Los Angeles, Mar 6: Kim Novak is clarifying why she used the word “rape” to describe how she felt about “The Artist.”
The 79-year-old “Vertigo” actress, who will be honored next month at the TCM Classic Film Festival, says that hearing the score from the Alfred Hitchcock film used in the Oscar-winning silent-film homage reminded her of the same feelings she experienced when she was raped as a child.
Novak, who starred opposite Jimmy Stewart in the 1958 thriller, said in a statement released in January that she “wanted to report a rape” and that “The Artist” filmmakers had no reason “to depend on Bernard Herrmann's score from ‘Vertigo' to provide more drama.”
Novak's comments drew criticism from rape crisis groups, who noted that plagiarism was not the same as sexual assault.
