Claim: One of Argo's producers had a birthday on May 6.

Argo is a 2012 American historical drama film directed by Ben Affleck . The screenplay by Chris Terrio is adapted from U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operative Tony Mendez 's book The Master of Disguise and Joshuah Bearman 's 2007 Wired article `` The Great Escape : How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran . '' The latter deals with the `` Canadian Caper , '' in which Mendez led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran , Iran , under the guise of filming a science fiction film during the 1979 -- 1981 Iran hostage crisis .   The film stars Affleck as Mendez with Bryan Cranston , Alan Arkin and John Goodman in supporting roles , and was released in the United States on October 12 , 2012 . The film was produced by Grant Heslov , Affleck and George Clooney .   Upon release , Argo received widespread acclaim , with praise directed towards the acting -LRB- particularly Arkin -RRB- , Affleck 's direction , Terrio 's screenplay , the editing and Desplat 's score . The film received seven nominations at the 85th Academy Awards and won three , for Best Picture , Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing . The film also earned five Golden Globe Award nominations , winning Best Motion Picture -- Drama and Best Director , while being nominated for Best Supporting Actor -- Motion Picture for Alan Arkin . It won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards , with Arkin being nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role . It also won Best Film , Best Editing and Best Director at the 66th British Academy Film Awards and 37th Hochi Film Award for Best International Picture .   Despite its praise , Argo has also been criticized for some specific inaccuracies : in particular for minimizing the role of the Canadian embassy in the rescue , for falsely showing that the Americans were turned away by the British and New Zealand embassies , and for exaggerating the danger that the group faced during events preceding their escape from the country .