Elle Fanning’s Oscar nomination still undersells her year

Versatility is an actor’s bread and butter. If a performer walks into an audition, they’ve got to be ready to read the lines however the script supervisor and director see fit. Do it again, but this time with a little more grit. Give us emotion. Give us anger. Give us power. Actors have to be ready to adjust at a moment’s notice. Flexibility is the name of the game, second only to talent.

But versatility is also a lost art — collateral damage during the construction of the pipeline that directly funnels social media stars to the screen. In the age of self-tape auditions and Instagram industry connections, an actor’s artistic elasticity is deprioritized. What so often matters most these days is the size of an actor’s following or which established person can vouch for them. That’s also why, if you notice that an actor tends to play one type of role, it’s worth googling whether they have famous relatives.

Already in her still relatively short career, Elle Fanning has managed to position herself smack dab in the center of these two polarities, the perfect combination of classic Hollywood and new age celebrity. Fanning — who scored her first Oscar nomination this week for a small but critical role in “Sentimental Value” — is the kind of movie star with an almost vintage appeal: versatile, surprising and compulsively watchable. She also had a familial connection to snag a spot on industry “ones to watch” lists since she was a child. In the early 2000s, Fanning was cast as the younger version or sibling of her sister Dakota Fanning’s film characters, until the junior Fanning eventually broke out on her own with a wise-beyond-her-years performance in Sofia Coppola’s 2010 film, “Somewhere.” Coppola’s film put Fanning on the map, and she’s been turning in extremely varied and delightfully unpredictable performances in movies and television ever since.

As esteemed as Fanning is, 2025 proved to be a watershed year in her impressive career. The same month “Sentimental Value” opened stateside, Fanning was headlining theater marquees in “Predator: Badlands,” a spinoff in the long-running sci-fi franchise, playing dual roles as the neurotic synthetic cyborg, Thia, and her nefarious robo-sibling, Tessa. The film demanded a full range of character work from Fanning, who met the challenge with her typical aplomb. Her performance in “Predator: Badlands” would be striking enough as it is, but examined alongside “Sentimental Value,” the two films display the kind of dynamism and artistic range that viewers seldom get to see on-screen, let alone in the same month. Fanning’s ability to hop between a thorny Norwegian drama and a high-concept alien movie is exactly the kind of exciting malleability that audiences forced to wade through modern cinema’s sea of sameness deserve. And for Fanning, the roles are a thrilling further indication of her talents, establishing her as one of the most versatile actors of her generation — whether she wins the Oscar in March or not.

Funnily enough, I recently said something similar about Amanda Seyfried, who coincidentally had a 2025 that mirrored Fanning’s. Seyfried’s moving work in “The Testament of Ann Lee” was followed closely by a far campier turn in “The Housemaid,” giving her an end-of-year pairing that nicely exhibited the scope of her abilities. Still, Seyfried and Fanning’s work should be looked at as the exception, not the rule. It’s rare for an actor to have one truly memorable role to sink their teeth into in a year, and even more uncommon that they’ll have two, especially in such a short time apart. Though moviegoing audiences were spoiled with this embarrassment of riches, it’s Fanning’s work that stood out among the pair. “The Housemaid,” while a whole lot of fun, isn’t exactly a great film all on its own. Seyfried props the movie up with some much-needed prestige, saving it from complete schlock status. “Sentimental Value” and “Predator: Badlands,” on the other hand, are both terrific in their own right. Fanning doesn’t save either film; rather, she enhances them. Her presence is critical to their success, but the bones of a great movie still exist at both of their cores.

But what’s arguably more notable is that Fanning does so much with so little in “Sentimental Value.” The film — about a woman named Nora (Renate Reinsve) and her estranged film director father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), who reluctantly reunite when Gustav wants Nora to star in his latest movie — doesn’t work without Fanning, who plays the young ingenue Gustav casts over Nora. The film’s distributor, NEON, ran strong Oscar campaigns for both Fanning and her co-star, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, who plays Nora’s younger sister, in the best supporting actress category. And while it’s not unheard of for two actors from the same movie to be nominated in the same category, two separate races for the same film does significantly reduce the chances of dual nominations. Lilleaas had a slightly larger role and more screentime, making it all the more likely that Fanning would be shut out of the race, as most pundits predicted.

