Elle Fanning Says Her Instagram Follower Count Cost Her Major Film Franchise Role

Elle Fanning has had many great roles in many movies, but there was one in particular that she lost all because of her social media follower count.

The 24-year-old The Great actress opened up on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where she got candid about that role, her lengthy career (which started when she was a toddler), and the lack of pressure to join major franchises.

During the episode, Elle detailed that there was one big franchise movie that she went out for and was completely looked over on, because of Instagram.

“I did try out for…I’m not going to say what it was, but I didn’t get a part once for something big because – it might not have just been this reason, but this was the feedback that I heard – was because I didn’t have enough Instagram followers at the time,” she shared.

Elle added that “was a little like…I firmly don’t believe in not getting a part [for that]. It was for a bigger thing, a franchise thing.”

It seems like that happened way before she reached her current follower count – 7 million.

That being said, Elle says that there’s not a lot of pressure to join a big franchise for her.

“I don’t feel that [pressure]. I don’t,” she shared, noting that those have done big things for some actors.

However, for her, it’s not a big thing, and “you also don’t know if they’re going to work sometimes, which is scary.”

“I would never say no to those things, but I would have to have a meeting and really talk to see what it is,” she says about eventually joining a franchise of some sort. “I didn’t have to go through what Nick [Nicholas Hoult] did…they made him try the [Batman] suit on. You need a balance. If you want to do your indie work, especially in producing now…[having a big franchise] does make you breathe better.”

Just recently, Elle opened up about taking on the regal role of Catherine the Great for Hulu.