How was it meeting the Mongolian president?
In the beginning of the production, there were a lot of emotions involved. In Mongolia, when it was a Soviet almost state, [Genghis Khan’s] name was forbidden. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the opposite happened– he became a god. It’s impossible to make a movie about God, and that was not my intention. So I said, look, I will make this movie anyway. I took a lot of Mongolians to work on it. It’s still mixed reactions, but some people like it. The Mongolian president, he was an intelligent man. After the movie finished he wanted to see it. It’s a big promotion for Mongolia. Why did the epic, sweeping shots feel necessary for telling your story? Because I think it’s a great story. For me, it was the scope, the open space. Were there any epic kinds of movies, like Lawrence of Arabia, that inspired you? It’s difficult now even to compare, because now some people even don’t believe that it’s real. They say, oh, it’s CGI. I say, no, it’s not CGI. What did you think of the Oscar attention
