Argo (2012) — Read, Study & Download the Screenplay
Facts, Fakes, and A Flight out of Tehran.
Chris Terrio’s script draws from Tony Mendez’s memoir (The Master of Disguise, Ch. 9) and Joshuah Bearman’s WIRED article “The Great Escape,” then shapes those facts into a tight thriller—compressing timelines, combining characters, and inventing obstacles to heighten the airport climax.
Argo (2012) — Educator Resources & Study Guide
Based on True Events... and Unmistakably Hollywood.
Learn how a screenplay can honor sources while crafting tension. Use Argo to explore attribution (Mendez’s memoir; Bearman’s WIRED feature), compression and invention (the night-before cancellation), and the ethics of framing national narratives.
Argo (2012) — Classroom Study
Based on true events vs. Hollywood: Terrio credits Tony Mendez’s memoir (Ch. 9) and Joshuah Bearman’s WIRED feature as sources. The film, however, compresses timelines and invents obstacles (e.g., the night-before cancellation) to build a thriller’s third-act tension. This module helps students separate historical basis from dramatic license.
- Sources & attribution: Mendez’s memoir + WIRED article inform the mission facts
- Dramatic license: last-minute “mission canceled” beat vs. real-world lead time
- Airport climax: cinematic chase/phone checks vs. a quieter historical departure
- The “fake movie”: real Lord of Light materials; authorship/credit questions
- National narratives: U.S./CIA emphasis vs. Canada’s role—how films shape memory
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Argo (2012)
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
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