Layout supervisor Rasoul Azadani traveled to his hometown of Isfahan, Iran in 1991 to get a feel for the look of the film Aladdin. He took nearly two thousand pictures there. His name was supposed to be the incantation Jafar used when he approached the Cave of Wonders, but the idea was written out so as not to be such an in-joke. However, in The Return of Jafar (1994), the (here nameless) captain of the guards was eventually named in his honor.
"My parents, brother, and I left Iran in 1980, shortly after the revolution. After a brief stay in Italy, we packed all our belongings once again and headed west to the exotic and the unknown: Vancouver. We had recently been accepted as landed immigrants, meaning Canada graciously opened its doors and we gratefully accepted; we arrived at Vancouver International Airport on my 10th birthday, three suitcases and one sewing machine in tow. After respectful but intense questioning at immigration, we were dropped off at a hotel on Robson Street, which was then still a couple years shy of becoming the fashionable tourist hub it is today. We were jetlagged, culture shocked, and hungry, so that first night, my father and brother courageously ventured out into the wild in search of provisions. I fell asleep before they returned. The next morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. and ravenously feasted on a cold Quarter Pounder with cheese and limp French fries that had been left by my beds...

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