Actress Dakota Fanning says she got her first mobile phone as a gift from her War of the Worlds co-star Tom Cruise when she turned 11. In a recent interview, Fanning and Andrew Scott, her co-star on Netflix’s series Ripley, played a quiz and one of the questions was “Who gave Dakota her first cellphone?” In his response, Scott said, “Okay, well it’s going to be some Hollywood icon … Tom Cruise.” Fanning confirmed Cruise gifted her a Motorola Razr for her 11th birthday while they were filming 2005’s War of the Worlds.
“Oh, my God, I was so excited. I didn’t have anybody to call or text at that time. You know, I was 11. But I loved having it. I loved it. I felt so cool,” she recalled. Fanning added the Mission: Impossible star has sent her a gift every year since 2005.
“Tom sends me a birthday gift every year, and has since that birthday,” she said.
Dakota Fanning’s new M. Night Shyamalan-produced psychological thriller The Watchers can hopefully make up for her 2005 horror flop Hide and Seek, giving her a much-needed redemption in the genre. The Watchers, which hits theaters later this year, is the directorial debut of Shyamalan’s daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan. Fanning stars as a young woman who is stranded in the woods when her car breaks down. Her character soon wanders into an isolated room containing three strangers and a one-way mirror with mysterious creatures watching from the other side.
Fanning’s The Watchers co-stars – also trapped in this strange room, being watched by the creatures – include Barbarian’s Georgina Campbell and Halo’s Olwen Fouéré. The first teaser trailer for The Watchers promised a truly terrifying moviegoing experience, and the new footage released at CinemaCon has only confirmed that. The excitement for The Watchers’ refreshing psychological horror premise and Fanning’s role is even greater due to the redemptive opportunity it presents after her disappointing last live-action entry in the horror genre, which arrived in 2005 when she was still a child actor.
In 2005, Fanning starred in a psychological horror movie called Hide and Seek. She played Emily Callaway, the daughter of Robert De Niro’s character David Callaway, a widower struggling to move on from his wife’s death.
Tom Cruise still gives Dakota Fanning birthday gifts
