Elle Fanning finds Angelina Jolie “inspiring”

Elle explained: “I’m older, and the things we can talk about now are different. I feel like I can ask her anything - and I have!

“Watching her is so inspiring. As a person, she has a such a strength in her convictions. She really stands up for what she feels is right and will protect you at all costs. I’ve truly seen that - her nurturing and protective instincts. It’s so beautiful.”

And the feeling is most definitely mutual, as 44-year-old Angelina says she’ll “always feel close” to Elle.

In a joint interview with People magazine, she said: “The first moment she ever saw me, she was 14 and she ran up and gave me the biggest hug. Elle was the sweetest. Nothing about me intimidated her. I’ll always feel close to Elle. She knows I’m goofy. I know she has great strength.”

Meanwhile, Elle recently hailed Angelina as a “really good” paintballer, after the duo tried out the activity with Angelina’s children - Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - whom she has with ex-husband Brad Pitt.

Elle said: "With Angelina, I was so young when I did the first film with her. I was very nervous then. My mom was with me. Now that I'm grown up, she sees me in a different way. We talked about different things.

"We went paintballing. Oh, she's aggressive. We would do outings because her kids were there, so she was trying to schedule activities on the weekends. I had never gone paintballing before. We were in full-on armour. We were the only people in the place, with all of her kids. She and I were not on the same team. I was so bad. I hit their security guard in the neck, and he was on my team! [laughs] Angelina's really good."