Uptown Girls is having a moment on TikTok, but the movie has always been special for Dakota Fanning after the death of her costar Brittany Murphy.
“I loved Brittany so much and I still miss her,” Fanning, 30, told Brit + Co on Sunday, June 2, while reflecting on the 2003 film, in which she starred as 8-year-old Ray opposite Murphy’s Molly, a hapless 22-year-old nanny.
Fanning added that the movie’s newfound attention on social media is a tribute to the late actress in a way.
“Any time that she has sort of a moment where people think about her is also nice,” she said of Murphy, who died in December 2009 at age 32.
In the movie, Molly (Murphy) becomes Ray’s (Fanning) nanny after she discovers her inheritance has been embezzled. What she doesn’t see coming is how similar she and Ray really are — even if they butt heads from day one.
In recent months, clips of Fanning and Murphy’s roles in Uptown Girls have gone viral on TikTok, including the scene where Molly takes Ray on the spinning teacup ride at a carnival following a tragedy.
Another scene making the rounds on TikTok involves Fanning’s character schooling Molly on who really calls the shots in her house. “Take a look around,” Ray quips to Molly in the scene. “Do you see [my mom] anywhere? News flash! You’re not gonna.”
Fanning revealed on Sunday that she has seen the clips floating around online. “I love it,” she told Brit + Co. “I think because it’s nostalgic for people who are around my age who grew up watching that movie.”
The actress called the film a “comfort movie” for viewers. “I love that people are still revisiting it and loving it and now that everyone is older, understanding different things about it,” Fanning added. “I love that.”
While Fanning was only 9 years old when Uptown Girls was released, she has fond memories of working with Murphy. “Brittany Murphy was a ray of sunshine that made every day of filming magical for me,” she shared via Instagram in April 2018 alongside a photo from the set.
Two years later, Fanning opened up even more about the late actress, calling her a “ray of light” with “a playful spirit.”
“She just taught me to always have fun,” Fanning recalled during a July 2020 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “She made every day special for me. She was so wonderful.”
Fanning isn’t the only Hollywood A-lister who thinks often about Murphy following her death, as her former Clueless costars have been vocal about missing the actress in the past.
“Britt passed away as an adult, but she’s one of those people who I always think about,” said Breckin Meyer, who played Travis alongside Murphy’s Tai in the 1995 movie, during an April episode of the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast. “I wish I could see what she would have done now.”
In 2009, Murphy collapsed in her bathroom in Los Angeles after battling an illness for days. The coroner later ruled that Murphy’s cause of death was pneumonia and anemia combined with prescription and over-the-counter drugs such as cold medicine and painkillers.
Meyer, 50, explained in April that he’s only dealt with “the surface” level of Murphy’s passing, saying his late friend was “the sun” in the worlds of her loved ones.
“She was so effervescent and great and for her to pass away like that, in such a s—ty way and in such a toxic relationship, just was so terrible,” Meyer added.
Murphy and her husband, Simon Monjack, had a tulmultious relationship before she died, causing some to question if he played a part in her illness. Monjack denied the “ridiculous” rumors in January 2010. He died at the age of 40 five months later, also due to acute pneumonia and anemia.
