Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster: Elle Fanning

Release Date: November 5, 2025
Guest: Elle Fanning
Theme: The Dream Menu of Elle Fanning—Food Memories, Fast Food Favorites, and Film Stories

Episode Overview

Ed and James welcome celebrated actor Elle Fanning to their fantastical "dream restaurant," where she selects her ideal starter, main, side, dessert, and drink. With trademark whimsy, jokes, and riffing, the trio dig into Elle's Southern food roots, her career from childhood to the present (including the upcoming Predator: Badlands), baffling American chain restaurants, on-set food stories, and the subtle art of donut appreciation. The conversation is peppered with food nostalgia, hilarious tangents, and memorable moments.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Arrival at the Dream Restaurant

• Elle is greeted warmly; the hosts riff about restaurant reservations vs. walk-ins, with Elle preferring knowing her spot is secured.
  • Quote: "I kind of like knowing that that's the plan... then you don't know if you might not get the table." – Elle (09:51)
• Discussion of overhyped TikTok food spots: Elle and the hosts agree TikTok-worthy places rarely live up to their online hype, though the videos are entertaining.
  • Quote: "It looked amazing...Then as I'm eating it, I'm like, of course it tastes rubbish." – James (11:36)

2. Secret Ingredient & Movie References

• Secret ingredient for ejection: Green Eggs and Ham ("Dr. Seuss story" and an allusion to Elle's first film I Am Sam, for which "green eggs and ham" is read often).
• The hosts riff on the possibility of an actor acting in the womb.
  • Quote: "I mean, we can't be far off someone having a role in a film while they're still in the womb." – Ed (07:05)

3. On-Set Food Stories

• Elle shares about eating "chicken hearts" and real period food on The Great, and the ordeal of substituting real ice cream with lard for melting scenes.
  • Quote: "We put it in, we're like, oh my God. They actually made it...it was exactly the recipe...We can't do this many takes eating a full, like, chicken liver heart." – Elle (15:21)
  • Nicholas Hoult, her co-star, requested real ice cream instead of lard.

4. Predator: Badlands & Being an Android

• Elle describes her Predator: Badlands character Thea: an android/synth who doesn't eat ("she's completely like mechanics").
  • Quote: "It's also talked about in the film. She doesn't eat any food. She's completely like mechanics all underneath." – Elle (17:44)
• Ed and James riff on how cyborgs not eating is the real future problem.

5. Filming in New Zealand

• Elle praises New Zealand’s food, especially pastries, brunch, and fast food.
• The physicality of her new role meant being very hungry on set; her character was sometimes "a robot backpack" in stunts.

6. Celebrity Encounters & Starstruck Moments

• Elle recounts getting starstruck at the Met Ball, particularly by Alexa Chung and Beyoncé (placing Alexa above Beyoncé for her as a teenage fashion nerd).
  • Quote: "All I wanted to do was meet Alexa Chung at the Met Ball...I was like, I can't believe that." – Elle (27:47)
• Hilarious story of falling on her ass in front of Cardi B.

7. Food Preferences and American Chains

Water

• Prefers still, particularly New York tap water for taste and even hair.
• Joke: celebs like Brad Pitt and George Clooney pump NY water to LA.

Bread Course

• Her pick: Upgraded Cheddar Bay Biscuits (from Red Lobster)—"a little flakier...warm, with cold whipped butter and honey, and flaky salt."
  • Quote: "I want really light, fluffy whip with salt...I love a salt and sweet." – Elle (32:03)
• Discusses American “biscuits” confusion with UK scones.

8. Elle’s Dream Menu

Starter [41:17]

• Panko mozzarella sticks with marinara, specifically crunchy—not smooth. Also fondly remembers a giant triangular cheese dish from filming in Hungary.

  • Quote: "I don't want a beer battered...I want the bumpy panko crumb crunchy one." – Elle (42:18)

• Bonus starter: Clam chowder gets debated and, after playful pushback, included.

  • Elle wants "big clams, not much potato," hates being tricked by potatoes.

