Elle Fanning Remembers How Selena Gomez Anointed Her on Instagram
The Mary Shelley actress reveals how Gomez recently rocked her social-media world.
By Julie Miller
By Rich Fury/Getty Images.
Last year, Selena Gomez surpassed Taylor Swift to become the most followed person on Instagram, with 126 million followers. What does that mean, exactly?
Elle Fanning wasn't quite sure herself until Woody Allen—ironically, one of the least tech-savvy individuals in Hollywood—cast her alongside Gomez in his upcoming film. One night, shortly after the casting announcement was made this past August, Fanning went to sleep. Upon waking, she discovered that her cell phone was buzzing with approximately a bazillion Instagram notifications.
"I woke up the next morning [thinking] like, 'What happened to my Instagram?'" Fanning told Vanity Fair's Krista Smith on Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival. "It was exploding with things. People were saying things and this photo kept popping up."
Had her phone short-circuited? Had her account been hacked? Had President Trump seen Sofia Coppola's Beguiled and taken to social media with incendiary notes on Fanning's performance?
Video: This is What Happens When Selena Gomez Tags You On Instagram
No. In a show of excitement about their partnership on the Allen film, Gomez had posted portraits of Fanning and their fellow co-star Timothée Chalamet on Instagram.
"I guess that's what happens when someone has like a billion followers, posts your face, and tags you," Fanning said Saturday of the social-media tsunami. "It was insane!"
When Fanning finally did meet Gomez, the pop star felt the need to apologize.
"She was like, 'I'm sorry I creepily posted the photo.'"
"I said, 'No! Keep doing it!' I'm getting more [followers].'" (To date, Fanning has 1.6 million followers.)
Fanning said that she has now met Allen twice, and has begun commuting to work with her co-stars in Manhattan—an adventure unto itself.
"For [Woody Allen] films, it's such a whole new experience," Fanning said. "His crew picks up the cast in these giant vans that come up to your apartment in New York. Sometimes you're the only person getting in the van. The first time Timothée was in the van, we spent the first 25 minutes talking to each other."
It's a nerve-wracking experience for three young stars to work with such a prolific filmmaker.
"I think we are all really nervous but we are in it together," Fanning said. With a shrug, she explained that they have a text-message support system in place: "We have a group chat."
2017 Toronto Film Festival Portraits
Photograph by Justin Bishop.
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