“Argo,” the thrilling true story of six American diplomats rescued by the CIA during the 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis, has been awarded five Golden Globe nominations, including best drama and best director.
Andrea Mitchell spoke with director and lead actor Ben Affleck about his movie on October 2. Mitchell told Affleck:
“Back in the day, I knew, a number of reporters knew, that the Canadians were hiding [the American diplomats] in the residence—we knew the numbers of missing hostages and that there were six that were not accounted for and a little bit of reporting . We kept that all secret. But the CIA is very good at keeping secrets apparently because we had no idea this subplot was going on.”
Affleck called Argo “my favorite thing I’ve ever been involved in.” His character, Tony Mendez, single-handedly snuck the diplomats out of Iran by posing as a movie crew for a fake movie. Mendez was awarded the Intelligence Star for Valor, which he kept secret until the operation was declassified nearly two decades later.
“There’s something really classy and elegant and fundamentally in the American character in that kind of service,” Affleck said about what he calls the “brown-bag nature of the CIA.” “It’s not done for riches, it’s not done for credit. It’s done because it’s the right thing to do.” The Golden Globes airs January 13 on NBC.
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