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Christiane Amanpour Anderson Cooper Ted Koppel
Steve Kroft Cynthia McFadden Diane Sawyer
George Stephanopoulos Brian Williams
along with the cast
Ben Affleck
Bryan Cranston Alan Arkin John Goodman
and producers
George Clooney Grant Heslov
invite you to join them at a special private screening of
Warner Bros. Pictures and GK Films'
directed by Ben Affleck
screenplay by Chris Terrio
produced by Grant Heslov Ben Affleck George Clooney
Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
#1 screening 6:00pm followed by dinner 8:00pm
(for dinner - you will be directed through Time Warner building)
or
#2 dinner 7:00pm followed by screening 8:30pm
(for dinner - enter under Jazz at Lincoln Center marquee)
Screening at Time Warner Room
1 Time Warner Center
enter 58th Street btw 8th/9th Avenues
Dinner at Porter House Steakhouse
10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor
On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking
52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of
the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA
“exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A
plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.
Runtime is 131 minutes, Rated R
COVERAGE AIRED ON:
Ben Affleck, Matt Damon
Grant Heslov, George Clooney Brian Cranston, Glenn Close
John Goodman
Michael Douglas
Tate Donovan, Scoot McNairy
Trudie Styler, Sting
Richard Gere
Tommy Hilfiger, Dee Ocleppo
Cynthia McFadden, Brian Williams Christiane Amanpour, Robert Woodruff Barbara Walters, Dan Abrams
Adam Driver
Kate Upton
Zosia Mamet
Alex Karpovsky
Ry Russo-Young, Benjamin Walker, Grace Gummer
Mariska Hargitay
Andy Mientus, Jeremy Jordan
Bette Midler
Ari Graynor
Jerry Ferrara, Kate Cassidy
Donna Karan
Dagmara Dominczyk, Patrick Wilson Todd Williams, Gretchen Mol
Hoda Kotb
Barry & Diane Levinson
Adam Arkin
Anthony Edwards
Bryant Gumbel
Matthew Settle
Alina Cho
Amy Sacco
Joey Slotnick, Tom McCarthy
Carol Kane, Nanette Lepore
Elizabeth Vargas
Jamie Colby
Liz Cho
Tony Gilroy
John Patrick Shanley
Neil Burger
Tony Shalhoub
Lara Spencer
Rula Jebreal
Tovah Feldshuh
Mike Nichols
Ted Koppel, George Clooney
Morley Safer
Steve Kroft
Michael Douglas, Oliver Stone, George Clooney
Cast photo
A Movie All the Stars Want to See
Wednesday, October 10,2012
NEARLY a decade ago, it was hard to find people in Hollywood predicting great things
for Ben Affleck. Involved with Jennifer Lopez and appearing with alarming frequency on
the cover of Us Weekly, Mr. Affleck was world famous but without a career to match.
“For me, that was probably the hardest thing to watch,” his childhood friend Matt
Damon said. “The abuse he was taking. The public perception of him was so different
from who I knew him to be. We would have these conversations at the height of the JLo thing where he would say, ‘I’m selling magazines but not movie tickets.’ ”
Yet here was Mr. Damon on Tuesday night, standing by the bar at Porter House New
York, the Time Warner Center steakhouse at Columbus Circle, for a dinner celebrating
the release of “Argo,” Mr. Affleck’s much-buzzed-about political thriller that opens
Friday.
And there were more industry luminaries than you could count. In fact, organizers at the
Peggy Siegal Company had so many people eager to see the movie, they wound up
scheduling two screenings that evening, one at 6 and another at 8:30.
Oliver Stone was taking his seat at a table opposite Sting, Trudie Styler and Brian
Williams. A few feet away was George Clooney, who produced the film and was talking
to Yahoo’s movie critic, Thelma Adams, about Mr. Affleck. “Didn’t he do a good job?”
Mr. Clooney was saying. Nearby was Barbara Walters, holding court.
Based on the true story of a C.I.A. operative who helps six American foreign-aid
workers escape from Iran in 1980 during the hostage crisis, the film recounts how they
pretended to be a film crew scouting for a “Star Wars”-like knockoff to evade capture.