Main Course [52:36]

• Chicken Divan (from her grandmother's cookbook):
  • Boiled chicken, broccoli, canned cream of mushroom soup, mayonnaise, curry powder, topped with cheddar cheese and baked. Served with fluffy white rice.
  • Highly nostalgic, "not selling it," but "so comfort" for her.
  • Quote: "It is made with cream of mushroom...mayonnaise...curry powder...It's a casserole." – Elle (53:10)
  • James: "I always respect when people use their...specific name for a grandparent that is, like, no one else would know..." (57:33)

Side Dish

• Simply steamed spinach—"not too watery, not too dry."
  • Elle always orders it if available.

Drink [68:08]

• Negroni (learned to love them in London, influenced by Tony McNamara, showrunner of The Great).
  • Discusses differences in drink culture and ice between US and UK.
  • Quote: "When I want to drink, I want it to taste like alcohol." – Elle (70:09)
  • Negroni is "the grown-up Aperol Spritz."

Dessert [73:22]

• Companion to donut obsession: Elle loves Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme but doesn't see donuts as restaurant dessert.
• Primary pick: Strawberry Mille Crepe Cake from Lady M in New York.
  • "20 layers...pillowy soft...different flavors...the strawberry one."
• Secondary (and more eccentric) pick: Bubble gum ice cream from Baskin Robbins with actual bubble gum pieces ("worst seller," recently discontinued but sourced by her mom and "Bruce" at Baskin Robbins for her birthday).
  • Quote: "It's my favorite thing...the gum kind of freezes while you're chewing it..." – Elle (85:18)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I could eat a whole dozen. I've eaten on sets...a box of Krispy Kremes at night." – Elle (13:12)
• On the challenges of fake food in period dramas: "So you wouldn't give us real ice cream...and it was like a lard that we had to eat. That was...so bad." – Elle (16:27)
• "If they're not eating, I don't think they're human, you know?" – Ed on cyborgs (18:01)
• "[Donuts on TikTok are] never actually good food. They'll be fun colors." – Ed (11:04)
• "I'm a really adventurous eater. I will try anything. I love food, but I...love fast food...I don't like the fancy donuts." – Elle (12:18)
• "I feel like it does feel like...a team sport, you know, it feels like an athletic event." – Elle on the discipline of acting (50:28)
• "I am someone—I will eat off the floor. Like, five second rule...really doesn't bother me." – Elle (65:54)
• "You have to, like, because no one likes the ice cream. So it's a terrible seller. But Bruce is like, well, no one eats it. But I can call it in if you buy the big drum." – Elle (84:56)
• "Her name is Mary Jane." – Elle, after being accused of grandma’s stoner casserole creativity (87:46)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [09:23] Elle arrives at the dream restaurant
• [13:09] Donuts, fast food, and delivery habits
• [15:21] Eating chicken hearts and lard on set
• [17:44] Explaining her android character in Predator: Badlands
• [27:47] Starstruck stories: Alexa Chung & Beyoncé
• [31:14] Red Lobster biscuits—Elle's dream bread
• [41:17] Dream starter—mozzarella sticks & memories of cheese triangles from Hungary
• [44:40] Clam chowder (debated, eventually allowed)
• [52:36] Main: Chicken Divan (grandmother's recipe)
• [62:13] Side: Steamed spinach
• [68:08] Drink: Negroni
• [73:22] Dessert: Lady M mille crepe cake & Baskin Robbins bubble gum ice cream

Tone and Language

• The episode retains the freewheeling, irreverent, and playful exchanges characteristic of Off Menu.
• Elle is game for all tangents and participates in the hosts’ British-American food culture riffs.
• Nostalgic, food-obsessed, and often self-deprecating, the tone is warm, quirky, and intertwined with showbiz anecdotes.

Closing Thoughts

Ed and James praise Elle’s candor, humor, and unusually nostalgic menu. The podcast is filled with food as memory, American vs. British fast food culture, surreal on-set stories, and doughnut opinions, capped by the slightly baffling but evidently beloved bubble gum ice cream. They plug Predator: Badlands (out November 7, 2025), and celebrate finally (jokingly) "making it" by getting the podcast on YouTube.