Dakota Fanning Joins the Boy’s Club in ‘The Alienist’

Dakota Fanning talks to Joey Moser about returning to television, being the only woman in the room, and the intensity of some scenes of TNT’s The Alienist.

Dakota Fanning has been acting in films her entire life, but she hasn’t graced our televisions as often. She starred in a Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries almost 20 years ago, but she returned this winter with the glossy, high-concept horror series, The Alienist.

Fanning’s Sara Howard endures harassment and snide comments from her male coworkers in the New York Police Department, but she becomes the first woman to take part of a murder investigation alongside Daniel Brühl and Luke Evans. Sara is intelligent and poised, a combination that Fanning takes on with precision and delicacy. Society expects her to find a husband and raise a family but her fierce cleverness allows her to grow into a role that she herself wants to play. There are moments when she even calls out Brühl’s Dr. Kreizler for not respecting his job the way that he should.

One of the strengths of Fanning’s performance is how observant she is. In 1896 New York, a woman might not be taken seriously for speaking her mind, and you can see Sara’s mind working carefully to read the temperature of the room. It’s a role that even fans of Fanning would be surprised by. This performance could have been exaggerated, but Fanning’s restraint gives Sara a beautiful strength that makes the viewer respect her even more.

You haven’t done a series on television since Taken in 2002.

That’s right.

What compelled you to return to the medium of television with The Alienist?

As a viewer, I’m such a fan of what’s happening on television right now. I watch so many limited series, so I was excited to be a part of something that I love. I love this story. It would be such a disservice to the story of The Alienist to try and condense it down into a film, you know. We get 10 hours to go into this world and to explore these characters and their dynamics in a much fuller way. As an actor, I loved getting that time to tell the story. It was such a luxury. As it’s been airing and it’s being fulfilled, you get that connected with the people that are actually watching the series. I’ve loved running into people and they, “I’m on episode 5, and I can’t wait for the next one!” The accessibility that television has these days and how many people it’s able to reach.

When I got to episode 8, the three leads go in their own direction as part of the investigation, and I remember thinking to myself, “They could never explore this much in a two hour movie.”

No! We needed an hour to explore that. And there is a lot of stuff that I’m not a part of that I get to see when I watch the show. I wasn’t part of Luke and Daniel’s part or Matt and Doug’s scenes, so getting to see it all come together was exciting. And, yes, seeing something that it so specific to television.

Did you read the book?

I didn’t read the book!

Oh really?

I wasn’t familiar with it when it was first being discussed or it was brought to me. I’ve now realized what a huge fanbase the book has when I was telling people I was going to be involved in the project. Nearly everyone told me, “Oh, I’ve read it” or “I love that book!” It’s so nice to make something that has a group of people following it—there are so many fans of this novel. But I hadn’t read it.

Sara Howard is oftentimes the only woman in the room–she’s obviously the only woman on the team. Do you think she’s self-conscious of that, or is that a facet of her everyday life?

I think it’s so part of her everyday life that she understands that it has to be part of her life in order to change it, you know what I mean. She’s aware of the fact—and proud of the fact—that she is the first female to work for the police department. But Sara is aware of the responsibility that comes with it and she’s aware that it’s an unfair responsibility. She has to present this really strong and tough exterior at times when she doesn’t feel that way on the inside. We get to see her figure out the persona that she presents to her male counterparts and the men that she works with and maybe the vulnerability or the fear and insecurities she feels on the inside that she’s afraid to portray or she will be perceived as weak. I loved getting to play with that. As it goes on you see her grow into her role and take charge. She sees men higher up than her making mistakes and gains enough confidence to tell them because it’s for the greater good almost. She puts what might personally happen to her aside—through herself over the fire—to protect what’s most important.

There is a scene early on where we get to see up close what a corset does to a woman’s body. There’s that shot where it’s literally peeled off Sara’s skin. Can you talk about the costumes being restrictive as well? 