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However, despite popular opinion, good things still happen. Fanning’s nomination was a welcome surprise, evidence that great work can be recognized even when it’s up against something far more flashy, as Fanning was when competing with Ariana Grande’s role in “Wicked: For Good.” And when you watch “Sentimental Value,” it’s simple to see why Fanning’s performance couldn’t be ignored. As the determined Rachel Kemp, desperate to graduate from mere celebrity to serious actress, Fanning revels in an almost meta interpretation of the character, as if she understands that this role could similarly elevate her. In the middle of the film, Rachel performs a monologue that, while breathtaking, isn’t quite perfect. There’s too much edge, too much uncertainty in her delivery. It doesn’t come naturally. Conversely, Fanning fully sells Rachel’s slight inadequacy. Striking this balance is no simple feat. Any actor would find the material challenging, but I can think of few who would perform it with the effortless grace Fanning does. The further I get from “Sentimental Value,” the more I return to Fanning’s work as the single most affecting in a film filled top to bottom with stellar performances.

This achievement is all the more remarkable considering that, in the next theater over, Fanning was punching, kicking and quipping in “Predator: Badlands.” As Thia, an injured Weyland-Yutani synthetic saved during a hunt by an alien Yautja, Fanning operates at an entirely different frequency than she does in “Sentimental Value.” Thia is a talkative, dopey know-it-all — in that she is literally programmed to know it all — as well as the film’s emotional core, giving the viewer a more precise vision of its themes of chosen family and strained siblinghood that can’t always be communicated by the audible grunts of Dek, her Yaujta companion. As Thia tries to complete the mission she failed alongside her synthetic sister, Fanning relishes the chance to play the far more violent and cunning counterpart, Tessa. After their failure, Tessa is reprogrammed to be cold and callous, trained to finish the job at any cost, even if it means destroying the love between her and Thia. The tension between the two synthetics provides a delicious dissonance, making for a “Predator” film that leans hard into camp territory, with Fanning eating up every frame.

But even with all of its outrageously fun dialogue and bombastic battles, “Predator: Badlands” presents Fanning with another unique opportunity for a quietly self-referential performance. Thia struggles to name the feeling that she feels for Tessa, but understands that their kinship is innate and special. Their actions affect one another deeply, which is why Tessa’s eventual betrayal scars Thia so greatly. As someone who’s been attached at the hip to her equally famous sister for virtually her entire life, Fanning brings an extraordinary bit of realism to her character. “Predator: Badlands” could easily get away with being little more than a high-flying action movie, but Fanning’s performance adds an essential layer of humanity that makes the film memorable beyond its stunts and alien grotesquerie. For a movie about the amusing bond between a cold-blooded extraterrestrial killer and a hard-wired robot, “Badlands” forges an exceptional amount of mortal compassion between the two, and Fanning’s mindful, meticulous performance is its beating heart.

In a just world, Fanning would receive Oscar consideration for both roles. After all, it’s not as if sci-fi franchises like “Alien,” which “Badlands” is tangentially a part of, haven’t been nominated for Oscars in the past — even in the big five categories, where Sigourney Weaver was nominated for “Aliens” in 1987. While her role in “Sentimental Value” is certainly more aligned with conventional Oscar bait, Fanning’s performance in “Predator: Badlands” only makes her Academy-recognized work in the former more fascinating.

Fanning’s pool of peers might be widening thanks to the reach of Instagram and TikTok, but her versatility is rarely matched, even by those in Hollywood with years of experience. That an exceptional turn like hers could take home Oscar gold is all the better. But if an artist like Fanning felt defined by her accolades, there wouldn’t be any big swings to admire. Fanning may be acting in the modern age, but she has the exceptional curiosity and work ethic that transcend trends, making contemporary films feel like instant classics.

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