Interview with Nicole Kidman inspires Iranian writer’s new story

TEHRAN,Aug.1(MNA)-- An online interview with Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman provided inspiration for Iranian playwright and author Chista Yasrebi to write a short story for her collection “Dying Is Not a Good Job for You”. “I conducted the interview with Kidman when I was studying at the University of Ohio,” Yasrebi told the Persian service of MNA on Wednesday. “It was a wonderful interview. In fact, it was a cozy chat between two women: one, a Christian in the United States and the other, a Muslim from Iran,” she added. “Dying Is Not a Good Job for You” contains 37 very short stories about real-life characters, most of whom are Iranian celebrities. “The stories are about my relationships with these persons, who are living in Iran and other countries,” Yasrebi said. However, Yasrebi has changed the names of the characters to protect their privacy. Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi, family members of self-exiled Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and self-exiled Iranian director Bahram Beizaii and his actress wife Mojdeh Shamsaii are some of the people the stories are based on. One of the stories was inspired by Song Il-Guk, the star of the South Korean TV series “Jumong”, which was popular in Iran in 2008. “I did an interview with him in Tehran (in August 2009) when he was visiting Iran,” Yasrebi said. “I wrote this book to speak about how various generations differ greatly in their ways of thinking and in their experiences, and how some of them are much happier than others,” she added. She also said that the book is aimed at readers of all ages and added, “I wrote this book to show the younger generation that what we have today was not achieved easily. By writing this book, I want to say that there are no bad people, there is only bad education.” “Dying Is Not a Good Job for You” will be published by Parmideh in the near future.