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SmartLess

"Elle Fanning"

30 Mar 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the significance of Elle Fanning's birth during a tornado warning?

3.355 - 18.076 Will Arnett

Oh, my God. We made it. We made it. I thought we were going to be late, but here we are. I didn't have a chance to stop and pod-dee. Oh, you didn't pod-dee yet? Wait a minute. We could pod-dee today. You want to call this pod-deeing?

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18.096 - 24.866 Jason Bateman

Yeah. You made us run in here for that? Yeah. We can call it pod-deeing. We're going to pod-dee. Oh, man. Welcome to Smart List.

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24.926 - 25.427 Sean Hayes

Welcome to Smart List.

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42.809 - 55.475 Will Arnett

Don't you think we should go on another trip? I do. Why don't we? We always talk about it. By the way, do you guys like doing laundry? I just did a bunch of laundry. I like, you know what? Scotty and I were talking about this.

55.495 - 58 Jason Bateman

Hold on. I need a neck brace. Wait a second.

57.98 - 69.994 Will Arnett

The listener's going to think that we've made a weird edit. Because I just finished a ton of laundry, and I don't usually like folding laundry, but I like folding towels. I like folding towels because it's like OCD.

70.595 - 75.361 Unknown

Are you trying to tell us that you do laundry when you're back home in L.A.? No, sir.

75.521 - 83.438 Jason Bateman

I do it here in New York City. I'll tell you what, you're a fascinating dinner date. Tell us more about this. The folding of the towels, man. Do you guys know what I mean, though?

Chapter 2: How does Elle Fanning describe her childhood experiences in the film industry?

195.171 - 208.685 Unknown

But like, so there's something that my dad never did teach me because by the time we left the snow, I was four. So I didn't have to shovel it. So I would struggle with snow. There's probably a real, you need a pair to teach you.

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209.125 - 209.726 Jason Bateman

Elbow grease.

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209.746 - 216.614 Unknown

You don't start at the bottom, right? You don't dig that shovel all the way to the bottom and try to lift it. You got to start taking off the top, right?

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216.654 - 226.646 Jason Bateman

Yeah. Well, it depends on how much snow you got. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's why also like if you go out and you get it early enough, like I did it a couple times last night so that by this morning it wasn't too insane. I used to do that.

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226.906 - 229.129 Will Arnett

What do you think my dad taught me? Uh-oh.

229.389 - 239.901 Unknown

Wait, can I come back to this? Because I'd love to fill out a joke list of 10 to 20. Yeah, I mean. And then I'd like to, you know, rank them and really just give you the right stuff.

239.921 - 243.726 Jason Bateman

I think ultimately how to lower expectations, I guess, in people. Yeah.

247.03 - 252.558 Unknown

Also, how to keep your emotional knees bent, you know, always ready for disappointment.

253.78 - 277.994 Jason Bateman

Right. Emotionally bend from the knees, I guess. In a ready position. Yes. And now look at me. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, you're doing great. I will say. No, you know, Shawnee, for all the joking that we do about it, stuff like that, you're one of the most caring, thoughtful people I have ever had in my life. That's a true story. You really, really, I was saying it to somebody the other day.

Chapter 3: What challenges did Elle face as a child actor?

353.236 - 359.244 Jason Bateman

It's like this guy, he built an escape pod. He was sending you guys signs.

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359.664 - 364.37 Unknown

It's so true. A little MG convertible.

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365.712 - 369.276 Jason Bateman

I mean, just for him and a bag, like an overnight bag.

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369.965 - 372.17 Unknown

By the way, he had that too.

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372.19 - 402.819 Jason Bateman

It's so true. Anyway, I'll tell you something about our guest. She is really no stranger to awards. SAG Awards, any kind of, you know... It's insane. I mean, nominated for like 122 various awards around the world, 19 wins. And, you know, we're talking about... What are we talking about? We're talking about SAG's Critics' Choice. Recently, an Academy Award.

402.839 - 435.168 Jason Bateman

I can't say what yet because you're going to know exactly who it is and I want you to guess. Emmys, everything she has. And her... For pieces of work... that we all really, really adore. And stuff that we've all seen a million times and we're like, oh yeah, the greatest. Stuff like breaking out in I Am Sam, Daddy Daycare, Okay, all the way to the new Predator Badlands.

