Like any true Gen Z-er, Elle Fanning speaks in internet shorthand. Take, for instance, her explanation for how she came to produce Margo’s Got Money Troubles, a star-studded Apple TV adaptation of Rufi Thorpe’s novel, out today: “It was like the Spider-Man meme.”
Fanning and her sister, Dakota—who share the production company Lewellen Pictures—were eager to take on the project before the book was even published. And they weren’t the only ones: A24, Nicole Kidman, and producer David E. Kelley were all circling Margo when they decided they’d be better off working together. “We know each other,” Fanning says of the decision to combine forces. “We should all team up.”
While she got her hands dirty behind the scenes, Fanning also took on the titular role of Margo Millet, a 20-year-old college student who becomes pregnant following an affair with her professor (Michael Angarano). A single mother facing a mounting pile of bills, Margo turns to OnlyFans to support herself and her son, Bodhi. Rounding out the cast are Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays Margo’s mother, Shyanne, a former Hooters waitress; Nick Offerman as her father, Jinx, a former professional wrestler; and Kidman as Lace, another wrestler who becomes Margo’s mediator in court.
Though audiences will still remember her as a wide-eyed child actor (she started acting at the age of three), this isn’t Fanning’s first time playing a mother: that honor belongs to Catherine in The Great. “Catherine was a very different mother. She was not very maternal,” Fanning says. Margo offered a different challenge: “She’s willing to go to any length for Bodhi to have a better life than she did.”
Margo’s turn to sex work—both as a source of survival and a creative outlet (on OnlyFans, she adopts an alien persona named Hungry Ghost)—also intrigued Fanning. For research, she spent time on OnlyFans learning more about the site’s vast array of content creators. “There’s a real spectrum to it,” she says. “I think at first you think of this real extreme, but then there are also girls who just cook or step in butter.” For Margo, joining the site was not a source of shame but empowerment. “That’s also why I was drawn to the material,” Fanning explains. “It was about Margo finding her agency, and even how her relationship to her body changes through motherhood and through OnlyFans.”
While Margo’s mature content has allowed Fanning to grow as an actor, it’s her work offscreen that’s really laying the groundwork for her future. “I was really hands-on with it,” Fanning says. “I think it’s the kind of perfect next step for me.”
Fanning’s lifetime on sets had already given her a sense of how to run a production. “It’s something I learned from Sofia Coppola,” she says. “She’s a very loyal person and works with her friends. That’s something I’ve taken into account—trying to be loyal and work with the same team that understands you to create something exciting.”
On Fanning’s team? Her childhood friend from ballet class, Sadie, who choreographed the TikTok dance numbers, and Laura Gary, the studio teacher. “She taught me throughout high school,” Fanning says, so when it came time to find a studio teacher to look after the babies on Margo, Fanning immediately thought of Gary. “I think it was a mind meld for her. She’s like, ‘I used to teach you as a kid, and now you’re playing a mom,’” Fanning says with a laugh. “Keeping it all in the family!”
