Fake Movie, Real Mission: Argo at BFI

The 56th Annual BFI London Film Festival is going on right now, showing some innovative cinema each day, until the festival closes on Oct. 21. On Oct. 17, "Argo" will have a screening. The movie stars Ben Affleck, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, as well as other notable acting talent.

Film Synopsis

Ben Affleck (“Gone Baby Gone”; “The Town”) again justifies his directorial stripes with this riveting third feature based on the true story of CIA exfiltration agent Tony Mendez (Affleck). It’s the end of 1979 and the Iranian revolution has reached a critical breaking point. When the American Embassy is seized by revolutionaries, Mendez devises a risky plan to free six Americans who escaped and are being sheltered by the Canadian ambassador.

Masquerading as the producer of a new sci-fi movie, he enters Tehran on the pretext of location scouting, but not before he has fool-proofed his backstory by setting up a fake production office in Hollywood with producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) and special effects guru John Chambers (John Goodman) at the helm. Chris Terrio’s muscular screenplay (Joshuah Bearman wrote the original Wired article that inspired it) smartly mines the comic potential of the fake movie set-up, but never once loses grip on the mounting tension in the real-life drama that is unfolding.

Affleck’s regular production designer Sharon Seymour superbly recreates the late 70s period detail for CIA headquarters, Hollywood and Tehran and the film is magnificently scored by Alexandre Desplat (whose LFF 2012 music credits also include “Rust and Bone” and “Reality”).

At the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, “Argo” director/actor Ben Affleck took home second place for the People’s Choice Award.

For more about the film, visit the official website at: http://argothemovie.warnerbros.com/

Source: LFF Red Carpet