"This is for transgender kids out there," Elle Fanning tells The EDIT of her upcoming movie About Ray

Elle Fanning on Her Transgender Role in About Ray: 'I Was Really Nervous Not to Screw Up'

Elle Fanning is one of Hollywood’s fastest rising stars – but her upcoming role as a transgender teen had her feeling the pressure.

“I was really nervous not to screw up, because this is for transgender kids out there,” the 17-year-old tells The EDIT in the magazine’s cover story this week.

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“We had trans kids at my school,” the young actress says of her private school. “They come back after the summer and you have to use different pronouns.”

In About Ray, Fanning plays a transgender teen transitioning from female to male (from Ramona to Ray). The trailer shows Fanning sporting close-cropped brown hair, lifting weights to buff up and getting into brawls with schoolyard bullies.

Part of her onscreen transition included binding her chest. “It’s like a sports bra that you wrap around, only it’s Velcro,” she tells The EDIT.

Dedicated to achieving the right look, Fanning says she endured some serious discomfort with the bust restraint. “It really kills your back!” she explains. “I had to wear one every morning. It hurt so bad!”

Fanning, who’s recently starred alongside Angelina Jolie in Maleficent, can add two more famous actresses to her list of costars after finishing About Ray. Naomi Watts will star as Ray’s mother, and Susan Sarandon will play his grandmother.

Fanning is also featured as Bryan Cranston’s daughter in Trumbo, which will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend.