The Style Depends On The Subject.

It Was Really Bizarre, That Sabzian Business. You Know I Had No Interest In Being Photographed Before This Incident. But Then Not Just Sabzian—many Other People Started Pretending They Were Me! One Of Them Actually Got Married While Pretending He Was Me! My Face Became Publicly Recognizable Soon After I Decided To Have A Few Photographs Of Me Available In Public To Prevent These Sorts Of Identity Thefts. It Is Really Pathetic, If You Think Of It. Filmmakers And Filmmaking Is So Popular In Iran Because All Other Forms Of Expression Have Been Denied To People.

But Also, There Are No Films Being Made About Afghanistan.

I'm Not Playing Myself. It's A Symbolic Situation, Where I Want To Introduce A Fascist Behind The Table. I Couldn't Have Had Anybody Else Do That; For It To Be Successful, I Had To Do It Myself.

I Was In Jail Four And A Half Years. When I Came Out, I Continued The Same Struggle Against Injustice, But Instead Of Using Weapons, I Began To Use Art And Cinema.

In Many Ways, It Is Very Real, Because I Sat There For 9 Days, And It Was Constantly Happening, And That Was The 9 Days Of Making The Film. But You Can't Say That It's 100% True, Because There Are Places Where I've Been Intrusive And Interfered.