The hilarious reason Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer got pulled over in a limo in Vegas

Clare Mulroy, USA TODAYWed, April 15, 2026 at 12:01 PM UTC

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Elle Fanning as a young mother on OnlyFans. Nick Offerman as a former pro wrestler. Michelle Pfeiffer as an ex-Hooters waitress starting anew with a religious boyfriend. Nicole Kidman as an overzealous wrestler turned no-nonsense lawyer.

Each scenario sounds quirky (and A-list) enough to deserve its own show, but this impressive ensemble comes together for the loveable “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” The Apple TV series, out now, follows college student Margo (Fanning), who gets pregnant after an affair with her English professor, Mark (Michael Angarano). She starts an OnlyFans account to support her child when it's clear he won't. She finds some relief when her estranged father (Offerman) reenters her life, eager to get to know his grandson, but is soon embroiled in a custody battle after Mark finds out about her online presence.

Sitting together for a media day ahead of the series release, Fanning and Pfeiffer appear more friends than costars playing daughter and mother. They finish each other’s sentences and interrupt each other playfully. It’s not the first time Fanning and Pfeiffer have worked together − they both appeared in 2001’s “I Am Sam” when Fanning was a child and later in 2014's “Maleficent” − but it’s the closest.

“I feel like our minds kind of melded in the process of this. I could tell what she’s thinking about across the room,” Fanning tells USA TODAY. (Pfeiffer confirms: “She can tell.”) “It lends itself to having the love that we have for each other and the safety. I think it shows in the show. I really do. We’re able to just go to all of those places and understand each other, and I’m just so lucky that Michelle’s in my life. I love her.”

Shyanne Millet (Michelle Pfeiffer) comforts her daughter Margo (Elle Fanning) in an episode of "Margo's Got Money Troubles," recreating the novel's cover.Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer had so much fun filming in Vegas, they got pulled over

This on-screen mother and daughter do, however, have a fraught relationship. Pfeiffer’s Shyanne doesn’t want Margo to keep the baby, in part because she doesn’t want her to upend her life the way getting pregnant did for her. Between Margo’s newfound motherhood, Shyanne’s attempt to purify herself with a religious boyfriend and the reappearance of Margo’s estranged father, Jinx (Offerman), things get messy. There are screaming matches and cold shoulders. Punches are thrown. Bones get broken. (Kidman, playing an attorney in the legal battle, doesn't become a central part of the story until midseason.) But it’s mostly a lot of fun.

So much fun, that while filming on the Vegas Strip for Episode 5, they got pulled over by cops for partying (in character) out of the sunroof of a limo, wearing goofy bachelorette-style hats.

“They thought we were real partiers,” Pfeiffer tells USA TODAY. The actors assumed it was a last-minute addition to the script. “Finally, after the third time (they yelled), I said, ‘I think those are real policemen.”

“Then we start slowly lowering ourselves down with the penis hats,” Fanning says.

Shyanne (Pfeiffer) and Margo (Fanning) in "Margo's Got Money Troubles).Elle Fanning dances as an alien, captures hearts in ‘Margo’

It wasn’t the first time Fanning stepped into Margo’s shoes – she also voiced the headstrong young mother in the audiobook version of Rufi Thorpe’s 2024 novel of the same name. She was a fan of the book from the start, as were longtime Hollywood couple Pfeiffer and creator David E. Kelley. When it came time to film, Thorpe was heavily involved. She even handed over a stack of research she had done on OnlyFans and pro wrestling, says producer Eva Anderson.

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“It’s so heartwarming and tender and heartbreaking at times, but also so laugh-out-loud funny,” Fanning says. “The characters were so vividly drawn and complex, and I just wanted to live inside that world in Fullerton (California) and get to share Margot on the screen. It’s a challenge. You’re always nervous of ‘Am I going to be able to fulfill that feeling that I got when I read the book?’”

With the help of two established OnlyFans cam girls (played by Rico Nasty and Lindsey Normington), Margo evolves to a whole on-camera persona: “the Hungry Ghost.” Picture lots of neon, elaborate chromatic costumes and stripper poles.

After reading the book, Kelley was eager to tackle the “very relatable, very universal” themes, which include addiction, parenting, financial struggles, estrangement and many, many ethical and moral dilemmas.

“I always consider the viewer as one of the characters in a series. How are they going to interpret their material? What are they going to think? Does the series offer an opportunity for the viewer to explore their own values?” Kelley says. “That's the greatest success for me: when I hear back that people are arguing on their own couch about the choices that the characters are making on the screen. I think we'll present some of that in (the pilot) episode.”

Elle Fanning plays Margo Millet, a recent college dropout who starts an OnlyFans account to support mounting diaper and childcare costs.

Fanning says it was Margo’s resilience that drew her to the character in the first place. Kelley praises the actress’ ability to “hit this character on every single level.”

“I felt her as the young struggling woman trying to make a go of life as a young mother. I felt her as a budding writer and her creative core. The combination of humanity and raw honesty and also her comedic skills, because Margo − that was a pretty delicious cocktail to play," Kelley says. “We were just blown away by Elle's ability to tonally capture all those elements.”

Elle Fanning’s upcoming book-to-screen roles include ‘Sunrise on the Reaping,’ ‘The Nightingale’

“Margo” is one of several big book-to-screen adaptations Fanning is tackling. She’ll play a younger Effie Trinket in “Sunrise on the Reaping,” based on Suzanne Collins’ 2025 “Hunger Games” prequel, in November. She has just started filming “The Nightingale,” based on the historical novel by Kristin Hannah, starring opposite her older sister, Dakota Fanning.

Owning a production company with her sibling means Fanning has started “reading books in a different way,” she says.

“I just can’t help it, I think because I’m trained with script reading, whenever I read a book, I do see it as a film, or try to. That’s just how I picture it when I’m reading,” she says. “Now that we’re actually able to be producers and create stuff, it’s like, ‘Well, I enjoyed this, and now we can actually just make it happen.’”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer on quirky 'Margo's Got Money Troubles'

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