The Argo script was written by Chris Terrio, based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape,” by Joshuah Bearman.
Based on real events, the dramatic thriller “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis, focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played—information that was not declassified until many years after the event.
Academy Award® winner Ben Affleck (“The Town,” “Good Will Hunting”) directs and stars in the film, which is produced by Oscar® nominee Grant Heslov (“Good Night, and Good Luck.”), Affleck, and Oscar® winner George Clooney (“Syriana”).
Argo movie trailer
On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top “exfiltration” specialist, Tony Mendez, to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.
“Argo” also stars Bryan Cranston (TV’s “Breaking Bad”), Oscar® winner Alan Arkin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), and John Goodman (“Trouble With the Curve”). The main cast also includes Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishé, Kyle Chandler and Chris Messina.
Affleck directed the film from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape,” by Joshuah Bearman.
Argo script
Argo script pdf – Argo movie script pdf download
David Klawans, Nina Wolarsky, Chris Brigham, Chay Carter, Graham King and Tim Headington are the executive producers, with Amy Herman co-producing.
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar®-nominated director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (“Brokeback Mountain”), production designer Sharon Seymour (“The Town”); Oscar®-nominated editor William Goldenberg (“Seabiscuit,” “The Insider”); and Oscar®-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (“The Social Network,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”). The music is composed by four-time Oscar® nominee Alexandre Desplat (“The King’s Speech,” “The Queen”).
Filming on “Argo” was accomplished in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Istanbul.
About the Production of Argo
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In 1980, Studio Six Productions trumpeted a new film project that had the elements of a hit sci-fi movie: spa ceships, aliens, action and adventure, all happening on an arid, distant planet. Billed as a “cosmic conflagration,” the epic feature was never greenlit by any studio chief. It could only be given a green light by the country’s Commander in Chief.
Ben Affleck discusses the production of Argo
More than 30 years later, Ben Affleck directed, produced and stars in “Argo,” a film based on the true story of the covert mission to rescue six Americans trapped in Iran, following the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that shocked the world.
Affleck explains, “Tony was friends with a famous makeup artist named John Chambers and knew it was a viable prospect for movie people to be traveling around, checking out different locations. He came up with an idea no one else would ever have thought of.”
Screenwriter Chris Terrio was entrusted with turning this rescue operation into a script and went right to the source. He reveals, “When I read the article, I was riveted, and I was especially curious about Tony Mendez, about what kind of guy could think outside the box enough to come up with this plan and then undertake it. If I had pitched this as an original concept, brows would furrow and people would say, ‘No audience will ever believe that.’ But Tony managed to convince the United States government to attempt
The Toughest Scene I Wrote: Screenwriter Chris Terrio on Argo script
Chris Terrio discusses a tonally tricky scene from Argo:
One of the more common critiques of a screenplay one is likely to hear in Hollywood is that a script has “too many men in rooms talking” (which always strikes me as bizarre, since roughly two thirds of The Godfather consists of men in rooms talking. Taken to heart, this note would have given us the tarantella and not “I believe in America” as the opening of the greatest Hollywood film ever made).
I knew before I even attempted to write what became Scene 58 ofArgo — a scene of nine men sitting in a conference room talking through various scenarios for a cover story to get Americans out of Iran — that the scene would be more difficult to pull off than any of the more (ostensibly) complicated set pieces in the film.