Based on a True Story: Argo

by Dan LeFebvre

Argo was Ben Affleck's third time directing a Hollywood blockbuster, and his latest to date. For the first time, one of Ben Affleck's films would win an Oscar, and it did so with style. Argo ended up being nominated for eight Oscars in 2013, coming home with three of them, including Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Chris Terrio, Best Achievement in Film Editing for William Goldenberg and the big prize—Best Motion Picture of the Year for the film's producers, George Clooney, Grant Heslov and, of course, Ben Affleck. Even though Argo starts off with text that says it's based on a true story, the movie was actually based primarily on two a book by Tony Mendez, the CIA agent Ben Affleck plays, and a 2007 article on Wired by Joshuah Bearman. So how much of Argo is true? And how much of it was fictionalized for the film? Let's compare history to Hollywood and see how it stacks up as we learn the true story behind Argo.

11 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2016

About the author

Dan LeFebvre was born in Ohio and has released over 25 online video tutorials on subjects ranging from productivity and development to 3D and VFX. His courses have reached students and professionals around the world through Digital-Tutors, Pluralsight, Skillshare and Udemy. He is currently living in Oklahoma and the host of the popular Based on a True Story podcast.