Elle Fanning addresses viral table dance snap with sister Dakota

Elle Fanning is setting the record straight about a party photo that’s been making the rounds since she first shared it on Instagram last year.

In Vanity Fair’s latest lie detector segment, the 27-year-old actress sat down with her sister Dakota Fanning, who wasted no time bringing up the snapshot of Elle dancing on a table in a pink dress. 

Reading from a card, Dakota, 31, asked, “Would you like to reveal on the record what was happening in this photo?”

Hooked up to the polygraph, Elle laughed as she explained, “First of all, you were not looking at my butt in a disgusting way. You were, like, dancing and doing, like, a stank face, basically.” 

Dakota admitted with a laugh, “Yeah, I got caught in a bad moment. Totally.”

Elle went on to reveal the context behind the picture. 

“We were in Miami at our friend’s bachelorette party, and it was my birthday that night as well.” 

She originally posted the tabletop-dancing photo in February 2023 as part of a birthday tribute to Dakota, writing, “Wish we were celebrating at Mars 2112 tonight, partying with your own kind but, alas, you will have to put up with the mere mortals for now, HACKS included.” 

In the post, Elle added that she couldn’t imagine life without her sister.

The actress has also been reflecting on her latest role in Sentimental Value, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival on September 4. 

Playing Rachel Kemp, an actress navigating personal and professional struggles, Elle described the project as a uniquely personal one. 

“It was very meta, this whole experience,” she told PEOPLE, noting that the role mirrored aspects of her own career journey.

“What’s beautiful about Joachim [Trier] and this movie in particular is it’s very personal to him and he allows his cast to add their personal experiences as well,” Elle said of the writer-director. 

“I think you can feel that in the heartbeat of the movie.”

She admitted that while Rachel is different from her in some ways, stepping into the character felt therapeutic. 

“There are also challenges she faces that I’ve felt before in my career,” Elle explained. “And it was very cathartic actually getting to play her.”

Sentimental Value is set for a limited theatrical release on November 7.