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Thirteen minutes into the Oscar-winning movie "Argo," CIA agent Tony Mendez asks supervisor Jack O'Donnell what happened to a group of Americans when the U.S. Embassy was stormed in Tehran.
The former Canadian ambassador to Iran who protected Americans at great personal risk during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis said Monday it was good to hear Ben Affleck thank Canada after Affleck's film "Argo" won the Oscar for best picture.
"Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence has triumphed in Hollywood's big games, winning the best-actress Academy Award as a damaged soul in "Silver Linings Playbook," while Ang Lee pulled off a huge upset as best director for "Life of Pi."
Ang Lee pulled off a huge upset at the Academy Awards with a directing win for the shipwreck story "Life of Pi," taking the prize over Steven Spielberg, who had been favored for "Lincoln."
Anne Hathaway has gone from propping up leaden sidekick James Franco at the Academy Awards to hefting a golden statue of her own with a supporting-actress Oscar win as a doomed mother-turned-prostitute in the musical "Les Miserables."
The scene: Tehran's Mehrabad airport, January 1980. Six U.S. diplomats, disguised as a fake sci-fi film crew, are about to fly to freedom with their CIA escorts. But suddenly there's a moment of panic in what had been a smooth trip through the airport.
Iran-hostage drama "Argo" continued its journey from awards-season outsider to favorite Sunday, winning three prizes, including best-picture, at the British Academy Film Awards.
The CIA thriller "Argo" continues to steamroll through awards season, winning the top honor for overall cast performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The CIA thriller "Argo" continues to steamroll through awards season, winning the top honor for overall cast performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The situation was dire. Unbearably tense. Three months after the late-1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries, six American diplomats who had secretly escaped the compound were attempting to flee the country.
A movie about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis probably doesn't sound like it would be a laugh riot _ or should be _ but that's just one of the many ways in which "Argo" is a glorious, gripping surprise.
On behalf of himself and his fellow Americans, Ben Affleck is saying thank you to Canada.
As the CIA's leading disguise specialists, husband and wife Tony and Jonna Mendez spent decades creating false identities for America's undercover agents. Since retiring from the agency in the early 1990s, however, the two have worked to unmask their longtime profession — putting a human face on America's spies while providing a rare public look into the opaque world of intelligence.
"The six of them went out a back exit," O'Donnell tells Mendez, played by Ben Affleck. "Brits turned them away. Kiwis turned them away. Canadians took them in."
