The Salesman (2016 film) make a film until he decided his protagonists should be stage actors. Part of this decision owed to Farhadi's own background in the theatre, and his desire to re-immerse himself in that atmosphere. He also felt actors had to think of themselves as other people and create empathy, and his male protagonist would be forced to feel empathy for another man. Looking for a play within the film, Farhadi researched the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Henrik Ibsen before finding Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", which he described as "a gift for me". In Miller's play and his script,
Death and the Maiden (play) time, Paulina accuses Roberto of being unrepentant and guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Throughout the play it is uncertain whether details are evidence of Roberto's guilt or Paulina's paranoia. At the end of the play it is unclear who is innocent. "Death and the Maiden" had a reading at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London on 30 November 1990: A workshop production was staged and opened in Santiago, Chile, on 10 March 1991: "Death and the Maiden" had its world premiere at The Royal Court Upstairs on 9 July 1991: With the same cast and director, it transferred to