435.849 - 444.124 Jason Bateman

And then this year's sentimental value for which she is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. You guys, it's none other than Elle Fanning.

444.484 - 449.273 Unknown

Oh my God. Oh God, you had me spinning. I didn't know where you were going with this.

449.293 - 453.28 Jason Bateman

I know, I know. I took you on a weird route just to go into credits.

Chapter 4: What insights does Elle share about her early roles and career choices?

507.968 - 530.411 Unknown

From the puck convention. Puck the website or puck a hockey thing or puck the website thing? No. Puck is a real, that's for Tracy. I wanted to get that in there. Yeah. Tell Tracy, because I don't know what it is either. No, that's a real listener. Yeah. Puck is, what is it, Will?

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530.471 - 537.418 Jason Bateman

It's that guy, Matt, what's his name? Matt Bologna? Bellany? Bellany? Oh, yeah. Boy, I'm going to get crushed for that.

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538.58 - 545.992 Unknown

John Heilman. Right? Yeah. There's a lot of great folks over there.

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546.213 - 550.821 Jason Bateman

Am I right about that? Is that the same crew? I still don't know. It's a website.

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550.841 - 563.642 Unknown

It's like an entertainment email thing too, right? People get like in the industry, you have to sign up for it. And it's like you get little inside scoops and things. Yes. Yeah. There's a bunch of stuff in there. It's very…

563.622 - 566.746 Jason Bateman

Jason, you must subscribe to it. Oh, you know it, girl.

566.766 - 572.513 Will Arnett

But wait a minute. For me and my sister, I still don't understand. So Puck is a thing, like a website?

572.533 - 585.71 Jason Bateman

It's like a newsletter. It's like a newsletter. So you sign up, they send you an email, then you sign up for a thing. Yeah, it's like a website. And how are you and Al? And then you have access. It's like, how does that? Well, they did a, what was it, like a panel? Q&A panel. Q&A panel. Oh, okay, got it, got it.

585.73 - 591.638 Unknown

And he was there for this thing on, and I was there for Sentimental Value. And Jesse Plemons was with us, and Tessa Thompson. That's right.

Chapter 5: How does Elle Fanning balance her acting career with personal life?

625.878 - 626.218 Jason Bateman

Thank you.

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626.418 - 632.567 Unknown

Yeah, it was an unreal experience with Joachim and it was just really something.

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632.627 - 634.13 Jason Bateman

Joachim, I said his name wrong.

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634.53 - 639.628 Unknown

How do you pronounce his last name too? Is it Trier or Trier? Trier. Trier. Yeah.

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639.648 - 643.557 Jason Bateman

How embarrassing. I'm sure there's going to be a headline how we've just besmirched the guy.

643.577 - 655.965 Unknown

A lot of people say Joaquin, but it's, or Joaquin or something. Joaquin. If you had a Norwegian accent, they would say it different. It would be like Joaquin.

656.249 - 657.03 Jason Bateman

Yo-kim.

657.27 - 659.472 Will Arnett

Yo-kim. Yo-kim. Now I'm saying great.

659.633 - 660.013 Unknown

Yo-kim.

Chapter 6: What themes are explored in Elle's new show 'Margot's Got Money Troubles'?

762.709 - 769.517 Unknown

But she says, she says, what is it? And it's like, it's a baby sister. And that, yeah.

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769.537 - 781.332 Jason Bateman

That's very sweet. You're lucky your parents didn't do that thing of like decide to name you like Nado or, you know, F3 after the size of the hurricane. After this tornado. I know.

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781.432 - 805.714 Unknown

But yeah, I was born in Georgia. Like my family is very, Southern. So even though, yeah, even though I grew up in LA, like I moved here when I was three. So I definitely don't remember Georgia that much, but the Southern roots like run deep. And my grandmother lived with us growing up and she still lives with my mom and she would go with me on film sets. And my mom would go with my sister.

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805.694 - 806.395 Jason Bateman

Oh, wow.

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806.555 - 808.759 Unknown

Because when we were working at the same time.

