Argo might well be studied as a bait-and-switch masterwork: In showing the capture of the American Embassy in Tehran, Ben Affleck first made a fetish of authenticity, then served up a shamelessly Hollywood, and wholly fictional climax, then capped the whole thing off with a coda that was essentially a tribute to his movie's authenticity, complete with side-by-side photos of the actors and their near-identical real-life counterparts. Well done, sir!
- David Edelstein
source: "Critics' Roundtable: What Was the Cultural Event of 2012?". www.vulture.com. December 2, 2012.
topic: Real, Actors, Done, Embassy, Climax
'Argo,' 'Lincoln,' and 'Zero Dark Thirty,' three films honored with Best Picture Oscar nominations, lionize their Washington-anchored protagonists as crafty, competent, and virtually incorruptible.
- Ron Fournier
topic: Zero, Dark, Three, Zero Dark Thirty, Crafty
We usually break the story first. For instance, on The Monuments Men, and this one is more complicated because there's a lot of history, so before we started, we sat down with Robert Edsel, the author of the book, for about a week, and basically, he just gave us a lecture and went through everything. And then, I had a researcher, somebody who we had actually used on Argo.
- Grant Heslov
source: Source: collider.com
topic: Book, Men, Stories, Argo
I've consciously taken on material that's a bit too much for me but not an overreach. The first movie, just about performances. 'The Town,' I learned how to work broader material, develop tension, direct bigger scenes, action sequences. 'Argo,' I experimented with film stock, widened the scope of my geography.
- Ben Affleck
source: "'Argo' director/star Ben Affleck grows smarter and more ambitious with each picture". Interview with Christopher Borrelli, www.chicagotribune.com. October 10, 2012.
topic: Taken, Too Much, Firsts, Argo