Having convinced Russell Crowe to give him the role of Hasan by adding that you will never regret doing this, Yilmaz Erdogan won best supporting actor at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards for this movie.
Director Russell Crowe wanted Cem Yilmaz for the role of Sgt. Jemal because he was very familiar with his talent. In fact they got along so well that Crowe tweeted "Darling Cem you are not funny these days" as a joke in Turkish.
"I'll find them, love. I'll find them and I'll bring them home to you . . . One old chap managed to get here from Australia looking for his son's grave" - was the enigmatic sentence from notations, found in a letter, which became the catalyst for this film.