-So congratulations on "The Alienist."
This is your first foray into multi-episode television.
Did you enjoy it? -I did. I really did.
It was, um, one of the best working experiences
I've ever had. It was almost seven months in Budapest
and just working with the best people, so...
-You have very intricate costumes.
Very beautiful costumes. -Yeah.
-They also look brutally uncomfortable. Is that true?
-[ Laughs ] I'm sorry, Michael, but yes, some of them were.
-Yeah. Well, I don't blame today's modern costume designer.
I blame the turn of the century. -Totally. No, but they were --
I mean, I hesitate to even say that they're costumes.
These are real pieces of clothing
that could have been worn in 1896.
You know, it was like if there were 50 buttons down a dress,
then they weren't, like, "snaps" to like cheat it, you know?
-[ Laughs ] -It was 50 buttons, and, um,
but I became, like, I had the same costumer
every day who would get me dressed and undressed.
Her name was Dora, and the second they were like,
"Okay, Dakota, you're done." I was like, hat off, handing it
to Dora. Like jacket off, like pin off, tie off.
Like, I knew exactly what I could take off
and just would leave this little trail from the set
to the trailer. Like... [ Laughs ]
I was taking off each piece because it's one of those things
that you know when you have to be in it, you're fine,
but the second that you know that your requirement
is finished, it's, like, okay. -Yeah.
-Well, it's gotta come off right now.
-No, well, also you're like, "oh, I'm a crazy person
dressed from a hundred years ago."
-Yeah, exactly. Exactly. -And you actually, you play
a fictional character, but based on a real woman who was
the first woman who worked in the NYPD.
-Right. Yeah. -So that must have been
a cool person to try to embody. -I mean, yeah.
When I read the character, I was so thrilled to play someone
who -- she was the first woman to hold a title
at the police department. In that clip you saw,
she's the secretary to the police commissioner,
who's Theodore Roosevelt and, um, you know, but even that's
not good enough for her, you know what I mean?
She has such aspirations to even be more than just a secretary,
but that's sort of her way into this world
that isn't very welcoming to her.
-I want to ask about this. You have an Instagram,
a private Instagram account. [ Laughter ]
-And you brag, you're very good at using -- you're good
at Internet stalking, and it's so nice of you to brag
about this, 'cause a lot of people would keep that secret.
[ Laughter ] So what do you use --
-You've, like, blown my cover right now.
-Yeah, I know, but, like, so what do you -- how do you use
Instagram to find out -- like, 'cause you're a bit
of a detective. You're like your character.
You're getting to the bottom of things.
-Yes. Yes. Well, yeah. There are times when you have to
go deep into -- you know,
before, you could search people's --
who they followed at the top? -Yeah.
-Now you can, like, put in the first letter,
and all the B's will come up. -Yeah.
-It didn't used to be that way.
You used to have to scroll through,
somebody follows 523 people.
It's like scroll through 523 people.
But sometimes that was the only way to make connections,
you know, like... -Gotcha.
What were you trying to connect?
[ Laughter ] -Well...uh, you know.
-You were like, "there's been a murder, Instagram."
-Yeah, exactly. You know, when you just feel
somebody's lying to you... -Oh, gotcha.
-And you've got to get down to the bottom of it.
-Oh, so you would, like, follow, you'd say like I'm --
if somebody would say like, "I'm here."
You find a connection and then you'd find
on someone else's account. -Yeah, and I just like to know
if I meet someone, I just like to know, like, who they...
are friends -- I don't know. [ Laughter ]
It makes me sound like a big creep but --
-No, like a -- like a little one.
-Like a small creep. -Yeah. [ Laughs ]
So this -- you are not a huge sports fan,
but you come from a family -- -I can't say that in public.
-Okay, gotcha. -Because my mom will, like, have
my head if you say that about me.
-Well, would your mom admit
you are less of a sports fan than her?
-You all are less of sports fans than my mom.
-Gotcha. -Everyone in this room combined
is less of a sports fan. -And is it -- it's been
problematic -- her thirst for sports --
-This is so funny. So, um... I'm cutting you off
and telling my story. -No, no, please.
[ Laughter ] -Go for it. [ Laughs ]
-I went to the SAG Awards recently, and I presented,
and I got to wear this beautiful dress, and I --
a few weeks ago, I wanted my mom to come to a fitting of it
'cause my mom -- she loves clothes and fashion.
She has a great eye, and I like her to come with me sometimes
to the fittings. And so I had a fitting,
and I was like, "oh, we have to be at Samantha's at 1
for that dress fitting." She's like, "okay, okay."
You know, that day rolls around, and she's like... [ Sighs ]
"Dakota, that is the Georgia-Alabama game."
I was, like, yeah. Okay. Like, I gotta --
I'm here for, like, a day. I have to do it that day.
She's, like, "who would plan anything today at 1 P.M.?"
[ Laughter ]
She was, like, mad at me.
-Yeah. -Like actually mad.
I was, like, "there's nothing I can do. I...
It has to be this day." So she didn't come.
-Oh, wow. [ Laughter ]
That's great. And I guarantee the people at that fitting
also did not know it was the Alabama-Georgia game.
-They didn't. -Yeah. [ Laughs ]
Congratulations... -Thank you.
-...so much on the show. It's lovely having you here.
-Thank you so much. -Dakota Fanning, everybody.