12 January,2012 09:30 AM IST | | ANI
Rape crisis groups are angry over Kim Novak's assertion that she has been "raped" by the makers of the Oscar contender 'The Artist' because the film used a score from one of her old movies.
Kim Novak. PICs/AFP
Now, the 78-year-old actress's rep has defended the actress' comment and Novak's camp is not offering up any apologies. "There are all kinds of rape including the rape of one's soul," Fox News quoted Novak's long time manager Sue Cameron as saying.
"All rapes are violent acts and all victims should be supported. But Lynn Blanco, the CEO of the Rape Crisis Center in San Antonio, Texas, and herself a victim of rape, disagrees.
"When rape is used in a way that overdramatizes a situation that did not include an actual rape it diminishes the suffering of the thousands of men, women and children who have suffered from the crime," Blanco said.
In a full page ad taken out in the trade magazine Variety, Novak uses the word "rape" to describe how she felt when 'The Artist' used parts of Bernard Herrmann's love theme from the movie 'Vertigo,' which the actress starred in with James Stewart, to score their movie.
"I want to report a rape," Novak said in the ad. "I feel as if my body -- or, at least my body of work - has been violated by the movie, 'The Artist.'
"It is morally wrong for the artistry of our industry to use and abuse famous pieces of work to gain attention and applause for other than what they were intended.'
Blanco said that having an idea stolen is not the same as having your body violated. "We are talking about a horrible and despicable crime," she added.
