It might not seem like it now, but there was once a time in the Fanning sister's early careers when they were rivals. Even as far as Friends is concerned.
Only the Olsen sisters, the Sheen brothers, the Baldwin brothers, and the Phoenix siblings know what it's like having siblings in the same industry, and a competitive industry at that. Although the Phoenixes were never competitive with each other or rivals, the other groups of siblings, including the Fanning sisters, constantly competed against each other for the same roles. The effects were disastrous to their relationships with one another.
During the Fanning sister's rise to fame, they often auditioned for the same roles and were often pitted against one another; maybe that's one reason why their parents didn't want them to become actors when they were children. So you can imagine how one sister felt when another sister got the role they wanted. Jealousy and hatred brewed.
Thankfully the Fanning sisters are on better terms now that they've grown up, but here's a story about how bad their sibling rival got when they were younger.
Elle Was Jealous Of Dakota's Appearance On 'Friends'
While explaining how she deals with rejection, in an interview with Net-A-Porter's Porter magazine, Elle remembered back to one of the first times she felt the keen sting of rejection after a casting director didn't hire her for a role.
The role was for the iconic show Friends. A role that her sister later got.
"I had an [audition] to be on Friends once. I might be remembering this wrong but I think I was gonna be one of Phoebe’s triplets," she explained. "I auditioned for it but I didn’t get it and I was like, 'I’m boycotting the show, I’m never watching this again.' Then my sister was on it and I refused to watch the episode. I was like, 'I am not watching this!'"
Her time on Friends could have happened anywhere between 1998 and 2003, either as an infant, toddler, or little girl. According to W magazine, Dakota was 10 when she appeared in an episode during the show's final season.
The sister's rivalry has, of course, cooled since then, and for a while, more recently, they were looking for any chance to share the screen. The only times they've co-starred was in the animated film My Neighbor Totoro (where they re-recorded it in English), and I Am Sam, where Elle played a younger version of Dakota's character.
Their wish (and ours) has finally come true, though, because they are set to appear as on-screen sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, in The Nightingale, an adaptation of Kristin Hannah's bestselling novel, which is set to premiere in 2022.
Besides having the dream to work together on something, the sisters also dream of starting a production company together, which they plan to name after their grandmother. "We call her Gaba, so it could be Gaba Productions," Elle said.
We're glad the sisters don't have a rivalry anymore. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Elle also admitted that she loves watching old interviews with her sister. They make her cry because she was so cute. That's the most adorable thing we've ever heard.