Apparently, Dakota Fanning is going to pull a Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver for her next big role.
All shook up over Dakota’s ‘Hounddog’
from The New York Daily News [SOURCE]
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.”
—————————-
I have no idea what to make of this.
My first initial thought was what is wrong with her parents. But I’m not running her career. Her “mom”ager and agent are and evidently they are attempting to turn Dakota Fanning into a legitamite talent (although Hollywood already takes her seriously.)
Are audiences ready for little Dakota Fanning in more adult roles? Is this too mature of a role for a 12-year-old to undertake?
I do believe that she is child star with lasting potential and as an actress who would’ve eventually received an Oscar nomination.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
@Cinefille 
That’s awful for the filmmakers to want Dakota to be naked for a rape scene. She’s 12 years old! There is a line between making a point and just being perverse. That is seriously disturbing. They can do a rape scene in a non-graphic way that will not exploit a child.
I have one more thing to say about this: I think it is child abuse to portray Dakota naked in a rape scene.
Apparently, Dakota’s not doing it for the money, we know.
Kids grow up way too fast these days and once you lose your innocence, you can never recapture it. I’m not saying that she should be as pure as the driven snow, but her mother seems to be sacrificing her daughter’s innocence on the altar of “performing art.”
At 12 years old, you should not have to make those kind of decisions as to what type of roles that you’ll play. But she could hardly do worse at making selection than her mother.
I feel really bad for saying this, but I’m so sick of seeing that little girl I want to scream. ARGH! NOT a Fanning fan.