Argo Page #11

Synopsis: On Nov. 4, 1979, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking 66 American hostages. Amid the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge with the Canadian ambassador. Knowing that it's just a matter of time before the refugees are found and likely executed, the U.S. government calls on extractor Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to rescue them. Mendez's plan is to pose as a Hollywood producer scouting locations in Iran and train the refugees to act as his "film" crew.
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  Won 3 Oscars. Another 94 wins & 152 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.7
Metacritic:
86
Rotten Tomatoes:
96%
R
Year:
2012
120 min
$136,019,448
Website
5,045 Views


MENDEZ:

Can.’t be right all the time.

NICHOLLS:

Mr. Harkins.

MENDEZ:

When.’d you get back?

CUT TO:
*

165A INT. HAGIA SOPHIA - LOWER LEVEL - DAY 165A

FIND Mendez and Nicholls.

MENDEZ:

Were you metal detecting? *

NICHOLLS:

None left to find. Shah escaped

with a 747 so laden with gold bars

it nearly didn.’t make it off the

runway.

MENDEZ:

But you kept busy.

NICHOLLS:

Ferrying out the torture apparatus

of our friend.’s fallen

dictatorship.

Both these men do this work and share an unspoken

understanding. They stop and look up at a MOSAIC on the

wall. An ancient rendition of Christ, fashioned before

the Muslims took the city and converted this church to a

mosque. *

Nicholls has WHITE AND YELLOW SLIPS OF PAPER with Farsi

writing on them in hand. He gives them to Tony.

NICHOLLS:

It.’s getting worse. Everybody who *

lands at Mehrabad now fills out

one of these.

(a WHITE one)

That slip makes a copy to this one

underneath.

(a YELLOW one)

Passenger keeps Yellow, Airport

keeps White.

ARGO - Final 62.

165 CONTINUED:
165

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

When you leave the country, they

match them up to verify you came

into the country when you said you

did.

MENDEZ:

So if they look, they.’ll know six

people didn.’t come in with me.

NICHOLLS:

If they look.

Nicholls and Tony turn away from the mosaic,

surreptitious work now done, and meander toward the

middle of the great room.

166 INT. HAGIA SOPHIA - CONTINUOUS ACTION 166

Nicholls and Tony walk towards the inner courtyard.

NICHOLLS:

When you land, you should go

straight to the Ministry of

Culture and Islamic Guidance to

kiss the ring. Get on record as

having applied for a film permit.

If they catch you later, at least

they.’ll be confused while they.’re

torturing you... Your biggest

problem may be convincing the six

of them to go with you. They.’re

foreign service. They.’re willful.

Nicholls takes a picture.

MENDEZ:

How.’s June?

NICHOLLS:

Left.

MENDEZ:

I.’m sorry.

NICHOLLS:

She picked out a ring and gave me

a choice. She.’s a Chinese

national. If I married her, I.’d

have to resign, so. You and *

Christine?

MENDEZ:

Good. Yeah.

ARGO - Final 63.

165A CONTINUED:
165A

NICHOLLS (CONT'D)

(CONTINUED)

He said that without hesitation. Maybe here we realize

that Mendez is a very good liar.

166A EXT./INT. PRODUCERS.’ BUILDING - NIGHT 166A *

Lester is BOUNCING A RUBBER BALL. The PRODUCER from later *

in the movie walks by. *

PRODUCER *

You.’re working late. *

SIEGEL *

.‘Til the dawn.’s early light. *

PRODUCER *

You got stamina, Lester. I wanna *

be you. *

SIEGEL *

You wouldn.’t be me for long. I.’m *

80. *

Producer walks away and Lester looks into the .‘Argo.’ *

office as he squeezes the ball. *

FROM INSIDE THE OFFICE -- In the foreground, we see what *

Lester is looking at: a phone. Stubbornly silent. *

167 OMITTED 167 *

168 OMITTED 168 *

169 OMITTED 169 *

170 INT. BRITISH AIRWAYS DC-10 - MORNING 170

Mendez sits in a window seat. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT speaks

with a pleasant British accent.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT (V.O.)

The Captain has informed us that

we have entered Iranian airspace.

Members of our cabin crew will be

coming through to collect any

remaining alcoholic beverages at

this time.

ARGO - Final 64.

