Honestly, What Is This World Coming To?

[TVRs4eva]

All shook up over Dakota's 'Hounddog'

Cute-as-a-button child star Dakota Fanning, who turned 12 in February, is venturing into sexually disturbing territory in a movie being filmed in North Carolina.
The screenplay for "Hounddog" - a dark story of abuse, violence and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South, written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier - calls for Fanning's character to be raped in one explicit scene and to appear naked or clad only in "underpants" in several other horrifying moments.

Fanning's mother, Joy, and her Hollywood agent, Cindy Osbrink, see the movie as a possible Oscar vehicle for the pint-size star. But despite Fanning's status as a bankable actress - whose movies, including last year's "War of the Worlds," have earned more than half a billion dollars since 2001 - the alarming material seems to have scared off potential investors from the under-$5 million indie project.

"The two taboos in Hollywood are child abuse and the killing of animals," a source close to the situation told me. "In this movie, both things happen."

Fanning's carefully choreographed rape scene has already been filmed. But then the production - which also stars Robin Wright Penn, David Morse and Piper Laurie - was shut down for lack of funds. Penn, who's also an executive producer, gave a pep talk to the dispirited cast in the days leading up to the shutdown. The desperate producer, Jen Gatien, daughter of former club czar Peter Gatien, sent out an SOS to New York entertainment entrepreneur Lawrence Robins. Robins located emergency investors, filming resumed, and the movie is scheduled to wrap tomorrow.

"The subject matter is very tough," Robins told me, "but I was attracted to it because in the end it's a story about human understanding, about a little girl who's dealt a very bad deck of cards, but finds solace in the music of Elvis and survives."

The script requires the preteen actress to confront tougher challenges than Brooke Shields and Jodie Foster did when, at Fanning's age, they played child prostitutes.

"It's not just the rape scene - the whole story is challenging Dakota as an actress," Fanning's longtime agent, Osbrink, told me. "And I've never been so proud of her in my life. I've seen the dailies, and in every scene she gets better and better."

How sick can you get? The mother should be ashamed of herself, think of the pediphiles who are going to watch this... it makes me sick I think it's entirely unneccessary, the girl doesn't know what she's getting into... what a total lack of integrity. A rape scene isn't necessary to establish a sense of sympathy from the audience, and the mother is despicable for sacraficing her daughter for the sake of an oscar. God...

[DesmoRob]

*shivers*

[kingofthering]

Um yeah... no one gets naked, they only IMPLY that she got messed with

[TVRs4eva]

Um yeah... no one gets naked, they only IMPLY that she got messed with

Either way, I'm sure the visual message is obvious, and I'm just saying that it sounds entirely unneccessary beyond shock value and a potential oscar, which the mother seems to want more than the actress herself

[clutch-monkey]

Um yeah... no one gets naked, they only IMPLY that she got messed with

x2
i'd only be worried if she actually did get raped for the camera. otherwise it's just acting, which is her job as i recall

[speednine]

Then, don't watch the movie. Hell that's why we live in America.

[Sauc3]

Then, don't watch the movie. Hell that's why we live in America.

Yeah, in other countries you'd be forced to watch the movie!
Thankfully Americans don't suffer that fate!

[man 430gt]

Hell that's why we live in America.

Thank God I don't Watch 14 years down the line when this "Pint Sized" actress is going crazi like Paris Hilton and Barely wears any clothing the mother will be like "Where did we go wrong?!" This is truely disgusting..

[Matt]

Thank God I don't Watch 14 years down the line when this "Pint Sized" actress is going crazi like Paris Hilton and Barely wears any clothing the mother will be like "Where did we go wrong?!" This is truely disgusting..

I don't get the correlation. Was Paris in a movie as a child where she portrayed a rape victim?

[my porsche]

Thank God I don't Watch 14 years down the line when this "Pint Sized" actress is going crazi like Paris Hilton and Barely wears any clothing the mother will be like "Where did we go wrong?!" This is truely disgusting..

Only difference is, Paris could never get raped, because she gives it up pretty much as soon as she knows your name, and also, all paris has done to get famous is have sex, she wasnt a successful child actor.

[speednine]

Thank God I don't Watch 14 years down the line when this "Pint Sized" actress is going crazi like Paris Hilton and Barely wears any clothing the mother will be like "Where did we go wrong?!" This is truely disgusting..

Honestly if the little girl has psychological problems, im sure the media would play a bigger role then 15 seconds of a rape seen. Don't be so dramatic about the situation. Not only that but, how old are you?? Are you old enough to drink? There are a lot of young people who go out in barely nothing. Just because paris hilton is riding the ****ing im young, rich, and crazy, train doesn't mean everyone is. You don't need to go through a traumatic event in your life to want to drink. So shut up and don't jump to conclusions britty.

EDIT: not only that but if you've ever seen an interview with Dakota fanning you would know she is a pretty intelligent little girl. I think it is safe to assume she know's what she is getting into and understands the role.

[my porsche]

Honestly if the little girl has psychological problems, im sure the media would play a bigger role then 15 seconds of a rape seen. Don't be so dramatic about the situation. Not only that but, how old are you?? Are you old enough to drink? There are a lot of young people who go out in barely nothing. Just because paris hilton is riding the ****ing im young, rich, and crazy, train doesn't mean everyone is. You don't need to go through a traumatic event in your life to want to drink. So shut up and don't jump to conclusions britty.

EDIT: not only that but if you've ever seen an interview with Dakota fanning you would know she is a pretty intelligent little girl. I think it is safe to assume she know's what she is getting into and understands the role.

im not sure where the whole drinking reference came from, but the last paragraph is very true, shes pretty smart.

[speednine]

im not sure where the whole drinking reference came from, but the last paragraph is very true, shes pretty smart.

Reference for people in there twenties who go out to bars/clubs. I've seen girls in next to nothing, albeit in the summertime, so it doesn't matter if they are in a rape seen or not.

[Matt]

think of the pediphiles who are going to watch this

That's a stupid reason to be upset about it. Think of the murderers who watch people murdered in movies. Think of the reckless drivers who watch car chase scenes. She's portraying the part of, what I assume is, a real person enduring real circumstances. Why should the movie be less real than the real-life story?

[johnnynumfiv]

That's a stupid reason to be upset about it. Think of the murderers who watch people murdered in movies. Think of the reckless drivers who watch car chase scenes. She's portraying the part of, what I assume is, a real person enduring real circumstances. Why should the movie be less real than the real-life story?

You worded that perfectly, I totally agree.