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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."
Lloyd Grove
This is child pornography. Dakota’s parents need to be locked up over this. This will f()ck Dakota up for the rest of her life. Look at all the anguish that both Jodie Foster and Brooke Shields went through in their lives for doing the same thing. Are her parents so desperate to live through Dakota to get an Oscar that they are making her do this? Then she should be taken away from them. She is an Oscar worthy actress and she will get that Oscar, but she does not need to do this. Just look at well Oscar nominations or wins at such a young age worked out for River Phoenix, Linda Blair, Tatum O’Neal and Haley Joel Osment.
If you want write Cindy Osbrink and tell her you feel about this do so at:
Osbrink Talent Agency
4343 Lankershim Blvd
Suite 100
Universal City, CA 91602
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Oscar may be almost 80, but he’s still young at heart – enough to keep company with Heath Ledger and even Dakota Fanning.
On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars each year, invited 120 artists and executives to join its ranks – including such young actors as Ledger, 27, Fanning, 12, Keira Knightley, 21, and Jake Gyllenhaal, 25.
"Most people who aren’t really aware of the Academy think it’s probably a bunch of elderly people," AMPAS director Bruce Davis told the Associated Press. "They’re not thinking Scarlett Johansson and Maggie Gyllenhaal, they’re thinking really old guys. That’s a hard perception to overcome."
"Two years ago the Academy decided to slow membership growth, and to become even more selective in choosing members," Academy president Sid Ganis said in a statement. "Instead of inviting every proposed person who has achieved the minimum qualifications for his or her branch, the membership committees are selecting the most exceptionally qualified names from those lists."
The Academy will welcome new members on Sept. 20 at a reception at its Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills.
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