DAKOTA STUCK IN TRAFFIC

Thursday

July 24, 2008

SAN DIEGO, CA―PUSH, starring Chris Evans (Nick), Dakota Fanning (Cassie), Djimon Hounsou (Carver), Camilla Belle (Kira) and director Paul McGuigan (LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN) will present a first look at footage and answer questions about the film. In this futuristic sci-fi thriller set in Hong Kong, a group of young American ex-pats with extraordinary psychic abilities must band together and use their different talents on a final mission to escape a clandestine government agency. In her first action heroine role, director Paul McGuigan reveals Dakota even gets drunk and swears. Yes, our little girl is indeed all grown up. PUSH is scheduled for a February '09 release. Dakota Fanning was scheduled to appear for the PUSH preview and Summit Entertainment panel discussion at Comic Con 2008, but was stuck in traffic for 7 hours due to an accident. She did make a brief appearance at the end of the panel just to say “Hi” and tell her fans she was sorry to be so late.

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I’ve attended the San Diego Comic Con numerous times over the past years and it’s a wild and fabulous four days―if you enjoy comic books, super-heroes, sci-fi or anime. The San Diego Comic Con is your destination of choice. I have many fond memories of oil can size beers, buckets of crab legs and late night parties at the Hotel San Diego. I was doing a little reminiscing about back in the days when I did do stuff like pack my bags, jump on a plane and head west to the Con. I happened to think about what “IF” I had gone this year. What if I had attended the Con not for comics, artist sketches, or hentai porn. What if I flew out to San Diego for the express chance to see Dakota Fanning live at the Summit Entertainment panel. I thought about the roller coaster ride of emotions. First, there’s the whole plane, taxi, hotel experience, then there’s the usual excitement of just being at the Con, catching up with old friends, making new friends, you meet have dinner. It’s a blast!

Of course everything amounts to a mere distraction. The whole time there is this nagging anticipation, excitement, the real reason why you’ve come: To see Dakota Fanning LIVE. I have my ticket; I’m sitting in the audience. At this point, just the chance to see Dakota, let alone meet her is only an unrequited fantasy. Yet in twenty minutes, now just five minutes, I find the suspense unbearable! I am in the same State, the same city, the same ballroom as Dakota Fanning. It’s possible . . . then come the various announcements about how “Dakota is going to be late,” then the disastrous news that “Dakota isn’t coming.” I thought about my own disappointment upon learning that Dakota (through no fault of her own) is unable to attend the Summit panel. Then I leave the ballroom in a state of utter despair, my hopes dashed, only to learn the next morning that if I had only stayed on a half hour longer that Dakota finally came. That she bounded on the stage, as big as life to say “Hi” to her fans and how sorry she was for being late. I discover, its always possible to feel worse. I missed her! The bitter irony is, even though I wasn’t there, this didn't happen, this is just my luck . . .

Dakota not cast in CHARLOTTE DOYLE

July 16, 2008

Danny De Vito to direct CHARLOTTE DOYLE drama w/Pierce Brosnan & Morgan Freeman.

IT'S BEEN SIX YEARS since Danny De Vito climbed into the director's chair. Six years since DEATH TO SMOOCHY, the disstrously received but actually pretty-gosh-darn-funny Ed Norton/Robin Williams comedy that tanked at the box office. But now the little big man is back. He’s signed on to direct a cracking cast – Morgan Freeman, Pierce Brosnan, Saoirse Ronan – in an adaptation of the best-selling book, The True Confessions Of Charlotte Doyle, an adventure for young adults about a young girl who makes a daring transatlantic crossing from England to America in 1830, only to find herself torn between a mutinous crew and a tyrannical captain. Ronan – so impressive, and Oscar-nominated, in ATONEMENT – will play the title character. We’re not sure if Brosnan or Freeman will play the captain, but all will be revealed in time. De Vito won’t be appearing in the film, which starts lensing in September. But he’ll hope that this movie is as successful as MATILDA, his last foray into kids’ movies.

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TERRIBLE NEWS! This feels like THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON all over again. Some loyal Dakota fans may recall back in '04 the infamous Steven King novel that was rumored to be a Dakota project and then inexplicably canceled. I have always felt that TOM GORDON represented Dakota's greatest missed opportunities (Well, aside from playing Alice in the canceled Spielberg ALICE IN WONDERLAND). If this article is to believed, and it does contain at least one factual error, once again it appears that Dakota has bailed on what I thought was her perfect project. This is the one Dakota movie I was most looking forward. CHARLOTTE DOYLE is a wonderful book and an excellent part for a young girl. I am very disappointed that Dakota turned down this project, its a very physical role, I should have liked to have seen Dakota dress in 19th century frilly dresses, and then climb the rigging in her bear feet! I am sure Soairse Ronan will do a fine job she is a wonderful actress.

Dakota Makes-A-Wish come true

TWO AWARDED FOR WORK WITH AILING HIGHLAND PARK TEEN Girl’s wish was a doozy, but they made it a reality July 13, 2008

CHICAGO, IL―(Chicago Tribune). Two years ago, George Giddens and Debra McWright sat down for a brainstorming session with a Highland Park teenager battling life-threatening cancer. As volunteers with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, they helped Yali Derman, 17, plan her wish. On Saturday, the foundation's Illinois chapter presented Giddens of Highland Park and McWright of Vernon Hills with the “Wish of the Year Award” for their work with Yali.

When a child is medically approved to participate in the Make-A-Wish program, a volunteer typically visits the child and helps them plan their wish. Other wishes have included visiting Japan and the San Diego Zoo and recording a song and performing it in front of a group.

Rachel Herstein, 17, of Buffalo Grove New York who has intractable epilepsy, worked with Giddens and McWright to plan her day with actress Dakota Fanning. She traveled to Los Angels in 2006 and spent the day with Fanning. The day included eating lunch, shopping for a dress at the Betsey Johnson boutique and seeing the movie CHARLOTTE’S WEB.

“I was the first to be with Dakota for a wish, and that's probably why I was with her the whole day,” said Rachel, who had brain surgery last fall.

Giddens and McWright said their work is difficult when one of their wish recipients dies. But they said the children's strength can be extraordinary. “I get so much inspiration from talking with them,” McWright said. “It’s amazing that they can go through so much.”

DAKOTA BOUND FOR TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL

July 11, 2008

A STAR-MAKING TURN for Dakota Fanning is confirmed at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, based on the bestselling novel set in the American South, will see Fanning step into a new role as an adult actor when the film has its world premiere in Toronto, says festival co-director Cameron Bailey. “Dakota Fanning has a career-defining performance. I think we'll see her as an adult star,” Bailey says. “This is her Jodie Foster moment, where she turns into a genuine adult actor.” Based on the bestselling novel THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is set in South Carolina in 1964, the film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning), a 14-year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Hilarie Burton). To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Paul Bettany), Lily flees with Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters (Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Alicia Keys), Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a Fox Searchlight Pictures presentation.