What You Never Noticed About Dakota And Elle Fanning's Careers

Sisters Dakota Fanning, 27, and Elle Fanning, 23, have both been on a roll lately. After unassumingly running away with Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" in her cameo as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Dakota built on the success of the first season of TNT's "The Alienist" with an even more impressive performance in Season 2, which earned her across-the-board raves, per Rotten Tomatoes. Elle, meanwhile, has hit an award-winning home run (via IMDb) with Hulu's historical comedy-drama series "The Great," and achieved newfound mainstream notoriety thanks to her role in the Netflix teen romance "All the Bright Places."

Now, the two actresses are teaming up for a new project that's got the makings of yet another winner for both of them. "The Nightingale," an adaptation of Kristin Hannah's novel — not to be confused with Jennifer Kent's movie of the same name, which was one of the most disturbing of 2019 — is going to star both Dakota and Elle as Vianne Mauriac and Isabelle Rossignol, two sisters fending for themselves in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.

In addition to the many promising details surrounding "The Nightingale," which is based on a gripping historical saga that became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller (via Macmillan), it marks a surprising turning point in the sisters' careers. Read on to find out what it is.

There are plenty of reasons to be excited for "The Nightingale." The first is the source material. The second is the director, Mélanie Laurent, whom you might remember for her performance as Shosanna Dreyfus in "Inglourious Basterds." Since 2011, Laurent has embarked on a highly successful career as an auteur director, with her brilliant 2014 teen drama "Respire" having particularly wowed arthouse audiences and shown her skill at handling offbeat coming-of-age stories.

The third and most intriguing selling point, though, is that the movie will be a first for both of its stars. "The Nightingale" will mark only the second time Dakota and Elle Fanning have ever been in a movie together, after playing the 7-year-old and 2-year-old versions of Lucy Dawson in 2001's "I Am Sam." As such, Laurent's historical drama is set to be the first movie ever in which the two sisters will actually share the screen.

In an interview with ET Online, Elle celebrated how she was finally getting to act together with Dakota, explaining that their uniquely strong bond as sisters will be put to great use in the upcoming film. "She is my closest person," the actress said. "The book really explores that. They're a bit misunderstood more in the book but still, we have that foundation. That we won't have to work hard for, that'll be there."

"The Nightingale" was supposed to come out at the end of this year but had to be postponed due to COVID 19-related production delays. It is now set for a December 2022 release, according to TheWrap.