Argo Page #12

TAYLOR:

There.’s something you should know.

We think one of our housekeepers

figured out who they are. We

don.’t know if we can trust her.

Now the noise outside is louder. Taylor turns to the

window. Tony joins him.

TAYLOR:

So sooner is better.

They stand listening to the demonstration sounds, echoing

over the rooftops of the city.

179 OMITTED 179 *

179A INT. CIA - O.’DONNELL.’S OFFICE - NIGHT 179A

O.’DONNELL

He got to the embassy.

O.’Donnell closes the door. Pender, wearing an undone

tuxedo, as if he.’s just been pulled from a formal event.

They stay standing.

O.’DONNELL

I can.’t tell you more than that

.‘cause I don.’t know any more.

PENDER:

(cutting to it)

The Times and A.P. found out

they.’re with the Canadians.

Somebody in one of the families

talked.

O.’DONNELL

Mother of God.

PENDER:

I just put Vance on a plane to

take the editors to Le Cirque. He

thinks he can get them to sit on

it. For now.

(a beat)

Your guy better get them and get

the hell out.

ARGO - Final 68.

178 CONTINUED:
178

180 EXT. SHEMIRANAT (TEHRAN) - DAY 180

Ken Taylor drives up to a nice, but not huge, home in the

expat/diplomatic neighborhood of Tehran. Automatic gates

open.

181 EXT./INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - DAY 181

Taylor leads Mendez inside. Pat Taylor waits for them in

the hall. Takes Tony.’s hand.

182 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) - DAY 182 *

They enter the LIVING ROOM... and here are the SIX

HOUSEGUESTS. They.’re looking at Mendez like kids waiting

to be told the lesson plan.

183 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 183

NIGHT:

Each Houseguest has a copy of the ARGO script.

BOB ANDERS:

It.’s theater of the absurd.

MARK LIJEK:

What are the chances?

MENDEZ:

The chances are good.

MARK LIJEK:

What.’s the number value of .‘good.’?

30 percent chance of success? 80

percent?

CORA LIJEK:

We just --

BOB ANDERS *

What was the objection to picking

normal cover identities?

MENDEZ:

There are no Canadians in the

country for normal reasons.

KATHY STAFFORD:

They.’ll sniff us out

regardless.

MARK LIJEK:

The Swedish consul said

they accused him of being

an American at the airport

and held him for an hour.

ARGO - Final 69.

(CONTINUED)

BOB ANDERS:

We can.’t stand up to that. We

don.’t know what the hell movie

people do.

MENDEZ:

That.’s why I.’m here. I.’ll be with

you. This is what I do.

CORA LIJEK *

Have you gotten people out this

way before?

MENDEZ:

This would be a first.

CUT TO:

184 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 184

NIGHT:

THE HOUSEGUESTS --

minus Joe and Kathy Stafford, go into the living room.

Mendez stays in his seat; Joe approaches him.

JOE STAFFORD:

Do you know that every

day...

KATHY STAFFORD:

... Joe, don.’t.

JOE STAFFORD:

... every day they catch another

friend of the shah at the airport.

Kangaroo trials then firing

squads. Just for having American

names in their phone books.

He puts the Iranian newspaper in front of Mendez.

JOE STAFFORD:

You.’ve been here an hour and

you.’re asking us to trust you with

our lives, Mr. --

MENDEZ:

Harkins.

JOE STAFFORD:

Is that your real name?

A beat.

MENDEZ:

No.

ARGO - Final 70.

183 CONTINUED:
183

(CONTINUED)

Joe Stafford nods, as if this has proven a point. He

goes back into the living room, followed by Kathy.

ANGLE ON THE PHOTOGRAPH

in the Tehran Times. A MAN IN A SUIT at Mehrabad

Airport. Terrified, being led out at gunpoint.

185 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - VERANDA - NIGHT 185

Mendez comes out and lights a cigarette. Ken Taylor is

already there.

TAYLOR:

We.’ve got orders to close the

embassy and go back. There.’s

nowhere for them to stay.

186 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 186

NIGHT:

JOE STAFFORD:

I.’m serious, too. This is what?

