We're living in a time period where if a kid is on a plastic scooter that's one inch off the ground, mom and dad think he should have a helmet on. I don't think they should have a helmet on. They should break their leg and have an imagination. Otherwise, we're going to have a nation of accountants.

I'm not going to read reviews like, "I have to do these things." Any good criticism makes you think about your own films and about cinema in general.

I like to give the actors the freedom, and they know they have the freedom, to change anything they want at any time.

So much can be learned by any filmmaker by studying his work, in terms of blocking, staging, editing and sound.

I believe in the utmost importance of one human being's actions toward another. This is actually what I believe in. How we handle one another, that's what makes us feel isolated, feel like outsiders sometimes. These questions are overwhelming. "What do you do in this world?" I believe in that more than anything.

We're living in a world that says that if you engage in mass fraud, you'll be rewarded, but if you go down the street and steal an orange juice, you get arrested.

I like poetry, but honestly, I like dramatic literature more. If I had to pick between Rumi and Dostoevsky, I would pick Dostoevsky without even thinking about it. Ninety-nine out of 100 Iranians would probably pick Rumi. Kiarostami, too, would probably pick Rumi first. I try to have the meaning be in the action of the story, not in the symbolism. I want it to be in the action, and it's dramatic action that creates the meaning.