I see screenwriting as a bit like a math equation which I have to solve.

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

It's not some big event that creates the drama, it's the little things of everyday life that bring about that drama.

The bigger confrontation is the one an individual has with itself.

When I decide to write a story, I don't think too much about what I want it to be, I just let things come naturally and this is how it turns out. It's just how my subconscious works.

I like storytelling, and for storytelling you need a drama. And for there to be drama, you need twists, and by twists I mean the ability to constantly change the trajectory of the story.

I would have had the same narrative, regardless of the atmosphere and the restrictions.

In my opinion when you speak about relationships between people, you are actually talking about everything in their world because everything is contained in that relationship.

One must never tell a child what it is they should display acting.

Poetry, especially traditional Iranian poetry, is very good at looking at things from a number of different angles simultaneously.

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

Lack of money is the root of all evil.

Be frank and explicit. That is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and to confuse the minds of others.

No matter how big and tough a problem may be get rid of confusion by taking one little step toward solution. Do something.

A little learning is a dangerous thing.

My earliest memory is of feeling different. My parents told me that I wasn't like other children.

Judge not unless you judge yourself

He doesn't want you to be real, and to think and to live. He doesn't love you. But I love you. I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and feelings, even when I hold you in my arms.

Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent.

Even in real life, I'd rather hang out with guys.

I think with Blair Witch and The Sixth Sense, people are much more open to something that is different.