Plus, the Emmy and Oscar nominee tells EW about her character’s struggles, and how she and her sister Dakota were able to secure the book rights.

Elle Fanning on bonding with her Margo’s Got Money Troubles baby: ‘Kept us on our toes for every scene’

Plus, the Emmy and Oscar nominee tells EW about her character's struggles, and how she and her sister Dakota were able to secure the book rights.

By Gerrad Hall

Gerrad Hall

Gerrad Hall is an editorial director at **, overseeing movie, awards, and music coverage. He is also host of The Awardist podcast, and has cohosted EW’s live Oscars, Emmys, SAG, and Grammys red carpet shows. He has appeared on Good Morning America, The Talk, Access Hollywood, Extra!, and other talk shows, delivering the latest news on pop culture and entertainment.

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May 22, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

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'Margo's Got Money Troubles' star Elle Fanning. Credit:

Rick Kern/WireImage via Getty Images

Elle Fanning is making moves.

The former child star isn't just turning in Emmy- and Oscar-nominated performances, she's also become a force behind the scenes with her sister Dakota. The two started Lewellen Pictures five years ago and were hot to land the rights to Rufi Thorpe's Margo's Got Money Troubles, which hadn't even been published yet when they read it.

"This book... people really were freaking out over it, rightfully so," Fanning tells EW's *The Awardist* podcast. "Margo's resilience and the characters, they're so vivid and complex and flawed and I just wanted to live in that world, and I felt like it was also easily adaptable into a series. It was just so clear and it felt very fresh, the themes. Some of the themes are themes that we explore all the time, but also the modern elements of OnlyFans, that's kind of still relatively new to our world."

But Thorpe's publishing company had also sent the book to Nicole Kidman, who wanted it. And David E. Kelley. And A24.

"I really wanted it bad, but I heard everyone else — David and Nicole in A24 — [did too]," she recalls. But she had an idea, proposing to all of them, "'We should band together and try to get this book and option this book.'"

Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning on 'Margo's Got Money Troubles'.

Courtesy of Apple

So they pitched their take on the book to Thorpe — "she was super excited" — and then they took it to Apple TV, where executives also loved the book and were "so on board with the vision" of the series.

The first season, which just wrapped up this week, centers on Fanning's Margo, who gets pregnant by her college English professor (Michael Angarano), who has a family of his own. Deciding to raise the baby, Bodhi, without his help, she turns to OnlyFans in order to make money to provide for her child.

It's a unique role for Fanning, who was attracted to various elements of the character.

"There's a naiveness maybe in the beginning to her," she says. "Life is throwing her a lot of curve balls and at every turn she makes the harder decision for herself, but then miraculously is able to bounce back. It is that resilience, and also through her creativity, I think, that she's so imaginative."

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While the character faces a lot of hurdles and adversity, Fanning didn't want the story to take on a bleak tone.

"Our take was, of course, yes, we're gonna tackle those issues in a real way, but then bring it into Margo's world, which is actually so colorful and bold and whimsical," she says of the character, who's a writer and sketches doodles of her characters. "So I was excited about blending the fantasy elements of her kind of wacky mind and her intelligence with also real life and how you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps sometimes and carry on."

Elle Fanning on 'Margo's Got Money Troubles'.

Courtesy of Apple

Margo's divorced parents also add a lot of color and whimsy to her life: Her mom, Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), is a former Hooters waitress who's now a manager at Bloomingdale's, and her dad, James (Nick Offerman), is a former professional wrestler known as Jinx, who eventually helps Margo with her OnlyFans account, where she goes by HungryGhost and dresses as a blue-skinned alien.

"These characters can be very easily judged," Fanning says. "I hope that this show kind of shows people, don't [judge] a book by its cover. You don't know how people got to the spot that they got in, and everyone's just trying to do the best that they can."

Especially Margo, who's determined to be a good mother — a big turn from her non-maternal ways as Catherine the Great on *The Great*. And yes, that is a real baby in most of the series' scenes.

"We had two babies, River and Graham, who were our Bodhis, and I got so close to them," she says. "I obviously got to give them back at the end of the day, but they would fall asleep on me and cry during the scenes or make noises during the scenes, but it added a spontaneity that I really enjoyed too — kept us on our toes for every scene."

And now, she's working with her sister — both as producers and, for the first time ever, as costars — in *The Nightingale*, where they play sisters who get separated during World War II and fight to survive horrific conditions and abuses by SS officers.

Dakota and Elle Fanning in December 2023.

Bruce Glikas/WireImage

What wasn't she expecting about finally sharing the screen with her big sister?

"I think what I was surprised by is how natural it felt, honestly, because there was a little bit of, 'Oh gosh, is it gonna be awkward? Am I just gonna laugh? Are we gonna be nervous or embarrassed or something?'" she says. "And it did not feel that way at all. It was very special and felt like we were right where we were supposed to be. So it's exciting."

***Check out more from EW's *****The Awardist*****, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.***

Listen to Fanning's full interview on *The Awardist* below.

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