Script To Screen: “Argo”
A dramatic scene from the 2012 movie Argo, written by Chris Terrio, book by Tony Mendez, magazine article by Joshuah Bearman.
A dramatic scene from the 2012 movie Argo, written by Chris Terrio, book by Tony Mendez, magazine article by Joshuah Bearman.
Plot Summary: Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.
The scene in the script:
EXT. TEHRAN - DAYTony drives the minivan through streets of Tehran. The
Houseguests sit in silence, looking out the windows.
There is a vehement DEMONSTRATION going on -- stars-and-
stripes burning in Molavi Square -- and it’s taking place
right in their way.They stop at the demonstration, then realize people
aren’t passing by as much as celebrating in the street.
Tony is forced to nose his way through the crowd --
chanting and yelling -- some SLAPPING THE WINDOWS.They finally get through and pull away. With the
demonstration receding behind them, Tony tries to regain
their focus.MENDEZ
Tell me who you are.This recalls attention from the windows.LEE SCHATZ
Mike McEwan, cameraman.BOB ANDERS
Robert Baker, director.MARK LIJEK
Timothy Harris, location manager.CORA LIJEK
Mary Ann Boyd, screenwriter.KATHY STAFFORD
Rachel Dewart, production
designer.Kathy looks at her husband.JOE STAFFORD
Sean Bissett, associate producer.MENDEZ
Let’s make a movie.EXT. STREET NEAR THE BAZAAR - DAYThe minivan double-parks on Musavi Street. Taxis, men
loading and unloading rolled-up carpets onto pickup
trucks, chaos.A YOUNG MAN IN SUIT WITH NO TIE waits. This is REZA, mid-
20s, a low-level administrator in the Ministry of
Guidance.Mendez gets out and they speak and shake hands. The
image FREEZES. In a BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH.They exchange pleasantries and Reza leads them down a
narrow street toward the bazaar.EXT./INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - DAYReza is leading Mendez and the group of Houseguests
through the Tehran Bazaar. A word about the place: the
world’s largest bazaar. 10 kilometers of narrow alleys.
Chinese-made Swiss watches, banks, mosques, butchers,
fabric stores, gold stands. Boys with hand-trucks loaded
down with piles of fabric cut through the crowd. Older
Islamic architecture elbows up against neon signs and
rickety wooden stands with second-story balconies like
Bourbon Street.Bob Anders walks toward the front.REZA
You are the director?BOB ANDERS
Yes.REZA
(pleasant)
Is this film a foreign bride film?BOB ANDERS
I’m sorry?REZ
A film where a foreign bride is
brought to Iran, but she doesn’t
understand the language and
customs and there are
misunderstandings and laughs.BOB ANDERS
No.REZA
(not happy with that)
Mmmm.
Here is the scene in the movie:
One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.
For more articles in the Script To Screen series, go here.