Monday, October 24, 2005

Evan Agostini / Getty Images Dakota signs autographs for fans at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Dakota's riding high

11-year-old actress has Hollywood eating out of her hand

By Glenn Whipp / Los Angeles Daily News

Notable films • Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (2005) • War of the Worlds (2005) • Hide and Seek (2005) • Nine Lives (2005) • Man on Fire (2004) • The Cat in the Hat (2003) • Uptown Girls (2003) • Hansel & Gretel (2002 • Taken (2002) (TV miniseries) • Sweet Home Alabama (2002) • Trapped (2002) • I Am Sam (2001) Source: Imdb.com Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

Dakota Fanning didn't see any movies this summer. She was too busy embarking on what she calls her "world tour," bopping from Paris to London to Marseilles with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg in support of "War of the Worlds."

"Paris is my favorite city!" Fanning enthuses. "We climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe! And the chocolate crepes! Lots of chocolate crepes! Did I mention I'm learning French?"

No, Dakota, but you didn't need to. Once the 11-year-old Fanning sets her mind to something, it is a fait accompli. For "Dreamer," now in theaters, Fanning learned to ride a thoroughbred race horse. When it threw her off, she climbed back on. This happened twice.

Then the horse learned.

As we all are. Here are reasons why It's Dakota Fanning's World And We Just Live In It:

• She was reading at age 2. She skipped kindergarten and went straight to first grade when she was 4. In between, she started to act. She told her parents she wanted to be an actress on television and movies instead of just around the house.

So, the family left its Conyers, Ga., home, initially for six weeks, but then longer as Dakota landed commercials, a prime guest spot on "ER" and then the lead in "I Am Sam" opposite Sean Penn.

Eventually, Mom and Dad put their Georgia home up for sale.

"It's fun to know what I want to do -- you know, when I grow up," Fanning says. "I knew from my first commercial that I wanted to be an actress."

• She receives 10 scripts ... a day.

You get Fanning, you get your movie made. That's her power in Hollywood today. John Gaitins shopped his screenplay for "Dreamer" and was met with rejection -- until he signed Fanning.

• She goes to her own meetings but must be listening to some good advice.

"My mom comes with me, but she waits outside," Fanning says of the days when she sits down with studio executives, producers or directors bidding for her services.

• She doesn't need to wait for Santa Claus. When "Dreamer" wrapped, Kurt Russell gave her a horse named Goldie. Tom Cruise floated her a loaded iPod while shooting "War of the Worlds."

• But despite all this, she remains, by all appearances, a healthy, normal 11-year-old. Fanning giggles, collects dolls and still sleeps with a green teddy bear at night.

"She is a wonderful girl," says Elisabeth Shue, who has acted opposite Fanning twice this year, in "Hide and Seek" and "Dreamer."

• Her big-name co-stars respect her. Denzel Washington, Russell, Cruise ... they all say Fanning is one of the best actresses they've worked with. They do not qualify the praise by using the word "child" before actress.

• And she just became a full-fledged Girl Scout. Just imagine the cookie sales.