The best sign of a good actress is when one can do roles out of their comfort zone. Elle Fanning is one.
In her latest Apple TV comedy series, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” the 28-year-old four-time Golden Globe winner who started her acting career at the young age of three, is dipping her toes into uncharted territories as Margo Millet, a 20-year-old aspiring writer and freshman college dropout who turns to OnlyFans (an internet paid subscription service based in London, England known for its popularity with pornographers) to support herself and her newborn after her professor gets her pregnant.
In our exclusive interview with her, we asked the charming and bubbly actress if she had any hesitations or qualms about doing some of the daring and bold scenes she had to do in the series.
She replied candidly, “I had zero hesitation. I was like guns blazing. Like I have to play this character. I want it so bad. And I felt, of course there’s fear, but there’s always fear. And I feel like if there’s none, then you’re like what’s going on here.
“Because you want it to be a challenge for yourself. And I feel like I’ve never played a character like Margo before because I was really inspired by her. I feel like, through playing her, my confidence grew because she’s very much herself. She’s alone, she’s vulnerable and sensitive, but she’s unapologetic in a really beautiful way. And so just through filming the whole first season, I just felt like free, and there’s this part of myself that is like, this abandoned, big part of me.”
Nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the series, which is also nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series this year, Fanning remains humble, gracious, and down-to-earth despite the critical acclaim she is receiving for her portrayal.
Created by David E. Kelley and based on the 2024 novel by Rufi Thorpe, it also stars Michelle Pfeiffer as the former Hooters waitress mom of Margo Millet. Pfeiffer also got an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Shyanne, the sassy, appearance-conscious mother of Margo who works in management at Bloomingdale’s.
We asked the good-looking 68-year-old Pfeiffer in our exclusive interview with her how she relates to her character Shyanne, and she said,” I’m not like Shyanne. She really wants and needs to be noticed when she walks into a room, and she dresses accordingly and makes no apologies and is very, very confident. I’m not. I like to be a wallflower, and so I can’t say that much of it rubbed off on me.
“But I know it was because I’m so not like that. It was such a joy to be able to live vicariously through her for a while. I loved it so much. Literally every day, when I walked onto the set, I could feel that the crew was a little bit like, oh, what is she going to be wearing today? And it just brought a smile to everyone’s face. We all would love to be a little more like Shyanne.”
Fanning and Pfeiffer, who have known and worked with each other for 25 years, have created a strong bond of trust and friendship.
Fanning shared, “Michelle is someone who has really been in my life for a very long time. I feel like she’s worked with my sister (Dakota Fanning) twice. We’ve worked together twice. But through this show, we got incredibly, incredibly close. And Michelle is just one of my favorite people in the world.
“Honestly, I look up to her in every single way. I know that she’s incredibly loyal and trustworthy. She will never reveal a secret; she will protect me and be there. I know that it is safe with Michelle. She is just kind of a support system and pillar, industry-wise. It’s like life stuff. I know that she would be there for me at any time, and that’s important. I think the basis of it is we really implicitly trust each other.”
Pfeiffer agreed. “Yes, in a world where that’s hard to find and where you innately become distrustful because of the nature of what we do. And we get it. We just laugh a lot.”
Asked whether they experienced money troubles themselves, Pfeiffer candidly revealed, “I didn’t come from a family where we really lived paycheck to paycheck. I know, though, that there were sometimes with my parents where they weren’t necessarily sure where the money was going to come from. So, I learned at an early age the value of a dollar. I started working in the workforce at age 13. I started doing retail clothing. I did a lot of jobs. I worked in a printing press. I worked at a grocery store; I worked selling clothes. I worked selling Fuller Brush. Do you know what a Fuller Brush is?
“It’s an American thing. We went door to door selling brushes, like cleaning brushes. You clean houses with them. It was crazy. It was a huge thing here. So, I did a lot of jobs.
“My father really instilled in me saving for a rainy day. So, I was responsible in that way. I wasn’t making a ton of money, but I was working. Back then though, you could work at a supermarket, and you could support yourself. You could wait tables, and you could support yourself. You’re not going to have an extravagant life, mind you, but you could have a decent apartment. It’s harder these days. But back then you could do that.”
As for Fanning, she admitted, “For me, I have not had any other job than this (acting). I do think my parents worked hard, and they instilled that in my sister (Dakota) and me of being independent, and financially independent and working for that. It’s hard for me to answer questions about other jobs I’ve had because this is the only one I’ve had. I didn’t even go to college to do anything else. So, I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” also stars Nick Offerman, who portrays a former professional wrestler, James “Jinx” Millet, Margo’s estranged father, and recovering addict who moves in to assist with childcare and provides wrestling-inspired business advice. Offerman also received an Emmy acting nomination for his performance.
Also in the cast are Nicole Kidman as Linda “Lace” Sawkins, the retired female wrestler-turned-lawyer who helps Margo and Jinx in their legal disputes, Michael Angarano as Mark Gable, Margo’s community college professor who fathers her child and then vanishes from her life, and Thaddea Graham as Susie, Margo’s roommate, an accomplished cosplayer and avid wrestling fan who helps Margo navigate the world of online creation.
Janet Susan R. Nepales is an award-winning journalist and the first Filipina voting member and Associate of the Golden Globe Awards. She has been a member since 2008 and is the first Filipina to be elected to the Advisory Board. She is the author of the coffee table book “FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World” and the co-author of the first FWN book “DISRUPT: Filipina Women: Proud. Loud. Leading Without A Doubt.” A graduate of UST (AB Journalism, cum laude), she is based in Los Angeles and is a Hollywood entertainment journalist and TV correspondent.
