“Push”ing the Limit

I’m looking forward to the upcoming movie Push. Sure, it’s another “government wants to use super powered people as an army” movie, but for escapist brain candy, it looks like a hoot. I do have one issue, however, which makes me wonder about the director, Paul McGuigan. In a recent interview with Newsarama, he does a good job selling the movie, and making me anticipating it. Then he spouts this bit:

I wouldn’t have done this movie if Dakota (Fanning) said no. I would have just said ‘I’m out of here!’ When I read the script, that’s the only person I thought of. I even read the script four or five times before I said yes. I really enjoyed that I could make Dakota into this little punky, sassy, runt where before she was this sweet little kid. We went for swearing, Cassie drinks, and gets drunk. Her and Chris (Evans) had an amazing chemistry together.

Let me get this straight. Dakota Fanning usually plays the cute little girl, or as McGuigan says, the “sweet little kid”. Now if she wants to fight typecasting, which has dragged down many a child star, I don’t have a problem with it. I’m curious to see how she does. However, to say that he wouldn’t have done the movie unless he could make the “sweet little kid” curse, drink alcohol (presumably), and engage in who knows what other vice (this being Hollywood) disturbs me.

Maybe it’s because of all the other “sweet” people that are either corrupted (Britney Spears) or attacked (Kathy Lee Gilford) by this business. There seems to be a war on wholesome, which is why what shows remain are locked into a handful of stations, as in that Big Hollywood article I linked to Saturday. That doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy the Cassie character, or cry fowl, and it’s not like I’ve really seen Fanning in a movie (I would have see the updated War of the Worlds, but the more I saw and heard of it, and not just critics, it just didn’t impress me enough) to really judge anything. Perhaps if he had said something like:

I really wanted Dakota Fanning, because she just felt right. Nobody would expect such a cute little girl to act the way Cassie does; cursing, drinking, and a regular “smart &$#*”. She just seems like she would be so fun to see in the role, and it would be a great way to get her out of being “typecast” when she was still young enough to prove she could break out past the “sweet kid” character type. So I fought hard to get her on, and luckily I got her.

However, that’s not what he said. And that’s what worries me. Still looking forward to the movie, though.