'What a place to have your 18th birthday!'

With roles in acclaimed movies and TV shows like 20th Century Women, A Complete Unknown, The Great, The Neon Demon, Somewhere, and Super 8, the now 27-year-old American actress has cemented herself as one of Hollywood's brightest stars.

Her ascent to stardom continues as she headlines Predator: Badlands, the latest entry in the iconic and long-running sci-fi action film franchise Predator.

Fanning plays Thia, a damaged android abandoned on a notoriously hostile distant planet, who forms an uneasy alliance with an alien hunter (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in order to survive.

We here at JOE were huge fans of Predator: Badlands, calling it one of the best entries in the Predator series and one of the best sci-fi movies of 2025.

Ahead of its release, we interviewed Fanning and Schuster-Koloamatangi together about the film, who spoke about what attracted them to the franchise (For more of that conversation, click here).

During the conversation, we also asked Fanning about her experience filming the 2017 biographical drama Mary Shelley, about the author of Frankenstein, in Ireland.

On whether she had fond memories of her time in the country, the rising star said:

"I do. We only shot in Dublin for a couple of days, but we were at... what was it called? The Queen's Court or the King's Court? [We believe she was referring to Powerscourt in Wicklow].

"It was a huge hotel, but it was out in the countryside. That's where we stayed. And then we filmed in a lot of beautiful homes there.

"But I want to go back. I really enjoyed it. I mean, it was stunning. It was really beautiful, the landscapes in Ireland."

Fanning also told us that the wrap party to celebrate the end of the Mary Shelley shoot coincided with her 18th birthday.

She recounted to JOE: "Yeah, we had a great after-party, like a wrap party on that. That was in Dublin, and it was wild.

"I had turned 18. It was like my 18th birthday, so... you can drink at 18 in Ireland," she said, laughing.

We then joked about the possibility of a future Predator movie with Fanning being set in Ireland, to which she replied: "Yeah, maybe! That could be fun."

Predator: Badlands is in cinemas now.