Editor's note: The following story and video contain several instances of near-vulgarity and children acting out violence. It may be offensive to some readers.
Unidentified child playing Tony Montana: 'Say hello to my little friend' |
Could this story be for real?
A pint-sized drama troupe of elementary-aged students has been discovered on YouTube, acting out scenes from the violent and vulgarity-strewn gangster film "Scarface."
Only instead of Tony Montana spraying bullets across the stage, the youngsters portray the gangster with Nerf guns. And instead of cussing like a ... well, gangster, the actors replace the F-word with the sweeter-sounding "fudge."
Even still, the play's lines drip with adult themes.
"Can't you stop saying 'fudge' all the time?" asks Montana's seductively dressed (8-year-old?) wife. "You do coke and you kill people. That's wonderful, Tony."
"I've got a fudging junkie for a wife," he answers.
"You son of a bee!" she returns. "I'm leaving you, mother-fudger."
Like the movie, the characters then pull out guns – though toy guns in this production – and begin a coldhearted slaughter of one another.
Video of the play itself, purportedly put on by an elementary school (see update at end of story for further details), can be seen below:
The video was posted by a woman calling herself Cindy and claiming to be from Bartonville, Ill.
"Jaydon's school put on a kids' production of 'Scarface,'" Cindy explains, without any further comment or detail.
WND called every public elementary school in the Bartonville district and a few private schools in nearby Peoria to discover where the play was held.
Every school WND contacted denied any knowledge of the junior "Scarface" production, leaving unanswered the mystery of where the talented little Tony took the stage.
"Anyone who can tell me where this little tyke production was staged gets a limited edition DVD of 'Scarface,' a Tony Montana action figure and a used coke vial," writes Francisco Alvarado of Florida's Miami News Times.
Jarrett Wieselman of the New York Post questions if it was really done by a school.
"It's brilliant, adorable and just good enough that I suspect it's not a legit school play," he writes.
Careful observation of the video gives further cause for skepticism, as the backdrop bears the words, "The World Is Yours," echoing the title of a video game released in 2006 called "Scarface: The World Is Yours."
Regardless of where or why it was performed, not every viewer was as complimentary as Wieselman.
"That's disturbing," reads one of the comments on the YouTube page.
"There are actually parents sitting in the audience letting this happen," said another.
"Wow, this is just not something that should be used as a school play," said yet another. "It's funny, but wrong!"
UPDATE: Suspicions of the play's origins may have been justified after all.
TMZ reports the video was the work of director Marc Klasfeld and Rockhard Films, producers of videos for outrageous music stars Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert. The pop culture site reports the junior version of "Scarface" cast child actors from Los Angeles and an audience of cast family members, colleagues and friends.
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