Elle Fanning Talks Working With Michelle Pfeiffer in 'Maleficent: Mistress of Evil' (Exclusive)

'She's incredible.'

Elle Fanning's admiration for Michelle Pfeiffer goes back years!

ET's Katie Krause recently sat down with the 20-year-old actress, who gushed about working with Pfeiffer -- as well as the rest of the "amazing" cast, which includes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Angelina Jolie -- on the upcoming sequel to the 2014 film, Maleficent, which is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the villain's point of view. 

"She's incredible," she said of Pfeiffer, before revealing the Fanning family love for the 60-year-old actress. 

"What's so funny [is]... she was in I Am Sam with my sister [when] my sister was really young, so... my mom LOVES Michelle Pfeiffer. She was like, 'She was so nice to us!'" Fanning said of the 2001 film that starred her older sister, Dakota Fanning. "My sister was super young, just starting out and, like, that made, like, a huge impression on my family."

While Fanning didn't spill many plot details about Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which is due out Oct. 18, she teased that it'll follow "the family dynamic of the mother-daughter relationship between Aurora and Maleficent."

"I've never come back as a character, older," Fanning said of reprising her role of Aurora. "It was released when I was 16, but when I shot the film I was 14 and now I'm 20, so it's, like, a big jump... Aurora is a young woman now."

In addition to the Maleficent follow-up, Fanning is also set to star in Teen Spirit, a film about a shy teenager pursuing her passion for singing. Fanning revealed that she worked with many vocal coaches, honed in on her dancing skills and even learned Polish for her role in the film, which, she said, even made her consider a possible singing career in her future.

"I actually would! Who knows?" she said of possibly trying to sing professionally. "... I would still act... that's my thing, but it's cool. [The movie] opened the door to that and I would never say no to [singing]. Maybe I would, but I don't know. I really enjoyed it."

Teen Spirit will open in New York and Los Angeles on April 12, before being released nationwide on April 19. Watch the video below for more on the film.

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