Kite Runner author backs film delay
The Kite Runner opens in the UK on Boxing Day
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Wednesday, 17, Oct 2007 03:58
Bestselling writer Khaled Hosseini has backed the decision to delay the film adaptation of his novel The Kite Runner due to concerns over the stars' safety.
The release date has been pushed back by six weeks after studio Paramount Vantage responded to fears expressed by three young Afghan stars of the film.
The three actors are involved in a homosexual rape scene in the film and have said it could result in their being targeted within their own country.
Hosseini told the San Francisco Chronicle that postponing the movie's release and arranging for the three families concerned to move abroad was an essential move by the studio.
"Afghanistan has become a pretty violent place," he said. "If the boys and their families think there is a reasonable risk of threat to them, then you have to take all of the steps that you can to make sure they are okay."
He added: "I applaud the studio for delaying the release of the film even though it goes against whatever commercial wisdom there is."
However, Hosseini - who shot to fame after his debut novel The Kite Runner was released in 2003 - stressed that the scene in question would remain in the film's final cut.
"Without that moment, the tower of cards really falls apart," he said.
"[The movie] denounces bigotry, it denounces violence, hatred and discrimination," he added. "I don't think anyone who walks out of that film does not understand that."
The Kite Runner - which tells the story of a young Afghan boy living through the rise of the Taliban - will now be released in the US on December 14th, though its Boxing Day release in the UK is not due to be changed as of yet.