85th Academy Awards · 2013
Argo
Directed byCooked up by Ben Affleck
“The movie was fake. The mission was real.”
“Fake movie, real rescue. Spy rizz unlocked 🎬✈️”
The storyThe lore 📖
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
Iran, 1979: six American diplomats are hiding after the U.S. embassy is taken over. CIA agent Tony Mendez comes up with the most delulu plan ever — pretend they're a Canadian film crew scouting a fake sci-fi movie called Argo. It's based on a true story, and the airport scene had me holding my breath, no cap ✈️😬
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
96%
Fresh
#17 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
Reporter: Then what does "Argo" mean?
Lester Siegel: It means, Argo fuck yourself.
If I'm going to make a fake movie, it's going to be a fake hit.
Stansfield Turner: You don't have a better bad idea than this?
Jack O'Donnell: This is the best bad idea we have, sir. By far.
If we wanted applause, we would have joined the circus.
I think my story's the only thing between you and a gun to your head.
The United States government just sanctioned your science fiction movie.
We did suicide missions in the army that had better odds than this.
You want to lie to Hollywood, a town where everybody lies for a living.
Sir, exfils are like abortions. You don't want to need one, but when you do, you don't do it yourself.
Lester Siegel: The saying goes, "What starts in farce ends in tragedy."
John Chambers: No, it's the other way around.
Lester Siegel: Who said that exactly?
John Chambers: Marx.
Lester Siegel: Groucho said that?
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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Los Angeles Times Building
Los Angeles, California
Its basement hosted every CIA scene except Mendez’s arrival, with filming starting in Los Angeles in August 2011.
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CIA Original Headquarters Building
McLean, Virginia
Filmed with permission for the shot of Mendez driving up to and walking into the CIA headquarters lobby.
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Istanbul
Turkey
One of the additional filming locations used beyond the main Los Angeles shoot.
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Washington, D.C.
United States
Hosted additional filming after the production began in Los Angeles.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- According to Tony Mendez, the CIA's phony Hollywood production office, Studio Six, was so convincing that 26 scripts were delivered to it weeks after the rescue, including one from Steven Spielberg.Wikipedia · Filming
- The CIA's fake movie was really an adaptation of Roger Zelazny's novel Lord of Light. After producer Barry Geller's attempt to make it collapsed, the CIA renamed the script Argo.Wikipedia · Filming
- Ben Affleck was not nominated for Best Director, prompting Bradley Cooper to declare "Ben Affleck got robbed" and host Seth MacFarlane to joke that Argo's story was so top secret "its director remains unknown to the Academy."Wikipedia · Accolades
- Jimmy Carter said 90% of the ideas and execution of the rescue were Canadian, and that the real hero was Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor, not the CIA man, who was only in Tehran a day and a half.Wikipedia · Canadian versus CIA roles
- In 2013 the New Zealand House of Representatives unanimously passed a motion regretting that Argo's director "saw fit to mislead the world" about New Zealand diplomats, who in reality helped the Americans.Wikipedia · British and New Zealand roles
- The film's dramatic airport chase never happened. Escapee Mark Lijek said immigration officers "barely looked at us," and the group simply caught a 5:30 a.m. flight to Zurich.Wikipedia · Imminent danger to the group
- Alan Arkin's producer Lester Siegel is not a real person; his name and some of his contribution are based on Robert Sidell, while his personality is based on Jack Warner.Wikipedia · Other inaccuracies
- Warner Bros. opened the film with its 1972 to 1984 "Big W" logo designed by Saul Bass, and repainted its studio water tower with the logo of The Burbank Studios as it looked in that era.Wikipedia · Filming
- Bootleg DVDs of Argo became popular in Iran, with an estimated "several hundreds of thousands" of copies circulating.Wikipedia · Reaction by Iranians
- The real escapees flew out on a Swissair DC-8 coincidentally named "Aargau." The film shows a Boeing 747-300, a model that did not enter service until 1983.Wikipedia · Other inaccuracies