It is a tale that stayed under wraps until the late ’90s, when the details surrounding their
return were declassified, but many attendees remembered the crisis well.
“My hair stood on end,” said CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who grew up in Iran and was
attending the University of Rhode Island during that time. “It gave me goose bumps.
And the tragedy is that the U.S. and Iran have never gotten over it.”
Ms. Walters had covered the upheaval for ABC News. “I got the last interview with the
shah of Iran,” she said. “I remember when he came to this country and everybody
booed him.”
Of course, Mr. Affleck, now 40, doesn’t remember much about this time. But then Mr.
Clooney brought him the script, by Chris Terrio, and he said he was “floored” by it.
“He had taken this unwieldy story that was based on real events and turned it into a
coherent three-act story,” Mr. Affleck said, as he made his way toward his table. And he
loved the story of a movie within a movie. “I definitely knew the Hollywood side.”
At 8:30, more guests headed to a theater downstairs for the second screening. There in
the back were Donna Karan and Sandy Gallin. Nearby, Mike Nichols, Bruce Weber and
Liz Smith.
After the film, Ingrid Sischy, the international editor for Vanity Fair, recalled the horrific
newspaper photographs back then. “Now we’re used to that,” she said, “but then they
were shocking. And they’re imprinted on us.”
A-list ‘Argo’ bash
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Thursday, October 11 2012
George Clooney and Stacy Keibler met up Tuesday night, continuing to crush rumors
they’re headed for splitsville. Clooney was earlier seen arriving solo at a star-studded
party for Ben Affleck’s Oscar-buzzed Iranian hostage drama “Argo.” But the “Ocean's
Eleven” star later dashed downtown to rendezvous with Keibler and pals Beth
Ostrosky Stern, producer Grant Heslov and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” comic Richard
Kind. Sources say Clooney wasn’t originally scheduled to attend the premiere, but
decided last-minute to support director and star Affleck, as did A-listers Matt Damon,
Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Sting, Oliver Stone, Mike Nichols and Kate Upton.
Clooney, who produced “Argo,” told us he was originally set to star in it as well , but, “I
was doing ‘Ides of March’ and gave this to Ben because we were ready to shoot . . . we
felt really lucky he wanted to do it, and he did better than anyone could imagine.” The
Peggy Siegal Co. bash at Porter House served as an unofficial kick-off to Oscar
season as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted a separate party
next door for new members which drew Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Steven
Soderbergh, Michael Moore and Richard Gere. Craig and Weisz “didn’t leave each
other’s side all night,” a spy said. “They held hands, chatting with everyone who
approached them. Daniel even grabbed her a few times.” Gere, meanwhile, “only hung
with the boys,” a spy said, after the “Arbitrage” star had enraged an East Hampton
husband Saturday night for whispering in his babelicious blond wife’s ear. Also at the
“Argo” bash were network news heavies Brian Williams, Barbara Walters, Cynthia
McFadden, Hoda Kotb and Christiane Amanpour, as well as Neil Simon, Barry
Levinson and Cyrus Vance Jr. The movie screens in DC, tonight, hosted by Canadian
ambassador Gary Doer.
Oscar Fav ‘Argo’ Attracts Massive Turnout of Movie and
Media A-Listers in NY
th
By: Scott Feinberg/Wednesday, October 10 2012
The film's George Clooney and Ben Affleck hosted the likes of Matt Damon, Michael
Douglas and Bette Midler, plus Ted Koppel, Brian Williams and Barbara Walters.
Just one night after Lincoln dominated the New York film scene, one of its chief rivals
for the best picture Oscar arrived on the east coast and had a huge night of its own.
The Warner Bros. dramatic-thriller Argo -- which had its world premiere in Telluride last
month and its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles last week, and will open nationwide on
Friday -- had its first screenings in Gotham City on Tuesday evening. Two screenings of
the film, which seemed to go over just as well here as they have everywhere else, were
sandwiched around a dinner at the Columbus Circle hot-spot Porter House New York,
so attendees either caught the flick before or after chowing down. All in all, the
occasion, which was coordinated in partnership with The Peggy Siegal Company, drew
an A-list crowd of movie stars and media personalities that was of a quality and quantity
rarely matched at an east coast event of this sort.
