NO DOG HOUSE FOR DAKOTA

THE CONTROVERSY swirling around Dakota Fanning’s next film is finally set to be settled. Officially called “Untitled Dakota Fanning Project” but known ubiquitously as Hounddog, the film written and directored by Deborah Kampmeier HD will premier at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

“I’m supposed to say Untitled, but it’s basically Hounddog,” Fanning said, the movie stars the preternaturally mature 12-year-old undisputed Hollywood “IT” girl as a child who is raped and ultimately finds solace in the music of Elvis. “She overcomes all the hard things in her life through Elvis and through the blues and Big Mama Thornton, who was the first one to record Hound Dog,” Fanning said.

The controversy comes because of claims that the rape scene is too graphic for the participation of a 12-year-old, and there’s additional outrage about reports of other scenes where Fanning is cavorting about in her underwear. Fanning said that the brouhaha was actually a bunch of hooey.

“It was gossip, a rumor, like a lot of things about people are. It’s really a beautiful story and I really hope that a lot of people get to see it and I hope that a lot of people learn from it. I had a lot of fun doing it. It’s really no different than playing any other character―I’m still not playing myself. I get to experience different things people go through without going through them myself, which is no different from watching a news story and learning from that. It’s an emotionally moving movie, and I hope people enjoy it.” What seemed to really get under her skin was the idea that she’s some kind of shrinking violet when it comes to movies with rough elements.

“It’s no darker than Hide and Seek or Man on Fire. I still am going through difficult things in those films as well, and nobody seemed to talk about that!”

Going from the pig-tailed Fern in the family friendly Charlotte’s Web to a movie featuring child rape seems like a whiplash-inducing change of pace, but Fanning insists she wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I don’t want to be boring by just doing funny films that children can see. I think it’s important to have a mix of all different kinds [of movies].”