Renown Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan paid homage to the master of Spaghetti westerns, Sergio Leone, when he named his 2011 film after Once Upon a Time in the West (1969). Both films are short on dialogue and long on facial expressions, the directors believing that sculptured facial close ups tell a rich story. Ceylan was also influenced by Russian director Tarkovsky, known for expansive time sequences in his films.
