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Dakota Fanning Speaks about Her Rape in 'Hounddog'The movie opened at Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews |
By Elena Gorgan, Entertainment News Editor
24th of January 2007, 09:12 GMT
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This summer, Hollywood and the media went into a fit of rage when word got out that for the latest movie that wonder-child actor Dakota Fanning, she actually had to play a rape scene. 'Hounddog', a disturbing drama that focuses on overcoming all of life's absurdities and keeping hope alive in a world of poverty and abuse, has Dakota's 12-year-old character as the main character.
The movie is an independent project so, naturally, the media did not pay too much attention to it, until one of its major sponsors backed out. Others followed soon and production had to be halted because of insufficient funds. Then people learned what it was that made the sponsors refuse to pay for such a small project any more: Dakota Fanning in a rape scene.
Initially, it was reported that she would be shown only in her underwear and people were led to believe that there would be an actual simulation of the rape caught on camera, which would have crossed the boundaries of art, entering the realm of child pornography. Without the writer/director, Deborah Kampmeier providing more information as to the plot, the media went all crazy over the topic. Soon, many other groups (religious or otherwise) joined in the debate, but not even bothering to see the film beforehand.
'Hounddog' opened yesterday at the Sundance Film Festival and, contrary to what people expected, it was not half that bad. The entire rape scene is indeed very disturbing, not because of what it shows but because of what it implies. Lasting less than a minute, the whole scene is predominated by close-ups of Dakota's face and darkness. We can also see one hand and one of her feet as she stumbles down, but when the teenage boy actually rapes her, the camera switches angles and only her whimpers and 'Stop it' are heard.
'[People] were attacking my family and me, and that's where it got too far. Pretty much everybody who talked about it attacked my mother, which I did not appreciate. That was extremely uncalled for and hurtful.', Dakota said during a press conference after the screening. The actress also revealed that the whole madness was 100 percent gratuitous because filming the rape scene was just like shooting for any other one. Plus, people should not judge a movie before seeing it and 'Hounddog' is totally worth watching.
'I know my mom would take me to see it. You have to prepare your children for things that happen in the world. Everything isn't rosy.', Dakota said, adding that hadn't she starred in the movie, she would have gone to see it either way. Her co-star, Robin Wright Penn, was of the same opinion: it's a great piece of work and people must leave prejudices aside and go and see it.
So far, no distributor showed interest in the rights for 'Hounddog'.
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