Actor Sunny Pawar, the wide-eyed 8-year-old Indian boy in Hollywood film "Lion," has not got his Visa and cannot come to the US to be part of the promotional rollout for the Oscar-hopeful drama.
Pawar was originally supposed to fly to Los Angeles this week with his father, Dilip, to attend the film's screening at AFI. He was then going to travel to New York City for "Lion's" premiere at the Museum of Modern Art.
The Weinstein Co., the studio behind the film, which stars Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel, has positioned Pawar as a possible best actor Oscar candidate and had been trying to arrange his travel to the US.
"We are devastated that Sunny, an 8-year-old boy who is part of this amazing film and who is garnering such strong reactions from his performance, cannot be here to be a part of this experience," said David Glasser, Weinstein Co. President and COO, in a statement to Variety.
"We are doing everything we can to fight this; we believe it must be the effect of immigration paranoia. He, of course, poses absolutely no threat to anyone. We want him to be a part of the celebration of this film and his performance. We fully intend to go through the proper resources and appeal with the State Department for assistance."
"Lion" is the story of Saroo Brierley, an Australian man who uses Google Earth to find the family that he was separated from in India.
Pawar commands the screen for much of the film's first hour, playing Saroo as a five-year-old lost on the streets of Calcutta. It marks his first screen role, one that's already earned him raves.
"Lion" screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, but Pawar did not attend.
Pawar and his father still need to undergo an interview before they can get a visa. The Weinstein Co. Is reaching out to contacts in India to try to see if they can expedite the process, but in order for Pawar to make Friday's screening. That seems unlikely given the short time frame.
The US Consulate in Mumbai hasn't told the studio why they won't give Pawar a visa, but Weinstein Co. Executives have been told privately that they may be struggling to get permission because of immigration concerns.
The Weinstein Co. Has tapped David Boies, founding partner of Boies Schiller & Flexner and one of the attorneys who argued for passing marriage equality before the US Supreme Court, to help with the matter.
"'Lion' is a true story of love, inclusiveness, and human commitment unbounded by race, religion, or ethnicity," Boies said in a statement.
"The government's preventing the 8-year-old star of that movie from visiting this country shows how much we need to be reminded that those are our nation's core values."
"Lion" opens on November 25 in limited release.
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