Argo (2012)

A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran. 

Director: Ben Affleck

Writers: Chris Terrio (screenplay), Joshuah Bearman (article)

Cast:

• Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez
• Bryan Cranston as Jack O'Donnell
• Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel
• John Goodman as John Chambers
• Clea DuVall as Cora Lijek
• Kyle Chandler as Hamilton Jordan
• Victor Garber as Ken Taylor
• Tate Donovan as Bob Anders
• Michael Parks as Jack Kirby
• Tom Lenk as Rodd
• Christopher Stanley as Tom Ahern
• Taylor Schilling as Christine Mendez
• Ashley Wood as Beauty
• Sheila Vand as Sahar
• Chris Messina as Malinov
• Richard Kind as Max Klein
• Titus Welliver as Jon Bates
• Rory Cochrane as Lee Schatz
• Devansh Mehta as Matt Sanders
• Omid Abtahi as Reza
• Scoot McNairy as Joe Stafford
• Kerry Bishé as Kathy Stafford
• Christopher Denham as Mark Lijek
• Karina Logue as Elizabeth Ann Swift
• Bob Gunton as Cyrus Vance (United States Secretary of State)
• Philip Baker Hall as Warren Christopher (United States Deputy Secretary of State) (uncredited)
• Adrienne Barbeau as Nina
• Fouad Hajji as Komiteh

Production: 

Argo is based on the Canadian Caper that took place during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980. Chris Terrio wrote the screenplay based on the 2007 Wired article "How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran" by Joshuah Bearman. Producers George Clooney, Grant Heslov and David Klawans set up a project based on the article in the same year, and Affleck's attachment to the project was announced in February 2011. The following June, Alan Arkin was the first person cast in the film. After the rest of the roles were cast, filming began in Los Angeles, California, in August 2011. Additional filming also took place in McLean, VA, Washington, D.C., and Istanbul.

Archival TV news footage from the era was used throughout the film as in-story exposition. Reflecting the time period of the film, the opening credits use the rolling W Warner Bros. logo that was used by the company from 1972 to 1984 instead of the contemporary "WB" shield logo.

Plot: 

On November 4, 1979, during the Iranian Revolution, a group of young Iranian revolutionaries storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran. This is in retaliation for American support of the recently-deposed Shah. Although most of the Embassy staff are taken hostage, six evade capture. They find sanctuary in the home of Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber).

With the escapees' situation kept secret from the world, the U.S. State Department begins to explore options for "exfiltrating" them from Iran. CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), brought in for consultation, points out the fundamental weaknesses in all of the proposals for how to do so, but is at a loss to suggest an alternative until he gets an idea while watching Battle for the Planet of the Apes on TV with his son: create a cover story that the escapees are Canadian filmmakers, scouting "exotic" locations in Iran for a similar film.

Mendez, and his supervisor Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), contact John Chambers (John Goodman), a Hollywood make-up artist who has previously crafted disguises for the CIA (in addition to his work in the Apes film series). Chambers introduces Mendez to film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin).

Chambers and Seigel create "Studio Six Productions", and successfully establish the pretense of developing Argo, a "science fantasy" in the style of Star Wars. They accrue credibility to the cover story with trade-journal publicity, casting calls, script development, storyboard development, and script read-throughs for the trade press.

The situation in Tehran becomes more tense as the months pass. The American escapees become more and more frantic inside the Canadian ambassador's residence, sometimes having to hide under the floorboards. The Taylor's Iranian housekeeper witnesses a summary execution of a scared civilian by the Revolutionary Guard. Shredded documentation from the U.S. Embassy is being reassembled by child laborers, providing the revolutionaries with evidence that there are embassy personnel unaccounted for.

Mendez enters Iran under an alias and travelling on a Canadian passport. He acquires documentation legitimizing the purported purpose of his visit as a producer for Argo. Mendez meets Taylor at the Embassy of Canada in Tehran. They proceed to the ambassador's home and Mendez explains his plan to the six escapees.

The six Americans are provided genuine Canadian passports sent from Ottawa via diplomatic pouch, having been issued in secrecy by the Government of Canada at the behest of the Central Intelligence Agency, and imprinted with false Iranian visas by the CIA. Mendez also provides extensive, CIA-contrived information about their false identities, to help them convincingly bluff their way through security at the Tehran airport.

Although they are afraid to trust Mendez's scheme, they reluctantly agree to go along with it, knowing that Mendez is risking his own life too, and convinced that it is their only option. A "scouting" visit to the bazaar to maintain their cover story goes somewhat poorly, but Mendez manages to extricate them from the suspicious crowd.

O'Donnell tells Mendez that the operation has been cancelled by the White House to avoid conflicting with a planned military rescue of the hostages. Mendez pushes ahead nevertheless, forcing O'Donnell to hastily demand of his superiors to reactivate logistical support. At the airport there is tension as the escapees' flight reservations are only confirmed at the last minute, a call to the supposed studio in Hollywood at first goes unanswered, and revolutionaries who have uncovered their ruse rush to stop them. But the "Canadians" successfully board the plane, which takes off with revolutionary forces in close pursuit.

Taylor instructs the Canadian Embassy's military attache to destroy encrypted communication equipment and closes the Embassy. Taylor and his wife escape Iran under their own credentials as the operation was underway, as their involvement at that point remained unknown to the Revolutionary Guard. Their Iranian housekeeper, who had known about the Americans, escapes to Iraq.

To protect the hostages remaining in Tehran from further retaliation, all U.S. involvement in the operation is suppressed. Full credit is given to the Canadian government and its ambassador. Mendez is awarded the Intelligence Star, but due to the classified nature of the mission, he is not be able to keep the medal until the mission is declassified and the details made public in 1997.

All the hostages are later freed after 444 days in captivity on January 20, 1981, as Carter leaves office. The film ends with U.S. President Jimmy Carter giving a speech about the events, with screenshots from the film being compared with images of the actual people and events during the crisis upon which the film is based, in order to demonstrate its fidelity to actual history.