The May 14 letter to writer-director-producer Wayne Kramer began on an upbeat note: "Congratulations on commencing the production of your upcoming film, 'Crossing Over.' From the details I have gathered thus far, the story line is compelling."
But the president of the National Iranian American Council, Trita Parsi, soon got to the point: "I have serious concerns about the portrayal of Iranian-Americans in this film. The possible depiction of Iranian-Americans carrying out an honor killing in America is unfounded and potentially harmful."
What concerned the NIAC was that interwoven in the searing and often poignant story about the hot-button issue of immigration in Los Angeles was a key subplot involving Harrison Ford, who costars with Sean Penn and Ashley Judd. In an early draft of the script, Ford played a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who discovers that an Iranian American man has killed his sister to uphold his family's honor after learning she was having an affair with a Latino man.
Citing findings by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Parsi informed Kramer that there was no statistical evidence of "honor killings" having occurred either in Iran or among Iranian Americans living in the U.S. If left uncorrected, Parsi's letter continued, "the film will generate serious backlash against the Iranian-American community, further punishing a population that has been increasingly the target of discrimination and derogatory portrayals in this time of escalated tension between the U.S. and Iran."
Since the film was about immigration -- not honor killings -- the filmmakers did not want the issue to become a distraction.
"This is a very serious piece, and we wanted it to be accurate," recalled Frank Marshall, who is producing the film with Kramer for the Weinstein Co. "So Wayne rewrote a couple of scenes to take out any doubt [whether] . . . it was an honor killing."
Not enough
Kramer allowed the group to review his script revisions. Parsi said his staff felt the first updated script they reviewed didn't go far enough in addressing their concerns, and they sent Kramer a detailed analysis with their suggestions. Kramer sent a second revision, Parsi said, which did meet with their approval.
"We never threatened them or tried to force them to do anything," Parsi said.
