The Dakota Fanning Rape Scene

JANUARY 25--With the Dakota Fanning rape movie "Hounddog" yet to find a buyer at the Sundance Film Festival, it remains unclear when (or if) the controversial film will land in U.S. theaters.

Until then, film fans will have to make do with this excerpt from the "Hounddog" shooting script, which describes the sexual assault of the 12-year-old actress.

The film, set in the Deep South in the 1950s, features Fanning as Lewellen, a troubled girl who is attacked in a shed by a character named Wooden's Boy. She is lured to the assault by her best friend Buddy (played by 12-year-old Cody Hanford), who watches the rape. In a "Dear reader" note, director/screenwriter Deborah Kampmeier points out that "there is no nudity or explicit violence in this scene. All nudity and violence is implied."

Still, the script is very creepy, with its description of how Fanning does a seductive dance for Wooden's Boy when he offers her tickets to see Elvis Presley. Then, after Buddy tells her to remove her clothes, the script notes that, "We see Lewellen's clothes hit the floor. Lewellen's underwear hits the floor hard, with defiance."

[No, we're not sure how a little girl's undies can hit the floor with defiance. But we're not auteurs.]

As the rape occurs, Kampmeier notes, Lewellen's "tense hand" presses down on an exposed nail, "like the pain there could catch her and hold her." As noted in the script, "LIGHTNING FLASHES" 11 times during the rape scene. (5 pages)