Ben Affleck To Direct Middle East Thriller ARGO Next
Based on the 2007 Wired Magazine article; “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran”.
Ben Affleck's third feature film as a director will be Argo, an odd Middle East thriller about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, according to Deadline. George Clooney and Grant Heslov are producing from a script by Heights director Chris Terrio. Some reports suggest Affleck will also star. The movie is based on a 2007 Wired Magazine true story article titled How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran by Joshuah Bearman and was described by the author as thus; The story is a CIA rescue mission during the Iran Hostage Crisis, when six American embassy staff escaped the compound and were on the lam in Tehran for months until the CIA rescued them by creating a fake Hollywood production company and pretended to be in Iran location scouting for a big-budget sci-fi epic. I swear, its all true. The CIA even got an office for their fake production company at Sunset/Gower studios, had a script and concept art, and took out ads in Variety. There are many more strange digressions in detail, but Ill let you find out about them in the story.You can read the story in full, HERE. After his second directorial effort The Town became such a critics and box office success in October, Affleck found himself courted by studio exces for a dozen projects including WB's Superman reboot Man of Steel and the 30's set Tales From The Gangster Squad - but decided the story of how the CIA rescued American citizens from Tehran by pretending to make a sci-fi movie made was the most intriguing. Clooney and Heslov previously collaborated as producers and indeed actor/director respectively on the oddball political true story The Men Who Stare At Goats. Meanwhile, Affleck has had to turn down the role of Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary classic The Great Gatsby. Lurhmann had offered the role to Affleck a few weeks ago and was desperate to land the actor but Affleck wasn't able to travel to Australia when he was trying to prep his next film.