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Did anyone suggest casting a well-known American or British actor to help give the film wider appeal?

Anthony: The fact that no major movie had been done in this way before, all in the Arabic language, where the entire cast is Iraqi, that was unprecedented on every level. To us it means we’re filling a void that should have been filled a long time ago. That was the creative upside for us.

What types of stories do you hope to tell at AGBO?

Joe: We certainly love telling stories on the Marvel scale, because we do think you can infuse those films with themes that are compelling and interesting and you can reach people all over the world with those stories. But this is who we are. We are politically-minded, global citizens. We are in a difficult time right now where we are divided into two groups: those looking out for themselves and those who are looking out for the community. We want to look out for the community and help tell stories that reflect the community.

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I’ve met you both on the set of Infinity War and written about you many times. Yet, I don’t know what made you want to become filmmakers. How did the Russos wind their way to Hollywood?

Joe: It’s a combination of a few things. We grew up in a big Italian family and we used to sit around the dinner table telling stories. So we have an emotional connection and fondness for that. But, in addition to that, Anthony and I grew up as film academics. We loved watching films and discussing them. So we went through a few cycles. Our father was a late-night movie guy, and we watched (Humphrey) Bogart films with him and action-thrillers like The French Connection. Then, as we got older, there was a teacher who spoke to us in high school about seeing film as art, so there were things like Apocalypse Now and Citizen Kane. When we got into college, we started watching foreign titles and exploring French New Wave cinema and Japanese filmmaking. So we had a layered academic approach to movies, but all of it was built around the conversations we would have after we saw films. But there was a moment in the ‘90s that was sparked in part by (Steven) Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape, where it seemed you could make a movie by maxing out credit cards and we did that.