Clooney Will Escape From Tehran

Gorgeous George plans a CIA 'dramedy'

Clooney Will Escape From Tehran

by Willow Green |
Published on

It's one of those I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-movie-already situations. George Clooney and his producing partner / Good Night, and Good Luck co-writer Grant Heslov are planning to co-write Escape From Tehran, a film about how the CIA created a fake movie in order to rescue US citizens during the 1980 Iran hostage crisis.

The film will be based on an article in Wired magazine by Joshuah Berman, telling the story of CIA operative Tony Mendez, who's described as a "master of disguise". When put in charge of rescuing six Americans hiding out in Tehran during the hostage crisis, Mendez hit upon the idea of creating a fake movie project. Along with two Hollywood make-up artists, he launched "Studio Six Productions" (a reference to the number of rescuees) and announced a project to be shot in Iran, duping both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter into writing about their 'film'. Then, pretending to be Canadians, they went location-scouting in Iran.

Given that this will be made by Clooney's Smoke House productions, don't be amazed if he announces plans to star and/or direct as well as write, but in any case it sounds like it's right up his alley - political, but not overtly so, and with room for quite a bit of humour as well. The film's described as a 'dramedy' (this madness must stop! That's not a word!) but don't let that put you off. In George we trust.

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