808.799 - 825.964 Jason Bateman

Yeah, you were. And what I loved about reading up a little bit about your sort of early days is how, and I mentioned I Am Sam Lampard because you did play a younger version of your sister in the movie. And someone like Wikipedia, of course, we have a deep research department.

825.944 - 837.484 Jason Bateman

said that you, your first, it sort of lists your first few credits and then it says her first role where she wasn't playing a young version of her sister.

837.564 - 839.086 Unknown

Right, because I did it a couple times.

839.367 - 839.747 Jason Bateman

Yeah, really?

Chapter 7: How does Elle discuss the process of producing her projects?

949.598 - 950.419 Sean Hayes

That's crazy.

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950.439 - 977.518 Unknown

Sports is in our blood. Wow. We're going to get into that. Yeah. We were really supposed to... I think mom probably thought that we would be tennis players or something. Oh, really? Or, I mean, you know, something sporty. And it's funny. I mean, this has to do with it. But, like, our mom is... She tans really easily, has really dark eyes, super dark long hair. And so...

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977.752 - 1010.188 Unknown

It all tracks because our dad is German. His mom was German. And so we kind of came out with this fair, fair skin and this white hair and blue eyes. And so when my sister, she went out on the tennis court My mom got her out there young. She's like four or five. And she would just get so hot. And we don't tan. The sunburn was just insane. And so she's like, oh my God, my precious little...

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1010.168 - 1015.455 Unknown

fair-skinned baby. She's just not cut out for this sport.

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1015.575 - 1021.804 Jason Bateman

And then she put her in soccer, and it's like, yeah, we need to get her indoors. Let's get her on a dark stage.

1021.824 - 1035.742 Unknown

But I appreciate, you know, I think there's the athleticism and the discipline is actually really translated into acting. As I've gotten older, I really see the correlation to it. I approach my work kind of in this athletic way.

1036.083 - 1036.683 Elle Fanning

Like a team sport?

1037.004 - 1037.104

Yeah.

1037.084 - 1060.401 Unknown

Yeah, team sport, but also just I think the adrenaline, like hiking yourself up, like making sure you're nourished. Like there's just something to it that I think there is a correlation there. And so then I know I'm trying the origin story because it's kind of crazy. But my mom wanted – You know, wanted Dakota to, because I wasn't born yet, but to find, like, her passion.

Chapter 8: What future projects and aspirations does Elle Fanning share?

1132.47 - 1135.537 Will Arnett

Like, push, push. And it'd just be like a beanbag. Oh, yes, yes.

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1135.557 - 1154.532 Unknown

And it's like, oh, God, we're losing her. We're losing her. You know, she's like pounding on me and I'm playing along or just these real scenarios. And so my mom, I mean, we're kind of jumping around, but this was kind of... Yeah, I guess Dakota was like five, so I was around. But she put her in this play camp in Georgia.

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1154.552 - 1173.927 Unknown

And the people at the play camp, they were putting on this – I think it was called Blue Fish, like this play. And she got a big part in that play and just lit up, like found – they could just see something in her from the other kids that was different. And they talked to my mom and were like, you know –

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1173.907 - 1196.252 Unknown

Maybe she could do some commercials or get an agent here or, you know, maybe get a TV show. But it wasn't like go to the movies. It was just like try this out type of thing. Yeah, yeah. And, I mean, mom had a genuine conversation like with Dakota at that age. Like, is this something you'd want to do? And she's like, at any point, if this is like not fun for you, like –

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1196.789 - 1197.99 Sean Hayes

We won't do it. We're going to go home.

1198.07 - 1225.133 Unknown

We won't do it. Yeah. And so then it eventually, she got an Asian in Georgia. And then my mom and my sister, they went themselves to L.A. because my aunt, who was a sideline reporter for the NFL at the time. Good Lord. Amazing. Yeah. She was living in L.A. And so my mom and my sister slept on her couch and did pilot season. Sure. And I think she got Ally McBeal. She played the young Ally McBeal.

1226.034 - 1226.374 Sean Hayes

Oh, wow.

1226.354 - 1231.4 Unknown

Yeah, and got commercials, you know. So where does Elle come in?

1231.54 - 1233.262 Will Arnett

No, no, I love it.

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