In attendance on behalf of the film, which revolves around a little-known aspect of the
Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1981, were co-producers George Clooney and Grant
Heslov; director/star Ben Affleck; supporting actors Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston,
John Goodman, and Tate Donovan; and screenwriter Chris Terrio.
They were joined, from the Hollywood side of things, by Matt Damon, Affleck's
childhood best friend with whom he wrote Good Will Hunting (1997) and won an Oscar
15 years ago; Wall Street compadres Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas, who chatted
together in a booth; Glenn Close; Barry Levinson, the Oscar-winning director whose
horror film The Bay is now playing at the New York Film Festival; Bette Midler, who
rarely hits the social circuit anymore; Girls stars Alex Karpovsky and Zosia Mamet;
writer-director Oren Moverman; and actors Adam Arkin (Alan's son and Clooney's
former costar on E.R.), Bob Balaban, Golden Age beauty Arlene Dahl, Peter Riegert,
and Patrick Wilson.
Representing the New York media were former Nightline anchor Ted Koppel (archival
footage of whom appears in Argo, alongside that of Diane Sawyer); NBC Nightly News
anchor Brian Williams (who dined next to Clooney); The View co-host Barbara
Walters; 60 Minutes reporters Steve Kroft and Bob Simon; ABC News reporters Dan
Abrams, Cynthia McFadden, Brian Ross, and Bob Woodruff; CNBC's Jim Cramer;
gossip columnist Liz Smith; and News Corporation advisor Joel Klein.
A few other guests didn't quite fall into either of the above categories, including rock star
Sting and fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger.
Ben Affleck Can Complete the Friday New York Times
Crossword Puzzle, and Other Factoids from the Argo
Screening
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By: Bennett Marcus/Wednesday, October 10 2012
When George Clooney got too busy with another film to helm his pet project Argo, he
and producing partner Grant Heslov had no hesitation in soliciting Ben Affleck. “We
called up Ben, sent it to him, and he said he wanted to do it, which we were really happy
about because it meant he liked the screenplay,” Clooney told VF Daily at a Peggy
Siegal Company screening on Tuesday.
We wondered whether Affleck’s relative lack of experience, with only two small-budget
films under his belt, gave Clooney and Heslov pause. “Are you kidding? I mean, he
hasn’t done a bad film, the fucker,” Clooney said, laughing.
“This is a big step forward in scope for me, and initially it was really daunting,” Affleck
said at a post-screening dinner at Porter House in Manhattan. “I mean, Gone Baby
Gone was very small. The Town was a little bit bigger, but with some action elements.
This was really spreading myself over continents; it had three competing tones that
needed to be unified; I needed to honor the underlying truth to the story,” he said. “I was
terrified going into it.”
And the circa-1979 mop of hair and scraggy beard he sports in the movie were all his.
“Some people thought it was not my hair, but it was, in fact, itchy and annoying, and
grayer than I wanted it to be,” Affleck said. As funny as it looked, he says the process of
growing it was equally comical. “It was when it was, like, halfway grown out that it
looked a little bit like a young Justin Bieber; I think people thought I was going through a
midlife crisis.”
His thick beard was not a hit with his young children. “My kids are too young to know
Justin Bieber, and the beard drove them crazy,” Affleck said. “They kept begging me to
shave it; they would only kiss me on my nose or my forehead. I mean, there’s nothing
like putting your face towards your children and watching them recoil,” he added with a
laugh.
Clooney, who lived through the 1979 era and claims he himself sported the shag look,
had no sympathy. “I had bad, bad hair, as you know,” he told us. “I’ve had some of the
worst hairstyles ever, and proud to say it.”
The movie, based on a true story about the Iran hostage crisis, is a taut thriller with
some comic relief from John Goodman and Alan Arkin. “You can’t have tension that is
just sort of aimed at the audience like a fire hose throughout the whole movie; they’ll
reject it,” Affleck explained. “It’s too much—nobody wants to feel that much tension. So
the balance is in turning up the tension and then letting out the air a little bit.”
