Elle Fanning, breakout star of J.J. Abrams’ summer hit Super 8, continues to line up interesting acting projects. Dakota’s kid sister soon will be seen in Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo, alongside Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. And Deadline now reports that Fanning has been tapped to star in Bomb, a period drama written and directed by Sally Potter (Orlando, Yes).
Fanning would play a Cold War-era teenager caught up in her own personal struggle to save the world from nuclear annihilation, though her efforts cause serious rifts within her own family unit. Potter already has cast Alessandro Nivola for the film. He’ll star as an open-minded- charming writer (read: hippie) who enrages his teenager daughter by sleeping with her best friend. Come on, girl! It’s London in the 1960s. Free love. Stop with the hate.
Potter’s the latest filmmaker to fall head over heels in love with Fanning, a Critics’ Choice Award nominee in 2010 for her performance in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. Of Fanning, Potter tells Deadline, “Elle has a subtlety and range beyond her years. Her unaffected enthusiasm for work is a joy. She can move you to tears and then light up the room with her radiant smile, the perfect presence at the center of this volatile story.”
Bomb sounds like another experimental effort from Potter, who continued to push the visual boundaries with her little seen Rage in 2009. This appears to be a step back toward a traditional narrative, and with Fanning on board, we’re ready to heat up the Cold War timeframe for the benefit of a drama once again.
