MOVIE mojo: Dakota steps outside box in 'Hounddog'

The film's distributor, Empire Film Group, had hoped for a PG-13 rating, especially since the bulk of the sexual assault is suggested and not actually shown. But this week the film received an R rating for "a disturbing sexual assault of a young girl, and brief sexuality."

"Hounddog" was completed when Fanning was 12 and debuted at Sundance in 2007. Several critics immediately pounced on the film.

Salon.com's Andrew O'Hehir wrote bluntly, "I'm astonished that anyone would try to pass this movie off as artistically or socially meaningful." Variety's Todd McCarthy called it "an indigestible gumbo of Southern Gothic ingredients seasoned with snake oil, biblical hash and thoroughly unpalatable spice."

Set in the 1950s, the film is steeped in the poor, rural commonalities of torn wallpaper, ratty hair, crickets, cicadas and rain pounding on a tin roof.

Fanning sings parts of several songs, including "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Can't Help Falling in Love."

Her co-stars comprise a list of formidable names, including multiple Oscar nominee Piper Laurie as her grandmother (she spouts lines like "Stop that devil music!"), David Morse as her father (his character is struck by lightning and, in at least one later scene, staggers around in the nude), and Atlanta actor Afemo Omilami as her protector (his advice: "There's more to fill up that emptiness than Elvis.").

One bit of caution: The film is replete with snakes. They crawl all over Fanning, symbolizing her character's choked spirit.

LIGHTS . . . CAMERA . . . ACTION: Hollywood actor Dean Cain (best known for TV's "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") is expected in Georgia next month to film the drama "Our Child Is Missing" in Carroll County.

"Missing" is a planned faith-based project from Red Five Entertainment. The story is based on a real-life 2000 event involving a communitywide search for a missing 2-year-old boy. Filming is expected to begin Feb. 23 and last four weeks.

Meanwhile, Tapestry Films is in Atlanta this month filming a third "Van Wilder" movie at Agnes Scott College.

AND THE WINNER IS . . . This month, metro Atlanta filmmaker Crystle "Clear" Roberson was the people's choice winner in the Chase Legacy of Homeownership Film Challenge for her made-in-Atlanta short "Next Door's Next." She received a $2,500 filmstock certificate from Kodak. The contest included filmmakers from Atlanta, Houston, Chicago and New York. To watch Roberson's film: www.blackfilm.com/chasefilmchallenge/nextdoorsnext.html.