Bryan Cranston, who plays a C.I.A. officer in the movie, said that despite the tense plot,
the set was relaxed when the cameras weren’t rolling. Between takes, Affleck would
unwind by doing the New York Times crossword. “I was so jealous because he’s filling it
in, and I thought, Son of a bitch!” Cranston told us. “And so I got a New York Times
crossword puzzle as well, and just start filling in letters in any random order, but just so
he saw me filling it in.” Cranston would stand nearby, but not so close that Affleck could
see his puzzle. “I’d look at his, like, ‘Oh yeah, I got that, too.’ I kind of flashed him mine,
and then walked away,” Cranston said, laughing. “Because obviously, he couldn’t see it,
or he’d know I’m a fraud.”
Affleck admitted he enjoys solving crosswords. “I do them sometimes to sort of relieve
stress, or if I have a lot of anxiety, I’ll pick them up,” he said. We pointed out that the
Times crosswords get more difficult as the week goes on. “Sunday is O.K. Saturday is
what’s really hard,” Affleck said. “Sunday I finish if it’s early in the month. Friday I finish.
Saturday I never finish,” he added.
So would he call himself a whiz at puzzle solving? “I wouldn’t say I’m a whiz,” he said.
“Bryan’s good.”
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Michael Douglas, Oliver Stone, and George Clooney.
Bryan Cranston and Glenn Close.
Ari Graynor.
Mariska Hargitay.
John Goodman.
Bob Dalan and Bette Midler.
Barbara Walters and Dan Abrams.
Liz Cho.
Grant Heslov and Tate Donovan.
Matt Damon & Ben Affleck Have An Argo Red Carpet
Reunion
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By: Perez Hilton/Wednesday, October 10 2012
How do you like them apples?!
A long time bestie reunion took place on the red carpet Tuesday night!
One of everyone’s favorite bromances was put on display at the Argo premiere in NYC
last night, where Matt Damon showed up in support of Ben Affleck!
Check out the SUPER cute pic of the bros together again (above)!
It’s crazy to think that it’s been FIFTEEN years since the two starred on the silver
screen together in Good Will Hunting!!!
Both actors have definitely come a long way since then, with Ben starring in AND
directing Argo, which is set for release in theaters on Friday!
But some friendships last a lifetime! Thank goodness theirs is one of them!
P.S. - We miss your hair, Matt. When's that coming back?
Ben Affleck on Why He Gotthto Look Hot in Argo
By: Jennifer Vineyard/Wednesday, October 10 2012
Ben Affleck was at not one but two dinner parties hosted by the Peggy Siegal Company
last night to celebrate his film Argo. The movie tells the outrageous real-life story of how
CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) rescued six Americans trapped in Iran during the
1979 hostage crisis: He pretended they were part of a Canadian film crew scouting
locations for a crappy sci-fi movie. (The six were otherwise holed up at the home of the
Canadian ambassador.) Vulture spoke with Affleck about ripping off movies and why the
entire cast looked like their real-life counterparts — except for him.
Have you ever gotten a movie idea from watching a movie, like how Tony got the
rescue idea from Planet of the Apes?
I haven't done a movie that I haven't ripped off from another one! [Laughs.] This movie,
we ripped off All the President's Men, for the CIA stuff, a John Cassavetes movie called
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, which we really used as a reference for the California
stuff, and then there was kind of a Battle of Algiers, Z/Missing/Costa-Gavras soup of
movies, that we used for the rest of it. To me, that's a healthy way to work, to get
everybody on the same page. Obviously, we're not remaking those movies, but I just
would show them to our cinematographer, our actors, to go, "Here's the tone." I actually
find it quite helpful.
Everyone else looks just like their real-life counterparts, although you don't look a
lot like Tony Mendez, even with the beard ...
John Goodman looks just like the real guy [John Chambers], right? It's incredible. And
the houseguests, too. I'm the only guy who doesn't look like the guy he's playing, but
you know, I wasn't about to fire myself. But that's why I did the hair and the beard.
[Laughs.] The hair wasn't the worst; the beard was the worst. My kids were hounding
me, like, every day, "Dad! Shave!" Every day. I was like, "Just put up with the beard."
With the six people trapped in the house, the houseguests, how did you achieve
the sense of claustrophobia? Did you stick them in a room to live together for a
week? Are you a Cianfrance-type director that way?
