Director Ben Affleck on the set of the motion picture 'Argo,' about the secret extraction of U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980. An Iranian director says he plans to produce a response to 'Argo," that will focus on 20 American hostages who were delivered to the United States by the revolutionaries.(Photo: Keith Bernstein/Warner Bros. Pictures)
An Iranian director plans to produce Iran's own hostage-release movie in response to Argo,
the Oscar-nominated film about a secret operation that extracted six
U.S. diplomats from Iran in 1980, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported
Friday.
"The movie entitled The General Staffis about the 20
American hostages who were delivered to the United States by the
revolutionaries," director Ataollah Salmanian told the Persian service
of MNA on Tuesday.
"This film, which will be a big production, should be an appropriate response to the a historic film Argo," he added.
Argo,
which is directed by Ben Affleck, who also stars in the film, was
officially viewed in Iran as an "anti-Iranian" film, MNA noted. It has
received seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture.
Filming on The General Staff will
begin next year if the necessary funds are provided by the Art Bureau,
which is affiliated with the Islamic Ideology Dissemination
Organization, MNA reported.
It was not clear from the report what hostage incident Salmanian refers to, nor when the incident took place.
The director said, however, that he used eyewitness accounts to write the screenplay for the film, which he will also direct.
In addition to The General Staff,
Iranian screenwriter Farhad Tohidi has announced plans to write a
screenplay for a TV series about the seizure of the U.S. embassy in
Tehran in 1979 by Islamist students and militants.
Tohidi said he would see Argo to complete his research for writing the series entitled The Broken Paw, MNA reported.
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