It is very rare that you get to understand the workings of a creative mind, and rarer still to have them share their insights. Recently we were fortunate to have a vital discussion with none other than the Iranian genius Asghar Farhadi himself.
His film, THE SALESMAN has been the talk of the town for their vehement rebuke of the Trump administration and the immigration ban. While the film has been collecting accolades all across the globe, we wanted to know how the impeccable characterizations fell in place for the Farhadi.
Speaking about it, Farhadi said, “I have an actor in mind for each of the characters you see. The actors go and build their own backstory, sometimes we end up discussing them, and sometimes they’re quite different. Where those differences don’t affect the character in any major way, I let that stand. Anywhere where it does change the character in any major way, I’ll ask them to change it.
“I remember when I was talking to Taraneh Alidoosti who needed to flesh out her character’s backstory in her mind, she asked, ‘Why doesn’t she live with her family?’ In the story that I had in mind for her, this girl’s family lived in a different city. When I told her this, Taraneh said, ‘Now, I have to go and work differently on this character because she’s from the provinces’” he elaborated.
The Salesman, will release in India on 31st March, 2017. The Salesman has bagged the Oscar for best foreign-language film this year, and also won the Best Screenplay and Best Actor Award in Festival De Cannes last year. The Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi had earlier also won an Oscar for his film Separation.
About The Salesman
The Salesman, written and directed by ASGHAR FARHADI, featuring Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti is about a couple who are forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building, Emad and Rana move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant will dramatically change the young couple’s life.