Movie executives have decided to pull the movie "Hounddog" from over 5,000 AMC theatres nationwide after protest over a scene where young Dakota Fanning is raped.The controversial film was scheduled to hit movie screens late last year, but protests from family organizations created a legal investigation in certain areas of the United States over pornography issues that stalled the movie's release.
"Hounddog", a drama set in the American South, tells the story of a young precocious troubled girl (Fanning), who finds a safe haven in the music, and movement of Elvis Presley. The film also deals with the issue of sexual abuse.
Fanning says, "I didn't make the film to make a controversial film or a social commentary. I made the film for my heart and if it touches someone else's heart that's what it's about for me."
A North Carolina prosecutor who watched the coming-of-age film and reviewed it back in November 2007, declared that:
"While some people may find the film disturbing and distasteful, there was no evidence that the scene constituted sexual activity under North Carolina law."
Dakota Fanning, now 14-years-old, was only 12 when she shot the film. But some groups feel the scenes are perfectly appropriate. Hollywood Now President Lindsey Horvath says,
"Hounddog is a film that calls you to action. It returns innocence to the adolescent discovery of sexuality, and restores hope for those whose innocence has been taken."
During last weeks premier in New York City, Director Deborah Kampmeier said, "A lot of agendas are being projected off this film that have nothing to do with the film and they're being projected onto it by people who haven't actually seen the film. It's too bad."
Dakota Fanning will next bee seen in the adventure drama "The Secret Life Of Bees", starring Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys. The film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Fanning), a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother.
Related Story: "The Secret Life Of Bees" - Early Review And Movie Trailer
Fanning is currently filming the dramatic "Hurricane Mary", the remarkable true story of one mother's tireless struggle to fulfill her dream of giving her severely disabled twins some semblance of a normal life while struggling in a public school educational system.
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