Dakota Fanning will star in her most disturbing role to date - a controversial and disturbing new film about a girl who is abused.

The 12-year-old actress has already filmed an explicit scene for Hounddog in which her character is raped, and will appear naked or only partially clothed in several others.

Apparently, the War of the Worlds star's team hope the difficult role might win her an Oscar. Her agent Cindy Osbrink told New York Daily News: "It's not just the rape scene - the whole story is challenging Dakota as an actress And I've never been so proud of her in my life... in every scene she gets better and better."