Argo: How the CIA Made a Movie That Never Existed (Ep 3)
5/31/202647 min
Tony Mendez has just landed in revolutionary Tehran. Now he must teach six terrified diplomats to be a Hollywood film crew… in 72 hours.
Listen as David and Gordon reach the climax of their adventure into the true story behind Argo.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDavid McCloskey· Host0:00
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Gordon Corera· Host0:17
[upbeat music] CIA man Tony Mendez has just landed in revolutionary Tehran. Now he must teach six terrified diplomats to be a Hollywood film crew all in 72 hours. Well, welcome to The Rest is Classified. I'm Gordon Corera.
David McCloskey· Host0:40
And I'm David McCloskey.
Gordon Corera· Host0:42
And David, last time we talked about the cover. Studio Six Productions on the old Columbia lot of Hollywood, the Argo screenplay with its fantastic Middle East sci-fi mythology, the concept art, full-page ads in Variety, alias passports and documents, and President Carter approving the operation. So now all is set for this great rescue in which the CIA play their own small role now as Tony Mendez [laughs] arrives to help out the Canadians on their rescue of the Americans, bailing them out as ever. Uh, I know you might have something to say about that, but wait, it's the [laughs] early morning of January 25th, 1980. Tony Mendez, who is, I have to say, quite a heroic CIA officer, and his partner