NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Ripley, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Alienist actress Dakota Fanning says the character she plays in the new thriller All Her Fault is a woman who realizes how exhausting it can be to try to make everyone happy all of the time.
“I think she would be described as a ‘people pleaser,’ but in the most positive version of that,” Fanning, 31, told UPI in a Zoom interview Tuesday.
“Not like how, sometimes, if you describe someone as a ‘people pleaser,’ it’s like: ‘Well, who are you really? Are you just trying to say the right thing and please people and not being authentic?’
“I think she’s actually the really genuine, altruistic version of a people pleaser, which is just that she really leads with her heart and is trying to do the right thing by everyone, and trying to be open and supportive and have it all and do it all and have all the answers and show up and be good at work and not let anybody down,” Fanning explained.
Premiering Thursday on Peacock, the adaptation of Andrea Mara’s novel casts Fanning as Jenny, who befriends Marissa (Sarah Snook), a wealthy mom from her son’s private school, whose 5-year-old son Milo is kidnapped.
Dakota Fanning attends the Critics’ Choice Awards at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Calif., in February. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
“I definitely was very struck by reading the opening act of the series of Sarah’s discovery of her son being missing. I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s such an intense, cool way to open a series,'” Fanning recalled.
“I also just really wanted to work with Sarah. That was one of the biggest draws. I was such a fan of hers, so I was excited by that opportunity.”
Sarah Snook poses with the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play award for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” backstage at the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Fanning also wanted to explore the idea of chronically distracted parents who feel torn between their careers and personal lives.
“I felt like there was another opportunity in playing Jenny to showcase some things that I know a lot of women are going through, friends of mine are going through, I’ve gone through,” the actress said. “She’s a very relatable character that someone can see themselves in in one way or another.”
Jake Lacy attends the People’s Choice Awards at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2024. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Jenny and Marissa are seen in a flashback scene meeting for the first time a few weeks before Milo’s disappearance.
Jenny is hiding out in the bathroom at a party for her son’s school after a pushy super-mom tries to get her to volunteer time she doesn’t have for a fundraising event.
Michael Pena attends the premiere of Paramount+’s TV drama “Landman” at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles in 2024. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
When Marissa comes into the ladies’ room wearing the same exact dress as Jenny’s and is equally put off by the same woman, she and Jenny immediately bond.
“Through her friendship with Sarah’s character, Marissa, you kind of see [Jenny] unlock a different part of herself and a bit of her voice and finally gets to the place of speaking your truth and saying your peace and maybe being unliked for 2 seconds is actually a much more like authentic way of being and will ultimately make you a happier person and a more free person,” Fanning said.
Just like their characters, Fanning and Snook had immediate chemistry.
“We just dove in. The first scene that we filmed together was us meeting in the bathroom and wearing the same dress,” Fanning said of working with the Succession actress.
“That’s kind of the first glimpse of our characters’ personalities before the drama begins,” she added. “So, that was nice to get to do that and have our first day of filming as that scene, so it was nice to kind of get the nerves out and the butterflies and get to know each other that day and then we just kind of built from there.”
The cast also includes Jake Lacy, Michael Peña, Sophia Lillis, Abby Elliott, Daniel Monks, Jay Ellis, Thomas Cocquerel, Duke McCloud and Kartiah Vergara.
