Elle Fanning recently gave an interview to W Magazine’s Great Performances issue, where she recalled her infamous fainting incident at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Elle Fanning attended the film festival as a juror. Fanning said she collapsed while seated at the Chopard Trophy dinner and that Colin Firth immediately came to her aid.
“Yes, my dress was too tight,” Fanning said. “My sister was sitting at another table and saw my chair fall completely backwards. It’s kind of funny, very dramatic. Colin Firth was there and ran up to my side. It was the talk of the festival. But I’m known for fainting. I used to faint a lot at school. I grew seven inches tall in a year. I think I overgrown and got altitude sickness.”
Variety was on the scene when Fanning passed out in 2019. Shortly after festival director Thierry Frémaux introduced actor François Civile on stage, Fanning collapsed and fell from her chair while sitting at the dinner table. She was sitting at a table next to her sister, Dakota Fanning, and security said she helped her to her feet before she was removed. Fanning later posted about the incident on Instagram, saying she was “okay” and that the dress was just “too tight.”
Fanning served on the jury at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, along with directors Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Paweł Pawlikowski and Alice Rohrwacker. Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” served as the head of the jury. The group made history by awarding the Palme d’Or to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, which became the first Korean film to win Cannes’ top prize. “Parasite” won the Oscar for Best Picture. Other notable Cannes winners include Antonio Banderas, who won Best Actor for “Pain and Glory.”
Several films starring Fanning have been screened at Cannes over the years. Just last year, Fanning attended Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which won the Grand Prix. She also appeared in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, which won the Best Director award at the 2017 film festival. Coppola is the second woman in Cannes history to win Best Director. Fanning also starred in Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon, one of the most controversial films at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, drawing cheers and walkouts during its premiere.
Fanning is on the awards circuit this season with “Sentimental Value,” which immediately generated Oscar buzz at Cannes. This film is Norway’s entry for the International Feature Oscar Award.