Yeah, we put them in the house, and we took away the Internet, took away their
computers and phones, took away the TV, and we gave them stuff from that period —
so they would have to actually talk to each other. I wanted them to be familiar with each
other, and I wanted you to see that familiarity.
[Other reporters ask what he think he's accomplished and what he still wants to
do.]
This is the best professional experience of my life. This is the movie that I'm proudest of
being associated with. But there are a still a ton of people I want to work with — Benicio
Del Toro, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Christian
Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio. I've not acted in a movie yet with George [Clooney] —
Ocean's 14! [Laughs.] By any standard in the world, I'm really fortunate, and I'm really
happy to find myself where I am.
Actors are Affleck Puppets
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Friday, October 12 2012
Ben Affleck’s fast becoming one of Hollywood’s hottest directors, but the star admits he
has one area of improvement behind the camera: mouthing actors’ lines. “That is a
rather unfortunate tendency,” Affleck told us at a Peggy Siegal Co. premiere of his
latest film, “Argo,” this week. “I sometimes will slightly lip-move along with the lines of
the actors. The first time I did that was on ‘The Town.’ During one of Jeremy Renner’s
close-ups, he was like, ‘Can I talk to you for a second? You’re mouthing my lines.’ It
was like, ‘OK, I’ll stop doing that.’ Then Blake [Lively] said I did it to her . . . It’s a
problem, and I’m working on it,” he joked. But “Argo” star Bryan Cranston added that
Affleck might need to keep practicing. “[In a scene] at the end, I could see [Ben]
mouthing my lines. I went, ‘You are doing the thing.’ And he went ‘Oh, [bleep]. Sorry.’
He gets so into [it] that he mouths.” Affleck attended a DC premiere of the film
Wednesday with his wife, Jennifer Garner.
Based on a True Story: Broadcast Legends Remember the
Iran Hostage Crisis
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By: Jordan Zakarin/Wednesday, October 10 2012
Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters and other top journalists give their insights on one
of America's darkest hours, as well as the secrets no one else knew.
Ted Koppel, in his archive-preserved youth, makes a cameo appearance in Argo, the
new Iran Hostage Crisis-based drama from director Ben Affleck. But during the actual
run of events in 1979-80, the trauma that gripped the nation and introduced America to
political Islam, Koppel was the star.
And it was something he could have never predicted.
When Iranian revolutionaries stormed the gates of the United States Embassy in Tehran
and took 52 Americans hostage, the Syracuse University graduate was serving as
Diplomatic Correspondent for ABC News. Koppel, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter
at an event for Argo in Manhattan on Tuesday, recalled getting a call from the network's
assignment desk on the Sunday of the hostile takeover, and not quite wanting to come
in to work right away.
"I reminded them at that time, that about six months previously, there had been a similar
incident at the embassy, and the ambassador had come out, talked to the crowd,
everybody went home and it was over in a number of hours," he remembered. "So I
said, ‘do you really want me to come in? Because this thing will be over by the time I get
in.' I was wrong."
Indeed, the crisis would launch the network's "America Held Hostage" special program,
which eventually turned into Nightline in 1980, which he anchored for 25 years. Argo
focuses in on the unlikely efforts to save six American workers who had escaped the
embassy during the raid, and were hiding out at the home of the Canadian
Ambassador. As the film mentions, several journalists had become aware of the hidden
faction; Koppel was one of those reporters.
Koppel explained: "I got a call from the Secretary of State, saying, 'I understand that
you’re going to put this story on the air tonight. And I can’t tell you not to do it, but I
would ask you not to, because it seems to us inevitable that if you put it on the air, that
the Canadian Embassy would probably be taken, and that the Americans that escaped
from the US Embassy would probably be killed.'"
Ultimately, he decided not to go with the report. "The only time in more than 50 years
that I’ve ever killed a story," he said.
Barbara Walters was also with ABC News at the time, and played her own historic role
in covering the crisis, even if she wasn't clued in to the breakaway hostage situation that
Koppel would end up spiking.
"I remember I was the last one to interview the Shah of Iran," she told THR. "I went up
to see him and took a polaroid picture. He was hated in his country, and he then went to
Panama. He was very ill, and he died. I remember the Iran Hostage Crisis, I remember
how he was hated when he came here. And I still see the Shah’s widow and her son.
