Because I write the screenplay entirely and precisely, there is the danger that an actor might feel that this finite role is being imposed on them. I want the actors to feel that this is their own role, and that they can go back to point zero and develop this character.

One of the biggest blessings in my life is that I have a very wonderful family, a lovely wife and two lovely daughters.

It was important to me to make a film where I don't show the past but where the spectators can see the past.

I gained a great deal from the period during which I worked in theater and I value those things a great deal.

The fact is I'm not making a film in order to draw pictures or make images about Iran.

These days, more than any other time, we are worried about our personal life, our private life. When we talk about our private life, it means our home, our body even. It seems that when we want to have calmness in this world, we make a wall around us. This gives us a very calm environment, and when we feel that somebody is intruding into that, it makes us very angry and we feel we have to do something about it.

Working with children is very different than the way in which I work with adults. I never tell the children the actual truth of the thing that I want them to act. Although children are really into play and play acting, and this is a major part of their existence, they never actually find the playing or acting of adults credible.