Elle Fanning is a certified Gleek!
In the first episode of The Girl From Plainville, streaming on Hulu, Elle’s character Michelle Carter performs a version of Lea Michele’s “Make You Feel My Love” from season five of Glee. In the scene, Michelle is using the song as a means to imitate Lea’s emotions.
“Reading the pilot, in the last scene she’s singing ‘Make You Feel My Love’ mimicking Lea Michele’s grief,” Elle told Variety. “Lea’s grief was real in the show; she’s also mourning her real-life boyfriend.”
On Glee, Lea dedicated to the emotional performance to boyfriend and co-star Cory Monteith, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 2013.
Michelle, meanwhile, uses the song to practice grieving in the mirror in the wake of her boyfriend Conrad Roy‘s suicide. The Girl From Plainville follows Conrad’s death and Michelle’s subsequent conviction of involuntary manslaughter in a landmark legal case.
Elle said she watched a lot of Glee—which was Michelle’s favorite show—during filming. When it came to the “Make You Feel My Love” performance, the actress became methodical in studying Lea.