Farrell, who tried his best to put her at ease (a bit of awkwardness ensued, nevertheless), and she was happy to be shooting the film in the company of close pals. She and Dunst got to know each other at an ice-skating party awhile back and became fast friends, and she previously starred in Coppola's 2010 film Somewhere, so shooting The Beguiled felt like being away at summer camp.

And the natural chemistry in all arenas paid off: The Beguiled received a five-minute standing ovation at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and Coppola became only the second-ever woman (and first American woman) to win Best Director.

While traveling the world on behalf of the movie together, Fanning says that she, Dunst and Coppola would group chat before events beforehand to coordinate outfits and arrange their meet-up spots so they could hang out.

Sounds like a sisterhood anyone would be happy to stumble upon—in real life, at least.

The Beguiled opens in limited release on June 23.