Posted on 01/03/2007 5:11:53 PM PST by Sybeck1
Maybe the most controversial film heading to this month's Sundance Film Festival concerns the rape of a 12-year-old girl while Elvis Presley is heard singing in the background. "HoundDog," written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier, is already getting more advance attention than "Chapter 27," the film about Mark David Chapman murdering John Lennon. That's because the character played by 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning, who made her mark six years ago in "I Am Sam," is raped onscreen. Kampmeier doesn't show the actual rape, but it's quite clear, from sources who've seen the film, that as scripted and directed, the scenes in question are going to cause as big if not bigger uproar than when Brooke Shields played a pre-pubescent prostitute in Louis Malle's classic "Atlantic City." In a terrific piece in the new Premiere magazine, Fanning's agent, Cindy Osbrink, tells writer Henry Cabot Beck: "I've been working with Dakota since she was five, and this is something we haven't seen her do. Something that really challenged her talent. 'HoundDog' was one of the best experiences of her life, a story that needs to be told, and she tells it with her soul as no one else can." Apparently there are already a number of Web sites protesting this film, and lots of comments on the Internet Movie Data Base lamenting the potential exploitation of Fanning. What could do the movie in, though, is the soundtrack of Elvis Presley records. It's unclear whether the Presley estate will approve the licensing of the ultimate pop idol's voice as the film's backdrop, or even if the writers of the song "Hound Dog" Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller won't do something to keep their famous composition out of it. No producers are credited yet for "HoundDog," by the way, but the
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Does anyone want to sit in a dark room next to someone who gets off on the rape of a child? Not me. Not most of us.
One more reason to stay away from the movies.
I fear Hollywood loves excessive violence because they're emotionally dead inside -- they have to have extremes -- it's creepy.
Can we add Jody Foster in Taxi Driver?
IMHO, later Hitchcock, including "Frenzy" (1972) seems very cold-blooded. Always strongly disliked that film. No sympathy for any characters in that one.
"Two Women" (1960 - Vittorio De Sica) depicts the rape of a 13-year old girl and her mother in WWII Italy. Harrowing. Much more so than "Frenzy".
It was shown on Boston TV in the mid-'60s, back when broadcast codes were pretty strict, several years before Hitchcock made his film.
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I agree. I can't imagine what her parents are thinking, though.
This isn't Hollywood. This indie film still doesn't have a distributor.
In the more explicit shots in Taxi Driver that was Jodi's older sister.
I love Frenzy. It's pure anger and misanthropy. Compare it to his next and last film (Family Plot) which is a good natured amoral wink.
They don't care. To them, they hit the lottery.
IMO, Dakota Fanning is one of the most talented actresses to come along in decades. She will eventually win an Oscar no matter what, plus she has her pick of just about any movie with a young female character, the bottom line is that she has no reason to make this movie.
Thanx
I blame Dakota's parents for allowing her to make a rape scene. I wonder what the rating is.
I saw Dakota Fanning interviewed on Oprah and she is creepily mature and articulate for her age. She probably has triple the combined IQ of Lindsay and Britney. She's more like a Jody Foster type and kid geniuses always turn out a little strange.
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