Argo
2012 · United States · 120 min
- Director
- Ben Affleck
- Screenplay
- Chris Terrio, Tony Mendez, Joshuah Bearman
- Producer
- George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Grant Heslov
- Music
- Alexandre Desplat
- Cinematography
- Rodrigo Prieto
- Editing
- William Goldenberg
- Production company
- Warner Bros. Entertainment, GK Films, Smokehouse Pictures
Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture; Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay; BAFTA Award for Best Film; Academy Award for Best Film Editing; César Award for Best Foreign Film; National Board of Review: Top Ten Films… · 8 nominations
Cast
What it is about
Argo is a 2012 American film directed by Ben Affleck, who also stars in it, set during the Iran hostage crisis. After the storming of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979, six American staff members manage to escape and take refuge in the residence of the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor. While the State Department searches for a way to get them out of the country, the CIA turns to Tony Mendez, an exfiltration specialist played by Affleck, whose first ideas are dismissed as unrealistic. Mendez then proposes an unconventional plan: to present the refugees as members of a Canadian film crew scouting locations in Iran for a science-fiction movie. To make the cover credible, he needs the help of a Hollywood make-up artist, John Chambers, and a producer, Lester Siegel, with whom he sets up a fake production company and a project called Argo. The film follows Mendez on his journey to Tehran and the six Americans, who must learn their new identities while surveillance in the city tightens. The tone mixes the espionage thriller with a dry humour rooted in the film business, and the movie keeps that balance with considerable ease throughout.
How it was made
The project grew out of a 2007 article by Joshuah Bearman in Wired magazine about the so-called Canadian Caper, the CIA rescue operation carried out during the hostage crisis. That same year, producers George Clooney, Grant Heslov and David Klawans set up a project based on the piece. For the screenplay, Chris Terrio drew on the article and on Tony Mendez's 1999 memoir, The Master of Disguise. Ben Affleck's involvement as director and star was announced in February 2011, and in June of that year Alan Arkin became the first actor cast. Filming began in Los Angeles in August 2011 and continued in McLean, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Istanbul. The scene in which Mendez arrives at CIA headquarters was shot with permission at the agency's original building in Virginia, while the other CIA scenes were filmed in the basement of the Los Angeles Times Building. As a period piece, the film used archival news footage from ABC, CBS and NBC, and included songs of the era, among them 'Sultans of Swing' by Dire Straits and 'When the Levee Breaks' by Led Zeppelin. It also contains a recognised anachronism, since 'Little T&A' by The Rolling Stones was not released until the following year. Warner Bros. opened the film with its 1972 to 1984 logo, and the studio's famous water tower was painted with the name The Burbank Studios, the facility's name in the 1970s and 1980s, when Warner shared it with Columbia Pictures. The cover story used by the CIA was based on a script adapted from Roger Zelazny's 1967 novel Lord of Light, which producer Barry Geller had tried to film years earlier under its original title. According to Mendez, the fake Hollywood office he helped create, Studio Six, was so convincing that weeks after the rescue, 26 scripts still arrived at its address, including one from Steven Spielberg. The score was composed by Alexandre Desplat. In 2016, a report by Vice, based on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, stated that the CIA had been involved in the film's production, as it had been with several other American entertainment productions.
Reception and legacy
Critics responded very positively. On Rotten Tomatoes, 96 percent of the 254 reviews counted were positive, and on Metacritic the film averaged 86 out of 100 across 45 reviews, a score usually described as universal acclaim. Praise focused on Affleck's direction, Terrio's screenplay, the editing and the score. The film was previewed at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where several critics argued that it exaggerated the CIA's role and played down that of the Canadian government, especially that of Ambassador Taylor. Maclean's went as far as to say that the film rewrote history at Canada's expense. After the controversy, Affleck changed the closing text to acknowledge the Canadian embassy's role more clearly, though the Toronto Star felt that even this did not do Canada justice. Former president Jimmy Carter commented on the dispute in a CNN interview, and Taylor himself said that Canada had been primarily responsible for the rescue. In 2013, New Zealand's House of Representatives censured Affleck over the way the film portrayed the British and New Zealand embassies, whose diplomats had in fact helped the Americans. Other inaccuracies raised by critics include a last-minute cancellation of the mission that reportedly lasted only about half an hour, a chase at take-off that did not take place, and the absence of any confrontation at the departure gate. At the Oscars, the film won three awards, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing, out of seven nominations. It also won the BAFTA for Best Film and, according to the sources, the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director. Michelle Obama presented the Best Picture award. Its worldwide box office exceeded 232 million dollars. In Iran, the film drew criticism from the media and politicians, who considered it distorted and anti-Iranian. Its legacy is associated with a sober, tightly paced historical thriller, and it is also remembered for the debate over Affleck's omission from the Best Director nominees.
Stills
Trailer
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