Investigate 'Hounddog,' Mukasey told

A federal investigation is being requested by a pro-family organization into the new Dakota Fanning movie "Hounddog," which was made more than a year ago and debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival but kept investors at bay with its graphic sex scenes.

Dakota Fanning in the controversial "Hounddog" film that features a child-rape scene

"This is a body of work that sexualizes children. This movie is rated 'R,' begging the question: If a child cannot see the movie, why should a child star in it?" said a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry Rothenberg.

A copy of the letter also was sent to Empire Film Group, which eventually picked up distribution of the film and whose spokesman Dean Hamilton-Bornstein called it a "coming-of-age drama that deals with serious issues that should resonate with audiences."

"Reportedly, the producer has edited the film from when it aired at the Sundance Festival (a viewing that resulted in people booing and walking out). Yet there is no dispute that these scenes were filmed with minor actors," continued the letter signed by Donna Miller, director of the No More Child Porn campaign, as well as Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, the nation's largest public policy women's group.

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"The producers recently changed their defense from saying that Fanning's nine-year-old character is "celebrating her sexuality" to saying that this film will bring awareness to child rape and received the backing of a 'child support group' with ties to Hollywood and the child actress involved," the letter said. "We request that the Department of Justice investigate those responsible for producing, distributing and making available the movie 'Hounddog.'"

According to a parent-managed IMDB website, there are a number of objectionable scenes involving sex and nudity, including:

• Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) tries to talk a 10-year-old boy into showing her his penis by promising him a kiss if he does so.
  
  
• Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) sits in a tree nude talking to an adult male.
  
  
• Daddy (David Morse) sneaks into Lewellen's (Dakota Fanning) bedroom as Lewellen lays in bed in her underpants. Later on he climbs in her bed nude.
  
  
• A 12-year-old girl watches her father undress.
  
  
• Daddy (David Morse) pleasures himself as his daughter (Dakota Fanning) watches until he completes the act.
  
  
• There are upshots of little girls' underwear, aged 8 and 12.
  
  
• A 12-year-old girl is raped by a young man in the darkness. Screams and a few images are shown.
  
  
• A 10-year-old boy watches a young milkman rape a 12-year-old friend.
  
  
• A 12-year-old girl is told to remove her clothes by a young man (Christoph Sanders) and she then proceeds to do a seductive Elvis dance for him.
  
  
• A 12-year-old ties two nearly nude children together with snakes and forces them to touch one another at gunpoint.
  
  
• Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) stands in front of the full length mirror, takes her clothes off and looks at herself in the mirror.
  
  
• Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) and Buddy (Cody Hanford) have just finished swimming in the creek when they run to a shed and strip naked. They begin kissing and fondling each other.

There are other objectionable factors include violence, gore, profanity, and alcohol and drugs, the report said.

The letter warned the Department of Justice efforts to crack down on child predators and child sexual exploitation would be "handcuffed" if the sexual exploitation of a child is filmed, shown in movie theaters, given tax breaks and excused as "artistic."

WND has reported just a day ago when the founder of Movieguide, a top film-rating organization in Hollywood, joined up with a call for a boycott of "Hounddog" as well as another new movie, "Towelhead," because of the themes involving sex with children.

"These despicable movies promote pedophilia, whether intentionally or unintentionally," said Ted Baehr, who's well known for his Christian Film & Television Commission work. "There should be a massive public outcry against them. The inclusion of children in sexually explicit films is inappropriate. There also is no excuse for the authorities to allow such material to be shown publicly."

Fanning was 12 when she filmed the movie, portraying a sexually active nine-year-old. In "Towelhead," 18-year-old Summer Bishil played a 13-year-old Arab-American girl who has a "sexual obsession."

Miller earlier had raised the issue of taxpayers in North Carolina contributing $387,000 to the production costs of the film.

"Hounddog" director Deborah Kampmeier explained in the film's press kit about Fanning, "She is simply and innocently experiencing and relishing the aliveness of her being, the life force pulsing through her body, celebrating the power and creative force of her sexuality that is her birthright."

"This movie is about a nine-year-old girl, not an adult woman. She should be outside skipping rope or riding her bike, not 'celebrating the power and creative force of her sexuality,'" Miller said.

Baehr was more direct.

"For this gruesome director who has wallowed in perversion to say this is the child exploring her sexuality is insane. It's worse than insane. A child of that age doesn't understand the consequences," he said.

WND broke the story about the controversial movie when there were objections even while it was being made.

Kampmeier already had a reputation for controversial scenes, depicting a young girl who is raped but doesn't remember the attack and believes she is carrying the Christ child in her earlier work, "Virgin."

After its Sundance screening, Rex Gore, the district attorney in Bolivia, N.C., near where much of the movie was filmed, issued a statement to WND that he found "no violation" of the state's obscenity or sexual exploitation laws.

He said the movie was saved by its "artistic value."

"I am aware that there is an outcry from some who find the content of the film disturbing and distasteful. However, public opinion is not the test we must apply as prosecutors; we must apply the law. North Carolina's child exploitation statutes do not apply because none of the acts depicted in the film meet the legal definition of 'sexual activity' under our current law," Gore said at the time.

Baehr didn't hesitate to respond.

"For the state attorney to even suggest that this was art is absolutely insane. He should take a course in art," he said.

Fanning's behavior has been described as more explicit than what was required of Jodie Foster, who as a 12-year-old played a prostitute in "Taxi Driver," a 1976 Martin Scorsese production, or Brooke Shields, who was a New Orleans brothel worker in the "Pretty Baby" movie from 1978.

Blogger Steven Pill said it appears that the public is making its statement already.

"I received a somewhat rueful message of congratulations from Eric Parkinson, the CEO of distribution for Empire Film Group," he wrote recently. "According to him, more than 200 theaters across the country had cancelled their scheduled screenings of the motion picture 'Hounddog,' citing pressure from 'vocal groups.'"

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Previous stories:

Ultimate taboo hits big screen: Sex with children

Dakota Fanning 'rape' movie gets $387,000 from taxpayers

Dakota Fanning 'rape' scheduled for opening

Push for prosecution in Fanning rape movie

Prosecutor: Fanning stayed within law

12-year-old called 'seductive' in movie 'rape'

Dakota Fanning 'raped' in new film

Movie raters: Christian themes won't be factor

Family movies best, Hollywood realizes

Does 'PG' rating mean 'pro-God'?