Oh, Ben Affleck… When are you going to stop taunting us with your myriad choices of which film to direct next? Yes, we know you did a bang-up job with The Town and studios began flinging possible projects at you like exciteable simians, adding to the already hefty pile of choices you had in your in tray. What’s that you say? You’ve actually entered talks to make something? Called Argo? Well, thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
OK, so if Affleck really has found a reason to sit back down in the folding chair and bark orders at actors, we can thank George Clooney, because he and regular producing cohort are behind the film.
Chris Terrio has adapted the script from a 2007 Wired article originally penned by Joshuah Bearman, which bore the intriguing title How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran.
The story’s even more fun, especially since it’s true: in 1979, when the American embassy in the city was occupied by the Iranians, the Agency and the Canadian government cooked up a seemingly crazy scheme to get them out. Using the cover of the six being part of a Hollywood crew scouting a film called – you guessed it – Argo, the diplomats were smuggled out in disguise carrying designs and drawings created by comics legend Jack Kirby to convince the authorities that the film was real.
Sounds like a superb concept for a political thriller with a generous dollop of sly humour: a bit The Men Who Stare At Goats, a bit The Rock. According to the Heat Vision blog, Affleck’s looking to sort out a deal, so we might finally be able to bring word of his official next job. Keep those fingers crossed…