I never really learned photography.

I only make notes, I don't write dialogues in full. And the notes are very much based on my knowledge of person.

I didn't just see myself as a film director here [in Life And Nothing More], but also as an observer of people who had been condemned to death.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

Close-Up has affected later films that I've made.

Unfortunately, cinema critics are very few in America, 400-500 people, but there are more critics of Iran.

I think the contrast between these two in the professional world of cinema mattered to me. One who has reached the ultimate point of being a star, who knows how to do everything very well, facing another person who would throughout the making of the film transfer his anxiety to both of us, to me and to Juliette, as to whether or not he would be capable of fulfilling his role. This in itself created a challenge that was actually very good for me, since I hadn't ever counterposed two such performers before, creating that challenge between someone who knows their part and someone who doesn't.