This Iranian Director Skipped the Oscars, but He Sent a Pretty Epic Replacement

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi skipped the Oscars this year because of Donald Trump's travel ban, so he was absent when his film The Salesman won. Since he planned on not attending the ceremony, Farhadi had two very specific individuals lined up to accept the award and read a statement on his behalf. Their names are Anousheh Ansari and Dr. Firouz Naderi, but who exactly are they, and why did they take the stage in Farhadi's stead?

Backstage in the press room, Naderi explained why they had been charged with the task of accepting the award, and things got deep. "I think the reason that he chose the two of us," he explained, "she is an astronaut. She has gone to the space station. I work for NASA. I have managed NASA's Mars program and solar system. I think the reason is that if you go away from the Earth and look back at the Earth, you don't see any of the borders, any of the lines. You just see one whole beautiful Earth, and I think the reason that he selected the two of us was to basically convey that message." Damn.