During the opening credits of Sweet Home Alabama, viewers are shown a glimpse into the past of a younger Melanie and Jake as kids. Young Jake is portrayed by Thomas Curtis, an actor who has appeared in films like Hansel and Gretel and TV shows like CSI: Miami, per IMDb, while young Melanie was played by Dakota Fanning.
Fanning started acting at the age of 5 when she booked her first commercial, according to Biography. In fact, she is the youngest nominee in Screen Actors Guild history, after receiving a nomination for her role in the 2001 film I Am Sam. She went on to star in movies such as Uptown Girls, The Cat in the Hat, Coraline, The Twilight Saga, Effie Gray, Ocean's 8, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, per IMDb.
Sweet Home Alabama has another major significance outside of being one of the star's earliest performances. In a 2017 interview with W Magazine (via Teen Vogue), Fanning revealed her kiss in the film was actually her first!
"My studio teacher...was with me on that movie and she tells this story all the time," Fanning recalled. "In between each take, we would do the kiss, and then I would slowly turn away and wipe my mouth off so he couldn't see...because I was trying to be kind. I wasn't really into it."
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