It wasn’t the first time I’d worn a corset, so I knew what I was in for, but it just changes everything. It changes how you sit, how you walk, how you breathe, how much you can eat. Your back hurts! It affects a lot. As an actor, it was super helpful to have that, because it put me in a completely different time. Also, just metaphorically, it helped me think of the restrictive nature of a corset and how that is also happening to women at that time. With Sara, she has to have somebody help her get dressed and undressed. She’s uncomfortable throughout the day. She’s being harassed at work. It’s all uncomfortable. And you see how a woman would have had to put up with from when she go up and get from when she had to someone else come back and take off these ridiculous clothes. With our costume designer Michael Kaplan, that’s something we really went for and explored. The clothes are a big part of Sara.

Michael’s costumes are absolutely gorgeous.

They get a reaction for sure! I watched the show with two of best friends, and almost every time I’m on screen they each give very different reactions to everything.

Everything about The Alienist is stunning. From the costumes down to the sets. It makes it all feel like event television. 

It does to me too, and I think everyone involved with it wanted it to be that way. From the props, to the sets, to the costumes. It was important to feel authentic—as far as the eye could see.

You mentioned how Sara is harassed at work. There is that scene near the end of the season where Connor pushes Sara up against the door and tells her he could do whatever he wants to do with her and get away with it. Do you feel that aspect of Sara’s storyline resonates more now with the #MeToo movement and the changes the industry is facing?

I think it will—for better or worse. From the get to, you see the experience Sara has with her male peers—Conner in particular. You see that get worse as it goes on. I do think that it’s particularly relevant to the conversations that we’re having today which is disappointing, but at the same time hopefully creates some positive conversation or why that is. Why we are watching a show set in 1896 that reflects similar experiences to 2018?

In that scene you mention, David Wilmot did not want to do that. It took every ounce of his kind soul to push me up against the door and say those things. He’s just the loveliest man! So, that was true great acting from him in that scene.

It’s always the nicest guys who play the best slimeballs. He’s so easy to hate in that role.

Oh, he’s the loveliest guy! He couldn’t be nicer.

Sara has works alongside both John Moore and Lazlo Kreizler, but her relationships with each of them

are very different. Can you talk about how she interacts with each one of them?

With Dr. Kreizler, she has an admiration from him, and he has admiration from her because he sees she has desires to advance herself in society. There is a mutual respect that they share that sooner rather than later gives way to going toe-to-toe a little bit. Sara challenges Kreizler in a way that makes him uncomfortable. He’s so used to being the most progressive person in the room, but sometimes when Sara questions him, he can crumble at times. It makes him question how progressive he really is. For Sara, she wants his approval but for her ideas because that means she is on the right path.

With Luke’s character John Moore, that’s a relationship that I love so much. It’s when we see Sara’s softness come out, because the characters have known each other as old family friends. She can let her guard down to an extent and she knows he won’t hold it against her or judge her or see her as weak. There’s a mutual respect there in a different way. As a trio, we challenge one another. There’s a camaraderie that Dakota, Daniel, and Luke share that hopefully comes through as Sara, Kreizler and Moore.

There’s a moment near the end of the season–I believe it’s episode 9–where Sara is going through the census book, and she keeps seeing the same signature near the bottom. It’s a big moment for the case, and I really feel like the terror comes through in that scene. What’s it’s like doing those types of scenes that rachet up the tension?

I love doing that! What’s so real about that moment is that we’ve been so consumed with this killer—but almost in a figurative way almost still. It’s a little bit at a distance. That moment of seeing his name and knowing that he is a real person and that he does exist makes finding him a real. It’s not an idea anymore. We all enjoyed that episode, because we get to do some hard detective work and put more of the puzzle together. Just being in his environment. Maybe we might come into contact with him sooner than we think and that’s terrifying. It’s the total tipping point.

The Alienist is available now online.