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September 5, 2008 8:38:38 PM CDT

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Kite Runner Kids Flee Country

Posted Dec 4, 07 2:26 PM CST in Arts & Living,  World 

(Newser) – Four child stars of the upcoming movie The Kite Runner have been whisked out of their native Afghanistan to protect them from possible backlash over a rape scene in the movie, the Guardian reports. Paramount Pictures helped relocate the boys to the United Arab Emirates after months of worry and complaints from parents, who say they thought the film was about kite flying.

Paramount has acknowledged it erred in hiring local actors, and a spokesman said the impact of the intertribal rape scene "was not fully understood in terms of Afghan culture and history." The kids' performances are nothing to apologize about, however—critics laud the young actors as a bright spot in the film adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's book.

Source Guardian (UK)

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The performances of child actors in The Kite Runner have been critically hailed, but they were relocated outside Afghanistan following fear of reprisal over a rape scene in the movie.   (%uFFFD Paramount Vantage)
Khaled Hosseini, the Afghan-American author of the novel "The Kite Runner," poses at his home in San Jose, Calif., in this Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005, file photo. Hosseini is applauding the delayed release...   (Associated Press)
From left, actors Atossa Leoni, Khalid Abdalla, Homayon Ershadi and author Khaled Hosseini arrive at "The Kite Runner" post screening dinner party at the Bon Appetit Supper Club, Monday Oct. 29, 2007...   (Associated Press)
The performances of child actors in The Kite Runner have been critically hailed, but they were relocated outside Afghanistan following fear of reprisal over a rape scene in the movie.   (%uFFFD Paramount Vantage)
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Afghanistan  • movie  • rape  • actor  • sectarian violence  • Kite Runner  • Khaled Hosseini


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