Ben Affleck's historical thriller 'Argo' tells a strange but true story
Ben Affleck is hoping to go 3-for-3 on his directorial efforts with this fall鈥檚 鈥渂ased on true events鈥� historical CIA thriller, Argo 鈥� and judging by the official trailer, he appears to have pulled off that hat trick.
features an admirable cast that is headed by Affleck, alongside people like Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), John Goodman (The Artist), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Clea DuVall (Girl, Interrupted), Victor Garber (Alias) and Adrienne Barbeau (颁补谤苍颈惫脿濒别) 鈥� all dressed and groomed to look like relics of the 1970s, with impeccable attention to detail on a par with a TV show like聽.
Joshuah Berman鈥檚 article about the 1979 Iranian revolution from聽Wired Magazine is the basis for Chris Terrio鈥檚 Argo script, wherein six American members of the country鈥檚 U.S. embassy manage to seek refuge in the home of a Canadian ambassador 鈥� after Iranian militants storm the establishment. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are discovered and killed, a team of CIA agents rattle their brains, in an effort to come up with a rescue plan.
鈥淓xfiltration鈥� specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck) finally comes up with the 鈥渂est bad idea鈥� possible: collaborate with some Hollywood heavyweights (Goodman, Arkin), in order to create the illusion that Mendez and his fellow agents are actually members of a big-time, sci-fi blockbuster production (titled 鈥淎rgo鈥�) who are scouting out shooting locations in Iran 鈥� as a cover for their high-stakes rescue operation.
The trailer makes Argo look pretty entertaining 鈥� like a historical thriller along the lines of Munich, but also part caper flick in the vein of Ocean鈥檚 Eleven or The Italian Job. Besides the great cast, the film also boasts grainy cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto (25th Hour) that resembles that of an actual movie made in the 鈥�70s 鈥� along with convincing period hair stylings overseen by Kelvin R. Trahan (Zodiac) and聽set design from Oscar-nominee Jan Pascale (Good Night, and Good Luck and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy 鈥� quite the pairing, eh?).
Will Argo land Affleck the director more attention during awards season 鈥� especially, since he now has two critically-acclaimed titles (Gone Baby Gone and ) under his belt? If nothing else, early signs are encouraging.
Argo arrives in theaters around the U.S. on October 12th, 2012.
Sandy Schaefer blogs at .
