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Tag: Ben Affleck

  • Ben Affleck Stars in, Directs Historical Thriller, ‘Argo’

    Ben Affleck Stars in, Directs Historical Thriller, ‘Argo’

    Recreating an international crisis of historical proportions is not as easy as you think.

    For Ben Affleck, the director and star of “Argo,” opening Friday, it may have been the biggest challenge of his career: fomenting the chaos necessary to simulate the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that launched the hostage crisis.

    “We had several thousand extras on some days,” the 40-year-old actor-director told The News of filming in Istanbul, which doubled for Tehran. “It was not quite ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ but it felt pretty big to me.

    “I wanted to hire real people, but that meant we had to dress them and we had to teach them Persian chants,” he adds. “We had to bus them in from all over the place; some of these people had to leave their homes at one in the morning. All of a sudden, it turned freezing and raining on the days we were going to shoot. So there were a ton of logistical challenges. Chief among them, they could just go home. They could just decide it wasn’t worth it.”

    The result, though, has been well worth it for Affleck.

    Based on a real incident only declassified during the Clinton administration, “Argo” tells the story of a clandestine CIA operation that freed six American diplomats. They narrowly escaped capture after their embassy was breached and 52 of their peers were taken hostage.

    Secretly holed up for weeks in the home of the Canadian ambassador (played by Victor Garber), they realize it’s just a matter of time before they’re discovered. So Langley assigns a top “exfiltration” expert, Tony Mendez (Affleck), to sneak into the midst of the chaos of the Revolution and whisk the diplomats home…

    via Ben Affleck Stars in, Directs Historical Thriller, ‘Argo’.

  • Filming is Underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and GK Films’ “Argo”

    Filming is Underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and GK Films’ “Argo”

    Ben Affleck directs and stars in the fact-based thriller

    RenderImageBURBANK, Calif., Aug 31, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and GK Films’ dramatic thriller “Argo,” directed by and starring Academy Award(R) winner Ben Affleck (“The Town,” “Good Will Hunting”). The film is being produced by Academy Award(R) winner George Clooney (“Syriana”), Oscar(R) nominee Grant Heslov (“Good Night, and Good Luck.”) and Affleck.

    Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis — the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades.

    On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

    “Argo” also stars Oscar(R) winner Alan Arkin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), Bryan Cranston (TV’s “Breaking Bad”) and John Goodman (“You Don’t Know Jack”). The main cast also includes Kerry Bishe, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Victor Garber, Zeljko Ivanek, Richard Kind, Scoot McNairy, Chris Messina, Michael Parks, and Taylor Schilling.

    Affleck is directing the film from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on a selection from Master in Disguise by Antonio Mendez. David Klawans, Chris Brigham, Graham King, Tim Headington, Chay Carter and Nina Wolarsky are serving as executive producers.

    The behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar(R)-nominated director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (“Brokeback Mountain”), production designer Sharon Seymour (“The Town”); Oscar(R)-nominated editor William Goldenberg (“Seabiscuit,” “The Insider”); and Oscar(R)-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (“The Social Network,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”).

    Filming on “Argo” began in Los Angeles. Future locations include Washington D.C. and Istanbul.

    Slated for release in 2012, “Argo” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with GK Films, a Smoke House Pictures production, to be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

    SOURCE: Warner Bros. Pictures

     

    Warner Bros. Pictures Publicity

    Jan Craft, 818-954-2279

    jan.craft@warnerbros.com

     

    Copyright Business Wire 2011

    via Filming is Underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and GK Films’ “Argo” – MarketWatch.