In the Truth is stranger than fiction" department, few stories will be able to compete with the story of the fake science fiction film that saved six hostages in Iran in 1980. As the world focused on the 52 hostages held in the American Embassy, the CIA received word that some had escaped and were living in hiding in various locations in Tehran. Tony Mendez, a former head of the Disguise Department at the Agency, knew that he had to assemble a team to extract the six in hiding before they were captured. What he needed was a cover story for them and his team.

He was stuck. For about a week, no one in Washington or Ottawa could invent a reason for anyone to be in Tehran. Then Mendez hit upon an unusual but strangely credible plan: He'd become Kevin Costa Harkins, an Irish film producer leading his preproduction crew through Iran to do some location scouting for a big-budget Hollywood epic. Mendez had contacts in Hollywood from past collaborations. (After all, they were in the same business of creating false realities.) And it wouldn't be surprising, Mendez thought, that a handful of eccentrics from Tinseltown might be oblivious to the political situation in revolutionary Iran. The Iranian government, incredibly, was trying to encourage international business in the country. They needed the hard currency, and a film production could mean millions of US dollars.

Of course, Mendez knew that officials in Iran wouldnt believe the story without a credible foundation. He went so far as to open an office in Hollywood, meet with special effects and design teams and even had articles about his upcoming film printed in Variety. Hell, he even bought a script!

All they needed now was a film and Chambers had the perfect script. Months before, he had received a call from a would-be producer named Barry Geller. Geller had purchased the rights to Roger Zelazny's science fiction novel, Lord of Light, written his own treatment, raised a few million dollars in starting capital from wealthy investors, and hired Jack Kirby, the famous comic book artist who cocreated X-Men, to do concept drawings. Along the way, Geller imagined a Colorado theme park based on Kirby's set designs that would be called Science Fiction Land; it would include a 300-foot-tall Ferris wheel, voice-operated mag-lev cars, a "planetary control room" staffed by robots, and a heated dome almost twice as tall as the Empire State Building. Geller had announced his grand plan in November at a press conference attended by Jack Kirby, former football star and prospective cast member Rosey Grier, and several people dressed like visitors from the future. Shortly thereafter, Geller's second-in-command was arrested for embezzling production funds, and the Lord of Light film project evaporated.

Since Chambers had been hired by Geller to do makeup for the film, he still had the script and drawings at his house. The story, a tale of Hindu-inspired mystical science fiction, took place on a colonized planet. Iran's landscape could provide many of the rugged settings required by the script. A famous underground bazaar in Tehran even matched one of the necessary locations. "This is perfect," Mendez said. He removed the cover and gave the script a new name, Argo like the vessel used by Jason on his daring voyage across the world to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

After his backstory was firmly in place, Mendez infiltrated Iran, found the hiding Americans and explained his plan. The Americans were costumed to seem like an eccentric film crew and brought to the airport, fake papers in hand. Under the eyes of the Iranian militias, the group was allowed to leave the country. One of the greatest deceptions of all time would remain unknown in America until the documents were (recently) unclassified.

The only question for me is this: which movie would I rather see, one based on this story, or a Roger Zelazny and Jack Kirby-penned science fiction epic starring Rosey Grier?

StarBelliedBoy

Philadelphia, PA

December 2003

MAY 09, 2007 02:09 PM

Dear studio execs,

Please make this film.

Kthxbai.

Flux

SUICIDEGIRL

Georgia, USA

MAY 09, 2007 02:11 PM

Lord of Light rules.

NathanialBlood

United Kingdom

August 2006

MAY 09, 2007 02:17 PM

That's actually really cool

VonBismarck

I'm lost

January 2006

MAY 09, 2007 02:30 PM

Wow.....This is one of the more entertaining and facinating stories to hit in a while.

Personally I would love to see a Charlie Kauffman treatment of this in movie form.

I would easily maim to see those Jack Kirby concept drawings........

american_Xile

Oklahoma City, OK

August 2005

MAY 09, 2007 02:31 PM

both!! in one movie flipping narrative from one to the other. It'd take a damn fine director to pull it off though.

And if nothing else, make the hostage rescue movie just to spit Iran for making the dumbass comments about 300.

legman

Portland, OR

February 2006

MAY 09, 2007 02:58 PM

they need to publish those Kirdy drawings!!!

normjr37

San Bruno, CA

April 2007

MAY 09, 2007 02:59 PM

This would have made a grindhouse type of film. Go cheesey plotted spy inrigue followed in the b spot by retro 50's sci-fi film.

The only thing we would need to worry about is it turning into "The Last Shot." Anyone else see that Alec BaldwinMathewe Broderick filma couple of years ago...it was decent with a similar plot, but coupld have been so much better.