Michelle Pfeiffer and a toddler named Elle Fanning first crossed paths as screen partners in the early 2000s, in a story that explored matters of adulthood, parenthood, and the value of love and family amid the chaos of life.
Fanning was playing a younger version of her sister Dakota, then seven years old, who was making her major feature-film debut. The role was that of the daughter of a man with an intellectual disability, played by Sean Penn, fighting to secure custody of her in I Am Sam. Pfeiffer portrayed the father’s sharp-tongued lawyer.
