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Ben Affleck rose above his image as a blockbuster actor and became an acclaimed filmmaker with the historical drama Argo. It was not his first stint at direction, with two critically appreciated films already in his kitty, but Argo became a surprise hit and even won the Oscar for Best Picture.
Despite his award-winning vision and eye for detail, Affleck was reportedly not involved until a script was written. When he received the screenplay for Argo, Affleck apparently had one huge change to suggest and that might have just won it the Oscar.
Ben Affleck’s one note changed the way Argo was filmed
A still from Argo | Credits: Warner Bros.The Iran hostage crisis of 1979-81 is one of the most harrowing incidents in history and has had lasting effects on the diplomatic relationship between Iran and the USA. More than fifty Americans were taken hostage by a group of Iranian students who tried to negotiate the return of the fallen Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
While the crisis went on for more than a year, a side mission involving six American diplomats who were rescued from the country after the students took over the US Embassy in Tehran was promptly done with the help of the Canadian Government. Known as the ‘Canadian Caper’, the film Argo was reportedly based around this mission, which was originally discussed in an article on Wired.
Ben Affleck in Argo | Credits: Warner Bros.Ben Affleck directed the Oscar-winning film and even starred as the CIA agent Tony Mendez, who was instrumental in getting the six diplomats out of the country posing as a Canadian film crew.
Chris Terrio wrote the script for the film and while Affleck was interested when he first received it, he said that he had one note that changed the direction of the movie (via THR),
They viewed it as a bit more comic than I did. I wanted to skew only maybe a quarter comic and not laugh-out-loud. The barometer was: ‘Was it real? Could it have been real? Is it as close to real as we know?’ We adhered to that pretty slavishly in terms of hair, makeup, set decorations — everything.
While the resulting film still had comedic moments, the tension built around the hostages’ escape and the opening scene of the riots itself were some of the really serious moments that were treated so realistically that they may have just won the film the Oscar.
Ben Affleck took inspiration from the greats for Argo
A still from All the President’s Men | Credits: Warner Bros.Ben Affleck is a versatile man. While he hit it big by co-writing the screenplay of Good Will Hunting with friend and creative partner Matt Damon, which won them both an Oscar, he also turned to directing at the peak of his acting career with films like Gone Baby Gone and The Town, both of which earned critical acclaim.
However, he truly cemented himself as a capable filmmaker with the 2012 film Argo, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Film Editing. The film was tremendously paced and the suspense worked incredibly well when it would have been so easy for the concept to be turned into a joke.
For the incredible vision of Argo, Affleck reportedly took inspiration from some of the greatest biographical films, especially ones dealing with recent history. He said in an interview with Vulture,
This movie, we ripped off All the President’s Men, for the CIA stuff, a John Cassavetes movie called The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, which we really used as a reference for the California stuff, and then there was kind of a Battle of Algiers, Z/Missing/Costa-Gavras soup of movies, that we used for the rest of it.
The actor-filmmaker mentioned that he found it easier to give such references to his cast and crew to solidify the tone of the film and communicate effectively what he had in mind so everyone was on the same page.
Argo is currently available to rent on Apple TV.
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