Correction Appended
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 2 ? The ?Kite Runner? boys are safely out of Kabul. After months of worrying and diplomatic wrangling from half a world away, the movie studio that is releasing the tale of childhood betrayal, ethnic tension and sexual predation in Afghanistan has whisked to safety four young actors. They were feared to be vulnerable to reprisal because of the film?s depiction of a culturally inflammatory rape scene.
Whisked from Kabul: Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, left, as Hassan and Zekiria Ebrahimi as Amir in “The Kite Runner.”
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The boys, each accompanied by a relative, arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Friday just after 3 a.m. Eastern time, said officials working with the studio, Paramount Pictures. The movie?s release had been delayed by six weeks to allow time for them to be relocated. It will open on Dec. 14 in 30 markets.
?I can?t really tell you what a weight came off when they landed safely,? said Megan Colligan, a Paramount marketing executive involved in the effort. The group exodus from Kabul did not come in time for the boys to obtain visas and attend the ?Kite Runner? premiere, which will take place on Tuesday night at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. But Paramount executives and others involved in the relocation effort still hope to bring the co-stars to the United States to be honored somehow and to grant their wish to visit as tourists.
?We owe these kids some carefree moments as children after everything that has gone around them,? said Rich Klein, a Middle East specialist at the consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates, who was hired by the studio.
?The Kite Runner,? like the best-selling novel on which it is based, spans three decades of Afghan strife and centers on the friendship between Amir, a wealthy Pashtun boy played by Zekiria Ebrahimi, who is now 11, and Hassan, the Hazara son of his father?s servant. In a pivotal scene Hassan, played by Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, now 13, is raped in an alley by a Pashtun bully. Later, Sohrab, a Hazara boy played by Ali Danish Bakhty Ari, now also 13, is preyed upon by a corrupt Taliban official.
The young actors have already received widespread praise. In The New York Times, Karen Durbin wrote that Ahmad Khan?s portrayal ?ranks among the great child performances on film.?
The director Marc Forster strove for authenticity in casting unknown boys in Kabul for the film, which was shot mainly in China last year. But in January alarms went off at Paramount when Ahmad Khan and his father said they feared reprisals. With violence worsening, even Afghan government officials urged that one or more of the boys be removed from the country, at least temporarily. The studio decided to move the three child actors as well as a fourth, Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada, now 14, who played a smaller role but became friends with the others.
Months of spadework by at least 20 studio executives, relief workers, diplomats and even a former C.I.A. counterterrorism operative culminated last week when the boys, who were in the midst of final exams, obtained visas and boarded a plane for the United Arab Emirates.
Paramount is putting them up at a luxury hotel until more permanent housing and jobs for their guardians can be found; the boys are to attend a school with other Afghan students. The studio is also paying a per diem to relatives left behind in Kabul, and has offered to keep the entire arrangement in place long enough for the boys to graduate from high school if they choose to stay.
Studio executives asked that the specific city in the United Arab Emirates not be named, saying unwanted media attention could make it difficult for the boys to adjust to their new surroundings and could even complicate efforts to extend their temporary visas there. Other news outlets already intend to report on the boys? location, said a consultant to Paramount, who insisted on anonymity because he had not been authorized by the studio to speak on the matter: ?People are being excessively aggressive. I understand the interest, but there?s something bigger at stake here. The best possible outcome would be in 20 years to see a where-are-they-now piece on VH1.?
Still, Paramount is considering ways to involve the boys in celebrating the film if they are able to get to the United States, or ways to bring the celebration to them, even if it?s just a round of applause at a screening.
?It?d be great to give them an opportunity to walk onto the stage and feel appreciated for the movie that they made,? Ms. Colligan said. ?They have no idea how much they are affecting people.?
Correction: December 4, 2007
An article in The Arts yesterday about the resettlement in the