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'Scarface' video features children

By Ninette Sosa, CNN
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Little kids reenact 'Scarface'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Video is brainchild of producer Marc Klasfeld of Rockhard Films
  • Klasfeld: Video shows pervasiveness of sex and violence in media culture
  • Children in the video are between the ages of 7 and 10

(CNN) -- The delivery isn't the smoothest, the guns are obviously fake and some of the language has been changed to avoid offending young ears. And the death scene -- well, it's one of the most comical since Brad Pitt's big bounce at the beginning of "Meet Joe Black."

"Can't you stop staying fudge all the time, Tony?" a tiny and angry Elvira Hancock says to pint-sized Cuban druglord Tony Montana. "You do coke and you kill people. That's wonderful, Tony ... I'm leaving you, mother-fudger!"

Yes, it's "Scarface," but not director Brian DePalma's remake of the 1932 gangster film. And the diminutive actors are children -- elementary-age children. They're appearing in one of the hottest current viral videos, "Scarface: The School Play."

Watch the video

But it's not really a school play, says producer Marc Klasfeld of Rockhard Films. It's just a video aimed at illustrating the pervasiveness of sex and violence in our media culture -- and how it blankets children on a daily basis.

Klasfeld, a commercial and music video director, says his first love is viral videos.

Producer Marc Klasfeld said his video makes a statement on the pervasiveness of sex and violence in media.
Producer Marc Klasfeld said his video makes a statement on the pervasiveness of sex and violence in media.

"I love the aesthetics, and it's a brand new avenue of expression for filmmakers to express themselves freely," says Klasfeld, whose previous video statements include "Hammer Pants Dance" for A&E, featuring a group of people invading a clothing store in gold lame "Hammer pants" -- a la M.C. Hammer, circa 1989 -- and dancing, much to the surprise of shoppers.

OK, but Scarface? With children?

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"It's the most in comedy and satire and opposite attracts," he said. "What is the most opposite film there is to children? It's Scarface."

With two young children, Klasfeld said the issue of what is and isn't permissible in media content is a key issue. The Scarface video, he said, might launch a dialog.

"What's interesting to me and my wife is that the video is shocking, yet everyday, we have to guard what our children view from television commercials or video game violence," he said. "So, it's interesting to me on a lot of levels and it's creating that debate."

The children in the video are between the ages of 7 and 10, Klasfeld said. He collaborated with a Los Angeles, California, casting director, with whom he's worked on several projects, to find talented children for the video.

The children's parents, he said, have not complained about the content, but then again, the casting was in Hollywood, where "we're asked to do all sorts of things."

"Obviously there are people who find it outrageous and provocative, but there are a lot of parents, who are like me and my wife, who see all the violence on television and all the different things that are sold to children and that's a thousand times worse than this video."