BOB ANDERS:

Don.’t do this, Joe...

JOE STAFFORD:

... the part where we say,

.‘That.’s so crazy it just

might work.’? C.’mon...

BOB ANDERS:

I saw it in Burma. They get

people out. They know how.

JOE STAFFORD:

Snitches in banana republics.

They get them over the border

after the coup...

BOB ANDERS:

That.’s your opinion.

JOE STAFFORD:

... pay the guards at the

crossing a hundred bucks to

look the other way...

MARK LIJEK:

His opinion got us out of the

embassy in the first place.

ARGO - Final 71.

184 CONTINUED:
184

187 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - VERANDA - NIGHT 187

MENDEZ:

If we go, you need to leave *

immediately. There.’s a *

danger --

TAYLOR:

Pat and I discussed it. If they

catch you at the airport, they

come here and we go on trial for

harboring the enemy. It.’s a risk

we took.

(after a moment)

Can you pull this off?

MENDEZ:

I don.’t know.

188 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 188

NIGHT:

JOE STAFFORD:

-- even if they do. They find us

here, we.’re not lying, we.’re just

hiding. We go out there with fake

passports, we.’re spies, period,

execution.

CORA LIJEK:

So how long do we stay? A month?

A year?

JOE STAFFORD:

That man out there, he.’s got bad

cards, he.’s gonna lose. If he

loses, it.’s our lives.

KATHY STAFFORD:

(after a beat)

And his life too. *

Another beat. ANGLES ON the Houseguests. *

CUT TO:
*

189 OMITTED 189 *

ARGO - Final 72.

189A INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 189A *

NIGHT:

MENDEZ *

Your cover identities were created *

specifically for each one of you. *

Mendez, now dressed to leave, is handing each Houseguest

an envelope.

MENDEZ:

What I need you to do is memorize

everything inside. Who you are,

what you are, where you.’ve been.

Cora Lijek looks at a document from inside her envelope.

A union card for the Canadian Writers Guild with her

picture on it.

MENDEZ:

When we.’re done, you.’ll know these

so well that you.’ll dream as these

people.

Mendez nods at them, and goes. The Houseguests look at

what.’s inside their envelopes -- all except Joe Stafford,

whose envelope remains sealed.

190 INT. SHERATON HOTEL - NIGHT 190

A TELEFAX MACHINE spells out a message, letter by letter:

.“MR KEVIN HARKINS - CARE OF HOTEL SHERATON..”

191 OMITTED 191

192 INT. SHERATON ROOM - NIGHT 192

Tony is PREPPING the CANADIAN PASSPORTS -- expertly

copying Farsi stamps with a small sharpened stick. A

KNOCK on the door. Tony hides the passports. Answers

the door.

BELLHOP:

Sir, a telex arrived for you.

The BELLHOP hands Tony a piece of paper. He reads it.

CUT TO:

ARGO - Final 73.

193 INT. SHERATON ROOM - NIGHT 193

Mendez takes a small 1978 model radio out of his

suitcase. He unscrews the casing and from inside takes

out what looks like a 6-inch transistor board for the

radio.

On either side of the board: telephone jacks.

He detaches the cords from the hotel phone and plugs them

into the jacks on the transistor board. It.’s a phone

scrambler.

MENDEZ (V.O.)

.‘The Minister of Culture and

Guidance has approved your

location scout..’

194 INT. SHERATON ROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER 194

Mendez, on the phone --

MENDEZ:

(reading the telefax)

.‘He will send a representative to

meet you and your crew at the

Khayyam entrance to the Grand

Bazaar tomorrow at 3 PM..’

INTERCUT WITH:

195 INT. O.’DONNELL.’S OFFICE - NIGHT 195

O.’Donnell on the phone.

O.’DONNELL

They called your bluff.

MENDEZ:

Or maybe they.’re cooperating.

O.’DONNELL

N.E. says absolutely not. Seven

Americans walking the bazaar,

you.’re asking for a riot, it.’s the

hive --

MENDEZ:

Seven Canadians, Jack.

O.’DONNELL

Never give them multiple shots at

a cover. Are they even ready?

ARGO - Final 74.

(CONTINUED)

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