Argo what was real

It was that straightforward. The six were meant to live in Florida under assumed names until the release of other embassy personnel held hostage in Tehran, which came in January But the plan was dropped when reports of the escape appeared in newspapers. The agency didn't admit its role until Mark says it came as a relief when he could finally talk openly about the events in Iran.

He's a fan of Argo and takes a wryly amused view of how it burnishes the truth to dramatic effect. Of course, Mark is wise to the ways of film-makers. Back in the s, he was briefly in movies himself. Success for Argo at Golden Globes. Argo triumphs at Critics Awards. Silver Linings surprise at Oscars. Argo recreates the storming of the US embassy in Tehran in November Ben Affleck centre both directs and stars in Argo, which came out in the UK last year.

Mark and Cora Lijek were among the six escapees from the stormed US embassy. Phoney documents. Published 14 January Published 11 January Published 10 January Our emails are made to shine in your inbox, with something fresh every morning, afternoon, and weekend. It recently explained the history of Skyhook —the aerial retrieval system made famous in The Dark Knight —which, magnificently, is a real thing. President Hassan Rouhani and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei both have active Twitter accounts, and the latter recently used his to call for the destruction of Israel.

Twitter is still officially illegal for Iranians to use, however. Read how the Argo mission previously best known as the Canadian Caper really went down below. At this time, there were only five of them Lee Schatz joined the group a week later after hiding with the Swedes.

The following week they changed locations five times due to safety concerns and people they could not fully trust, finally ending up at the home of the Canadian Deputy Chief of Mission, John Sheardown. John and Zena are not depicted in the film. Yes, Tony thought of the Hollywood angle himself one night while he was at home in Maryland packing.

He had worked with many consultants in the entertainment industry in the past, including an award-winning makeup expert by the name of John Chambers John Goodman's character in the movie. Tony kept in close contact with Chambers, who advised him as he developed the cover story that involved the six Americans leaving Iran as part of a movie production company that had been scouting shooting locations in the country. Like in the film, it was called Studio Six Productions.

The company's production offices were located on the Columbia lot in Hollywood. Tony and John Chambers John Goodman in the movie picked the script from a pile of manuscripts that had been previously submitted to Chambers for his consideration. Based on the award-winning Roger Zelazny sci-fi novel Lord of Light , the script was in part chosen because it was complicated and hard to follow. It also celebrated Islam to a certain degree.

These two attributes, coupled with the growing popularity of science fiction films following the success of Star Wars , made it an excellent choice.

Tony's CIA team often repeated the line as a way to break the tension when they were stressed and working long hours. John Chambers remembered telling the joke and recalled the meaning behind the name "Argo". The title "Argo" that Tony and John Chambers gave to the screenplay came from Greek mythology, specifically it is the name of Jason and the Argonauts' ship that they sailed to the sacred garden to rescue the Golden Fleece from the clutches of the many-headed dragon.

Argo movie poster that appeared as a full-page ad in Variety. In order to add credibility to the fake production, Tony's team, working in secrecy alongside his Hollywood consultants, arranged for full-page ads to appear in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter , two well-respected trade publications.

The actual ad is pictured at right. Indie is keeping mum on any plot and cast details until just before pic is released. Yes, the storyboards were created, but the real story behind Argo reveals that Tony Mendez never gave them to the officers at the airport Argo: Inside Story.

Various pieces of concept art for the film still exist today and have appeared on display in spy related exhibits around the US. The concept art was created by world famous comic book artist Jack Kirby.

A piece of this Argo concept art is shown at left. CIA specialists, who pretended to be part of the Studio Six Production team, traveled to Iran to make final arrangements and complete the travel documents. During the operation, Tony's full alias was "Kevin Costa Harkins". His cover occupation was "production manager" for a film crew that was in Iran scouting possible filming locations for their upcoming movie Argo.

He also had other contacts helping him during the escape at the airport in Tehran Argo: Inside Story. John Sheardown and his wife Zena hid four of the six Americans. As stated earlier, Joe Stafford and his wife Kathy were the only ones staying with the Canadian Ambassador.

The rest stayed with John Sheardown and his wife Zena they are not represented in the Argo movie. Canadian Ambassador Taylor, portrayed by Victor Garber in the movie, brought the Staffords with him for the meeting.

In the movie, Joe Stafford portrayed by actor Scoot McNairy expresses quite a bit of anxiety and reluctance with regard to Tony's proposed plan of having the group pose as members of a movie production company. The real Tony Mendez states that as they discussed the mechanics of the escape, Joe did express anxiety over the risks involved. In the movie, Tony Ben Affleck and the six are left with no choice but to meet with two men associated with the Iranian film office.