166 CONTINUED:
166

171 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT TERMINAL - DAY 171

Mendez walks through the terminal of a crowded 1960s-era

airport. Newly-hung portraits of the Ayatollah Khomeini

watch over the duty-free shops.

SUPERIMPOSE:
TEHRAN - JANUARY 26

The MOBS OF PEOPLE WITH BOXES OF THEIR WORLDLY BELONGINGS

puts in high relief that Tony is going into a place that

everyone else is desperately fleeing.

172 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT IMMIGRATION - DAY 172

Tony fills out a white form. It makes an impression on a

YELLOW form.

Tony presents his passport to a REVOLUTIONARY GUARD

IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL. Official looks at it, Tony hears

the sound of a woman screaming in Farsi.

Three lanes away, at the outgoing immigration station, a

Revolutionary Guard is dragging away the woman.’s HUSBAND.

The Immigration Official stamps Tony.’s passport -- takes

the white form, gives Tony the yellow one -- and waves

him through.

173 EXT. TEHRAN - DAY 173

Archive footage may be mixed with new footage. Normal

city life mixed with men with automatic weapons. The

contradictions of Tehran at this moment.

173A EXT. TEHRAN - DAY 173A

A Massive HELICOPTER SHOT OF TEHRAN. We TILT DOWN to see

a traffic jam SPRAWLS AROUND THE AZADI MONUMENT. Bikes,

mopeds, pedestrians, peddlers and old, patched together

cars compete for space. No one gets anywhere.

174 INT. TAXI - DAY 174

Mendez sits in the back of a taxi in the Tehran traffic,

some of the worst traffic in the world. We see the AZADI

MONUMENT out his window.

ANGLES OUT HIS WINDOWS

The Ayatollah looks down from everywhere.

ARGO - Final 65.

(CONTINUED)

A MAN IS HANGING FROM A CRANE. People mill underneath.

Women in chadors at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

An ARMED GANG in the back of pickup truck pulls up near

his taxi.

We see PROPAGANDA painted on a wall/window.

175 INT. TAXI/EXT. MINISTRY - DAY 175

The taxi pulls up to a FORMAL, PINK BUILDING.

The Driver stops. They.’ve arrived. *

176 INT. MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND ISLAMIC GUIDANCE - DAY 176

MEHDI BEHROUZ, 33, is the newly appointed Deputy Minister

of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Like many of the stars

of the Revolution, he was educated in the U.S. Right now

he.’s looking at the ARGO script.

BEHROUZ:

This film crew is just yourself?

MENDEZ:

Six more are joining me today.

They.’re coming from Canada.

BEHROUZ:

You.’d like to film at the bazaar?

MENDEZ:

The bazaar, maybe the palace.

BEHROUZ:

(not particularly

friendly)

I see. The exotic Orient. Snake

charmers and flying carpets.

(a beat)

You come to us at a complicated

time. Before the Revolution, 40

percent of the movie theaters in

Tehran were showing pornography.

Our function is purification as

well as promotion of the arts.

(takes script)

I.’ll review for the Minister.

ARGO - Final 66.

174 CONTINUED:
174

177 EXT. CANADIAN EMBASSY - DAY 177

A TAXI pulls away.

Mendez, carrying his luggage, stands at a wrought iron

gate with MAPLE LEAVES worked into the iron. Ken Taylor

comes out of the building, opens the gate himself.

MENDEZ:

Mr. Ambassador.

TAYLOR:

Ken Taylor.

He shakes Tony.’s hand and they start to walk to Taylor.’s

car.

TAYLOR:

I was expecting more of a G-Man

look.

MENDEZ:

You.’re thinking of FBI, sir.

They get into the car.

178 INT. TAYLOR.’S CAR - OUTSIDE EMBASSY - CONTINUOUS ACTION 178

Taylor gives Tony SIX BLANK CANADIAN PASSPORTS.

TAYLOR:

These are blank, y.’know. The

stamps?

MENDEZ:

I.’ll take care of that.

TAYLOR:

How long?

MENDEZ:

A day to prep them with their

cover stories. Two if they need

it.

TAYLOR:

And you.’ll fly out with them?

Tony nods. A distant sound of a crowd outside.

ARGO - Final 67.

(CONTINUED)

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes

Chris Terrio

Chris Terrio is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. more…

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