Farhadi was so taken by this project that he decided to stop his ongoing project in Spain with Penelope Cruz and return to Iran to shoot this movie in his home country.
The movie broke the opening weekend box office record in Iran.
A few days after the Oscar nominations were announced and the movie was included among the five nominees as Best Foreign Language Film, Asghar Farhadi made a statement that he would not attend the ceremony due to Donald Trump's executive order barring Iranians from entering in U.S. When the Oscar was awarded to the film, Anousheh Ansari read his prepared statement during the acceptance speech: "I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. Dividing the world into the us and our enemies categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which themselves have been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others - an empathy that we need today more than ever."
This is the 4th movie directed by Asghar Farhadi to be chosen as Iran's submission for the Academy Award for 'Best Foreign Language Film'.
The previous movies were About Elly (2009), A Separation (2011), and The Past (2013).
A Separation and The Salesman were nominated for the Oscar; both ended up winning.
A Separation and The Salesman were nominated for the Oscar; both ended up winning.
The original Persian title is "Forushande," which means "The Salesman." Because of the French film "Le Vendeur," which also means "The Salesman," the French title was changed to "Le Client," which means "The Customer." This version of the title has also been used in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Peru, and Poland. In Brazil, the film is called "O Apartamento" ("The Apartment").