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Parts of the 'Reservation Road' production notes that focus on Elle are listed below, but if you want to read the full version, with much more detail on the making of the movie, click here.

Elle Fanning, who previously etched a notable on-screen portrayal of a child coping with family tragedy in The Door in the Floor, sees her on-screen family in the new film as “trying to get back on their feet again, and trying to heal. I learned a lot from Joaquin and Jennifer; I would get into my mood and my character and do it as real as possible. Terry always knew exactly what he wanted, but he would let you put your word into it too.”

Eddie Alderson, who makes his screen debut as Lucas, adds, “Terry would do a camera rehearsal and then talk with the actors. It’s really cool working with him. “Lucas is already in a tough situation because of the fighting going on between Dwight and Ruth. Then, Dwight should have turned around and gone back after the accident. But I feel in that situation, a lot of people would get scared and not know what to do.”

Sorvino, the only adult actor who has scenes with both of those young actors, found herself “blown away by Elle and Eddie’s humility and their normalcy. They’re sweet kids, but they also worked so hard on their characters.” Connelly adds, “I was a child actress myself, though not yet at Elle’s age; she has been working basically since she was a baby – and she’s great, so energetic and enthusiastic. She watches carefully, takes everything in, and – considering the subject matter of our movie – has a good time.”

Indeed, when not working on the set, the younger actors could be found spending time with the crew hotel, or shooting pool in and around Connecticut locations, wherefilming took place in the fall of 2006 – just after some of the state’s new tax breaks for film productions had been instituted.

The production filmed for a couple of days at a local grade school, Northeast Elementary in Stamford. Fanning needed little coaxing for the recital sequence filmed in the school’s small auditorium, since she is not only an accomplished actress but also an accomplished pianist. “I was so excited,” she reports. “I had played piano, but then I stopped. When this movie came along with my character playing piano, I started up again and now I want to keep doing it.” As take after take was filmed, Fanning earned applause from the assembled extras.

ELLE FANNING (Emma Learner) is, at age 9, already a film and television veteran. At age 3, the Conyers, Georgia native appeared as the younger version of her older sister Dakota’s character in Jessie Nelson’s I Am Sam, opposite Sean Penn. The Fanning sisters again played the same character at different ages in Taken, the Emmy Award-winning epic SciFi Channel miniseries. Ms. Fanning’s subsequent films include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-nominated Babel, alongside Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza; Tod Williams’ The Door in the Floor (also for Focus Features); Steve Carr’s Daddy Day Care; Wayne Wang’s Because of Winn-Dixie; Tony Scott’s Déjà Vu; and David Fincher’s just-wrapped The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

She next stars in the lead role of Daniel Barnz’ independent feature Phoebe in Wonderland, with Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman, and Bill Pullman; and in Andrei Konchalovsky’s musical fantasy Nutcracker – The Untold Story, with John Turturro and Nathan Lane. On television, Ms. Fanning has appeared in episodes of such popular shows as House, Law & Order: SVU, CSI: New York, CSI: Miami, Judging Amy, and Criminal Minds. She recently starred in her second SciFi Channel miniseries, The Lost Room.

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