
The awards machine is now in full throttle. Not that we necessarily care what pundits think about the awards race (or even the awards themselves), but we may have the pundits and their chatter to thank for our latest screenplay available for legal download for consideration: the long-awaited Argo, written by Chris Terrio, adapted from Joshuah Bearman's Wired magazine article and Tony Mendez's autobiography.
For some reason, if you've been asleep since September, here's the trailer for Argo:
Certainly, critics of the film have said that the ending of Argo is much too Hollywood, but a film about the CIA employing Hollywood to rescue hostages hiding out in Tehran during the crisis in 1979 is, well, inevitably going to feel like a Hollywood movie. While the critics may be right that the ending may take liberties to create a dramatic climax (I'm not a history expert, so I couldn't tell you either way), what the film does extremely successfully is create an incredibly suspenseful ending out of an historical event where everyone in the audience already knows the outcome. And that is good screenwriting.
Here's a link to the screenplay:
- Argo, screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on the May 2007 Wired magazine article entitled The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman, and chapter nine of the book entitled The Master of Disguise by Antonio Mendez
As always, please use this screenplay for your educational purposes only, and don't wait to download the screenplay as we never know when these screenplays will be taken offline.
If you missed our other posts about screenplays available for legal download for your consideration, you can find them at the links below:
- Django Unchained
- Looper
- Flight, Wreck-It-Ralph, Promised Land and Hyde Park on Hudson
- Silver Linings Playbook, The Master and Quartet
- Middle of Nowhere, Lincoln, Les Misérables and Frankenweenie
- Amour
- Rust and Bone and Anna Karenina
- Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Sessions, Hitchcock and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Arbitrage and Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Smashed and Celeste and Jesse Forever
- Moonrise Kingdom, Paranorman, The Lorax, Snow White and the Huntsman, Ted and This is 40
What do you think of the depiction of events in the screenplay for Argo? Do you think a screenwriter has creative license to adjust historical facts to tell a more compelling story? Share your thoughts with us in the Comments.
Your Comment
10 Comments
Finally, been waiting for this one. Thanks Christopher!
January 22, 2013 at 10:35AM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
To answer the question in your post, I think a screenwriter has license to change whatever historical facts they want for whatever reason they want. I always appreciate it when deviations form historical fact are acknowledged, but when watching a movie there is always (in my mind) some level of expectation that things will be bent a little.
January 22, 2013 at 11:33AM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
Even with all the dramatic licence taken with the story (and there is a hell of a lot - way more than you list above), it's still lacks any real suspenseful scenes. And the whole fake film angle goes absolutely nowhere.
January 22, 2013 at 12:13PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
Did You not see the movie?
January 22, 2013 at 12:53PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
Of course.
The two 'dramatic' moments in the story never actually happened.
-SPOILERS-
And as for the fake film thing, yes it sounds great in the trailer, but in the pivotal scene there was clearly no need for it ever having been set up - just a fake poster and a CIA guy at the end of the phone would have done.
It seemed like it was 2 hours of waiting for basically someone to get away buying alcohol with fake I.D.
January 22, 2013 at 3:24PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
I totally agree with you. This film has many long shots of Ben looking wistful, that builds to a climax that never happens. Oh, and it throws NZ and Britain under the microbus.
Script is good though, if not remotely accurate.
January 22, 2013 at 8:39PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
Finally. Someone who I can agree with. Yes, the whole fake movie thing is a cute hook, but a completely underdeveloped one. Plus it doesn't help that the movie can't seem to decide whether it's a breezy caper movie (with a tone like Catch Me If You Can, Ocean's 11 or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) or a serious political thriller. It comes off halfway in between, and though not an actively bad movie, I'd have a hard time calling it a particularly good one.
January 23, 2013 at 2:55AM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
So, the title page of the script says "This script is the confidential and proprietary property of Warner Bros. Pictures and no portion of it may be ... quoted ... without prior written permission."
So... it will forever be illegal to quote any juicy one-liners from the movie? :)
January 22, 2013 at 1:04PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
I was really looking forward to using "This is the best bad idea we've got." Guess that's out now.
Did I just break the law?
January 22, 2013 at 1:05PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM
"clickity-clickity-clickity"
That's the sound of WB Legal typing up a cease & desist....
January 23, 2013 at 12:23PM, Edited September 4, 8:21AM