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Argo faces post-Oscar problems from Iran. Hey guys I’m Brian Corsetti and Deadline.com
has the details.
Ben Affleck, George Clooney, and the rest of the folks behind “Argo” are still flying
high from their Best Picture Oscar win just two weeks ago.
But they may face a huge buzz kill if a recent AP report is true. According to the publication,
Iranian officials are not too pleased by the portrayal of the middle eastern country in
the film and are looking to take legal action.
Argo is based on the true story of how CIA agent Tony Mendez teamed up with Hollywood
to orchestrate the escape of six Americans from Iran during the hostage crisis in 1979.
Iran’s culture minister already blasted the film a day after it won the Oscar, saying,
“This anti-Iran film lacks any artistic aspects, and it is a very weak film from an
artistic perspective and we don’t expect anything else from the enemy.”
Now, the country’s officials are reportedly consulting with a lawyer on how they can take
legal action against the film -- although there is no word on who exactly would be the
target of the lawsuit.
This isn’t the first time the film has faced criticism from another country. Even before
its worldwide release, former Canadian ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor -- who is portrayed in
the film by actor Victor Garber -- felt the film diminished his country’s role in rescuing
the hostages.
That led to Affleck, who starred in and directed the film, to change the wording in the postscript
line at the end of the movie to read, ““The involvement of the CIA complemented efforts
of the Canadian embassy to free the six held in Tehran [...]”
That not only seemed to resolve the issue... but Taylor and his wife ended up spending
some quality time with the actor when he flew them out for a private screening in LA.
Something tells us it won’t be so easy this time around...
I’m Brian Corsetti. See these arrows? Click on them to watch our next or previous stories.
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