WAR OF THE WORLDS Dakota Fanning - Generic Interview 2 Previous Q: How are you? A: I'm good. How are you? I'm in Melbourne for Charlotte's Web. I've been here for a month and a half and I have three weeks to go. It's been really fun, I've never been here before, and it's been really exciting. Q: When you are a long way from like that does Mum come with you? A: Yes, my Mom does and my sister came with me this time and my Dad and my grandmother have been to visit. Q: So there's lots of people around to help you feel at home.. A: Yes. Q: Let me ask you about War of the Worlds.. Did you first meet Steven Spielberg when you worked on Taken? A: Well, he was the producer but I first met him when I went to the re release of ET. That was after I had done the first episode of Taken. Q: How much of Steven's work did you know when you met him? A: I knew a lot about him, I mean, my favourite movie is ET but I know he has done lots of amazing movies. And he's a really nice guy. When I worked with him on War of the Worlds he was like my Dad, you know, and I saw him every day. Q: How did War of the Worlds come about? A: I was doing a movie with him called Dreamer with Kurt Russell and that was for DreamWorks and they had asked me about War of the Worlds and if I wanted to do it and so actually the next time I met Steven it was on the set. Q: Had you met Tom Cruise before? A: I hadn't. I met him in New York a couple of days before we started shooting and that was the first time. He is a really nice guy, he is so kind and loving. Everyone knows what a great actor he is but he makes everyone feel so special about themselves and treats everyone with such respect. Q: What did he say to you that first time you met? A: The first thing he did was he came in and he ran over and he picked me up and swung me round and he said `we're making War of the Worlds baby!' And that was the first thing (laughs). It was a great. Q: What do you think of the story? A: It's loosely based on the book. And I thought it was best if I waited until after we had made the movie to read the book, so I will read it now. Q: Tell me about your character… A: My character is Rachel and I'm Tom's daughter and at the centre of this epic story is a family and they are basically just trying to keep safe and stay alive and stay together and my character is very worried about the whole thing (laughs) as she should be! She doesn't have a very good relationship with her father, she is not with him very much she is mostly with her Mom. And her Mom has left the kids with her father while she goes on a trip and then the attack happens. So it's the worst time for it to happen because she is not with her Mom who she feels the safest with. But she is with her older brother, who is played by Justin Chapman, who is a comfort to her. And you know, the objective is to stay alive and get back to their Mom. Q: is it going to be scary, do you think? A: It's definitely going to be scary but it is going to be really exciting scary. Q: Did you do a lot of what they call `green screen?' Do you actually see any aliens when you are acting? A: No we didn't, you know Steven would kind of explain where they were going to be and what they looked like but it's mainly going to be a big surprise for me too when I get to see them (laughs).. Q: Is that harder when you can't actually see something there? A: You know it wasn't too hard because Steven would pretty much explain what they looked like but they still weren't there (laughs) so it was hard. But you know, not excruciatingly. Q: I guess it comes down to using your imagination… A: Yeah. You really have to believe that it's really happening. I kind of put myself in that situation and think about what I would do if it was really going on. Next		Home Interviews Antoine Fuqua Interview King Arthur Interview Arv Grewal Interview Asia Argento Interview Behind the Scenes of "War of the Worlds" Bernie Goldmann Interview Clive Owen Interview Dakota Fanning Interview Dennis Hopper Interview George A Romero Interview Greg Nicotero Interview The Hulk Press Conference Ang Lee Press Conference Ioan Gruffudd Interview John Leguizamo Interview Kathleen Kennedy Interview Keira Knightley Interview