Argo Page #8

They may be cannibals swallowing

each other up but they want health

and dental, so the movie.’s kaput --

which means that MGM deal ain.’t

gonna happen and your script ain.’t

worth the buffalo-sh*t on a

nickel. So.

Lester takes some documents out of a folder.

SIEGEL:

The way this looks to me --

through the cataracts, I grant you

-- is that you can either sign

here and take ten thousand for

your toilet-paper script -- or you

can go f*** yourself.

Siegel smiles kindly and holds a pen and the contracts

out to Klein. Klein takes them.

112 EXT. STREET - A FEW MINUTES LATER 112

MENDEZ:

You know Warren Beatty?

SIEGEL:

I took a leak next to him at the

Golden Globes.

(beat)

Taco?

113 OMITTED 113

114 EXT. WARNER BROS. LOT - LATE DAY 114

Lester and Tony eat tacos at a picnic table on the lot.

MENDEZ:

You got kids, Lester?

SIEGEL:

Two daughters.

MENDEZ:

You see them much?

SIEGEL:

I talk to them once a year, maybe.

MENDEZ:

Why.’s that?

ARGO - Final 43.

111 CONTINUED:
(2) 111

SIEGEL (CONT'D)

(CONTINUED)

SIEGEL:

I was a terrible father.

(beat)

The bullshit business is like coal

mining. You can.’t wash it off

before you kiss your wife and

kids... You?

MENDEZ:

A son. Lives with his mother in

Virginia.

SIEGEL:

You.’re divorced?

MENDEZ:

Taking time off.

(then, quiet)

He.’s gotta... stay where he is.

SIEGEL:

(beat)

Kids need the mother.

114A EXT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE (LOT - NY STREET) - MORNING 114A

Chambers and a GRAPHIC ARTIST walk through the set. We

REVEAL a couple of CYLON RAIDERS, helmets off, taking a

break from shooting and leaning against the wall.

115 INT. O.’DONNELL.’S OFFICE - DAY 115

O.’DONNELL reads from the EYES ONLY document.

O.’DONNELL

They caught the shah.’s chief of

security trying to get on a plane

to Paris.

INTERCUT WITH:

116 INT. PRODUCTION OFFICE - MORNING 116

WIDER REVEALS that the production office is being set up.

A couple of FURNITURE GUYS move chairs in.

Mendez is looking at a POSTER. It reads: .“Studio Six

Productions presents: ARGO. A COSMIC WAR..”

ARGO - Final 44.

114 CONTINUED:
114

(CONTINUED)

MENDEZ:

(to a graphic artist)

.‘War.’ sounds like Star Wars.

Let.’s use a different word.

Mendez closes the door to his private office.

O.’DONNELL

.‘Since the incident, the number of

guards at the airport has doubled.

Thorough background examinations

should be expected..’

MENDEZ:

I need another week.

O.’DONNELL

You don.’t have it.

117 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 117 *

Mendez goes out into the main part of the office -- it.’s

Tony, Siegel, and Chambers now.

They have hung up all their ARGO MATERIALS on the wall

and are reviewing them.

MENDEZ:

We.’ve got a script. We.’ve got *

business cards.We.’ve got a poster. *

If I.’m them? It.’s nothing we

couldn.’t make at home.

CHAMBERS:

I did a movie with Rock Hudson *

once. *

(a beat)

.‘You need to sell a lie, you get

the press to sell it for you..’

118 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - DAY 118

Now it.’s noisy in here now -- a PUBLICIST, ASSISTANTS and

controlled chaos --

SIEGEL:

(on the phone)

-- press event and reading... No, *

I promised Variety exclusive on

that one...

Mendez is making a list with a PUBLICIST.

ARGO - Final 45.

116 CONTINUED:
116

(CONTINUED)

MENDEZ:

.‘Biggest Canadian production in

history..’ Canadian Gone With The

Wind --

PUBLICIST:

Canadian Sci-Fi Gone With

The Wind.

ASSISTANT #2

Studio Six Films.

As Chambers pulls Mendez --

SIEGEL:

(on the phone)

I gotta get back to you, Phil. I

can.’t get my own mother a ticket.

I had to tell her it was

cancelled.

MENDEZ:

Are you turning people away?

SIEGEL:

(covering the phone)

You know what gets more suckers

than a sign that says .‘Brooklyn

Bridge For Sale.’? .‘Brooklyn

Bridge:
Approved Buyers Only..’

(as they go)

Philip? You there?

Chambers leads us into the main room, leading Tony to a

table where JACK KIRBY, 62, comics artist, fusses with

large COMIC PANELS of ARGO CONCEPT DRAWINGS spread over a

table.

Kirby starts to distribute storyboards. Some hold on to *

them and an ASSISTANT begins putting them up on the

board.

Mendez looks at them. Impressed. He picks up a drawing *

of some futuristic-looking vehicles. *

MENDEZ *

Any way to make the chariots look

more -- Middle-Eastern -- ?

KIRBY:

Mesopotamia... Egypt...

MENDEZ:

Iran.

Kirby takes out a marker and starts to sketch a *

futuristic-looking desert glider.

ARGO - Final 46.

118 CONTINUED:
118

119 OMITTED 119 *

120 OMITTED 120

121 OMITTED 121 *

122 OMITTED 122 *

123 EXT./INT. BEVERLY HILTON - LATE DAY 123

A black sedan pulls up to the hotel. A driver opens the

back door. Mendez, Siegel, and Chambers get out of the

car. They.’re wearing suits.

They walk past a sign that reads: PRESS EVENT and

READING FOR ARGO. A couple of posters with the explosionin-

space ARGO:
A COSMIC CONFLAGRATION logo.

124 INT. BEVERLY HILTON - STARDUST LOUNGE - DUSK 124

Tony is on a balcony outside the ballroom. He passes the

bar on his way in.

Inside he sees Chambers, Lester and a PUBLICIST who

promptly moves Tony into a conversation with a REPORTER.

PUBLICIST:

Janet from the Times -- You know

Johnny Chambers and Lester Siegel.

This is Kevin Harkins. He.’ll tell

you a bit about the film --

We leave Mendez with the L.A. Times --

FOLLOWING Siegel --

Jack Kirby.’s storyboard drawings throughout the room.

Four or five ACTORS IN SCI-FI COSTUMES.

WOMAN (O.S.)

Lester.

He turns around. NINA, a woman in her early sixties,

made up to look younger.

SIEGEL:

You.’re gorgeous. You.’re in the

reading?

ARGO - Final 47.

(CONTINUED)

NINA:

I.’m playing Serksi, the Galactic

Witch.

BACK TO:
Mendez. A Publicist is guiding Mendez toward

an anemic-looking man --

PUBLICIST:

(to Mendez,

introducing)

Rodd from Variety. Kevin Harkins.

BACK TO Siegel and Chambers, walking away from NINA.

SIEGEL:

Keep that f***ing space witch away

from me.

CHAMBERS:

You know her?

SIEGEL:

I was married to her.

Mendez, now talking to RODD, from VARIETY.

RODD:

(to Mendez)

You said shooting in Iran with an

N?

MENDEZ:

Tehran.

RODD:

You ever watch the news?

Publicist hands Mendez a LASER GUN and a photographer

snaps his picture. Siegel walks by, downing one from the

bar. *

BACK TO SIEGEL AND CHAMBERS

A Hollywood Reporter writer talking to Siegel. The *

publicist stands by --

REPORTER:

So the title refers to...

SIEGEL:

The Argo, it.’s the, y.’know, the

thing --

ARGO - Final 48.

124 CONTINUED:
124

(CONTINUED)

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