Elle Fanning’s 5 steps toward grown-up stardom

Princess Aurora is moving on from her “Maleficent” phase. Elle Fanning — known in her earlier years as Dakota’s younger sister — has been busy carving her own, more adult path in Hollywood. In last two years, the 19-year-old has taken on a series of more challenging, experimental roles that have caught critics’ attention.

Here are five films that have propelled Fanning forward from her child actress days.

‘THE NEON DEMON’

Talk about divisive. In 2016’s “The Neon Demon,” a highly stylized horror film, Fanning plays an aspiring model contending with a business that’s literally flesh-eating (by other jealous models). The opening scene depicts a modeling gig in which her neck is covered in faux blood, and at one point, a character pops an eyeball into her mouth. “It’s like, whoa, this is the biggest transformation,” Fanning said when the film was released last summer. “This is a lot darker role for me. A lot darker.”

’20TH CENTURY WOMEN’

This year Fanning was pitch-perfect in director Mike Mills’ 1970s story about a single mother Dorothea (Annette Bening) raising her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) in Santa Barbara. Jamie’s best friend is Julie (Fanning) a sullen, sexually active teen whom Dorothea asks to help “raise” her son — along with other boarders at her bustling home. Julie’s dispassionate discussion about promiscuity proved memorable for critics. “Fanning is luminous as Julie talks candidly about regretting hooking up with guys half the time, but then details the little things that make the other half memorable,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

‘3 GENERATIONS’

In the recently released “3 Generations,” Fanning plays Ray, a transgender teen trying to convince her conflicted mother (Naomi Watts) to sign paperwork so she can begin transitioning from female to male. While the film failed to earn stellar reviews, Variety hailed Fanning’s “righteously troubled” pitch-perfect performance “portraying Ray as authentically awkward yet far beyond any sort of confusion over his identity.”

‘THE BEGUILED’

In “The Beguiled” (now in theaters), Fanning plays Alicia, a coquettish school girl waiting out the end of the Civil War in a Virginia boarding school. Sofia Coppola’s remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film puts the lens on the women inside the columned plantation home, and when an injured Union soldier (Colin Farrell) comes to stay, Fanning shows off a classically layered performance, injecting Alicia’s mannered, isolated surroundings with daring bouts of impulsivity.

‘HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES’

Fanning made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival in the psychedelic alien rom-com “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” (in theaters later this year). Again acting opposite Nicole Kidman, Fanning (“wonderful as ever,” Collider wrote) plays an alien who lands in 1977 England, where she makes the most of chemistry with a punk music fan. The only problem? Zan’s only got 48 hours left to live before she’s devoured by her creator. Weird? Sure. But a tip of the hat to Fanning’s experimental push.

Andrea Mandell, USA TODAY