They live in Virginia."
Several journalists who were not working at the time -- or at least, in the
political/diplomatic field -- also reflected on their experiences during the crisis.
"I grew up in Iran. The revolution changed my life," Christiane Amanpour, CNN's Chief
International Correspondent, said. "I happened to have been at university in the United
States during the hostage crisis. It was not a pleasant time. It wasn’t nice being Iranian
on campus in the US, but I never hid that I was Iranian, and I actually tried to show
Americans who were justifiably scared that actually there’s another side to Iranian
people, as well."
As for what she would do if faced today with a situation similar to what Koppel faced,
she said, "It depends. I mean, listen, I don’t know the whole story of this, so I’m really
looking forward to seeing it. Clearly, if it was about saving people’s lives, and being
worried about their security, you’d have to have a whole other conversation with
yourself."
Bryant Gumbel, who joked that as a sportscaster at the time he was "more concerned
with the Steelers and Cowboys," largely agreed.
"I guess it would depend on whether somebody’s life was in danger, and whether or not
it really compromised somebody’s well-being," he told THR. "Look, journalists kept
secrets for years in times of war, and I think we can all feel proud that they did, but I
don’t think anybody would jeopardize somebody’s life just to get a scoop."
ABC News legal analyst, former MSNBC honcho and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams
echoed his colleagues, as well.
"I think you deal with it very carefully. I think that organizations for a long time have
withheld information that they think will jeopardize American citizens," he explained.
"And I think that would probably be a case where the media would have to move very
carefully... It’s one of these totality of the circumstances situations, but I think that if
they’re in the process of an escape, I think it’s the media’s obligation to withhold that
information. One of those very, very rare situations."
Men About Town
th
Wednesday, October 10 2012
Reunited and it feels so good! Matt Damon shows his support for pal Ben Affleck
Tuesday at the New York premiere of the star's latest directorial effort, Argo.
Ben Affleck Gets Over His Fears to Screen ‘Argo’ in
Manhattan
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By: Nigel Smith/Wednesday, October 10 2012
Actor-director Ben Affleck was all smiles and nervous energy last night at a snazzy
event in honor of his latest and most ambitious film, "Argo," in Manhattan. "I wanted to
direct it because it was a real challenge," he said of his CIA tale. "I had this anxiety
[when I started out]. But I liked the thrill, the danger, the prospect of it." The night,
hosted by The Peggy Siegal Company, attracted the likes of Affleck's friend Matt
Damon, George Clooney, John Goodman and Glenn Close.
Ben Affleck and
Matt Damon: ‘Argo’ NY Premiere!
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Wednesday, October 10 2012
Ben Affleck is dapper at the premiere of his upcoming film Argo on Tuesday (October
9) in New York City.
The 40-year-old actor was joined by his close friend Matt Damon, producer George
Clooney, and stunning supermodel Kate Upton.
Patrick Wilson, Jerry Ferrara, Michael Douglas, and Sting were also spotted at the
premiere.
Mark your calendars, Argo is opening in theaters this Friday (October 12). We can’t
wait!
Also pictured: Ben Affleck arriving at the CBS Studios for an appearance and suiting
up for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart earlier in the day in New York City.
Kate Upton Keeps
It Classy In Black & White
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Wednesday, October 10 2012
Even though Kate Upton looked mod at the Argo premiere, her outfit of choice is
questionable!
On Tuesday, the bodacious model walked the red carpet in New York City ahead of the
screening of Ben Affleck's new film Argo, wearing a black and white blouse, black
skinny pants and clogs.
We're loving her Cartier necklace and Chanel satin clutch, but we can't say the same for
the rest of her outfit.
It's about time for the boobilicious Kate to return. She's much more fun!
George Clooney On Innocence of Muslims Makers: Freedom
of Speech Means
'The Idiots Get To Have Their Say'
th
Wednesday, October 10 2012
This idea came to me before I actually saw Argo on Tuesday night, but now that I have
seen Ben Affleck's gripping, well-directed film, I can't let it go. When I learned about the
plot of the movie — in which a CIA agent (Affleck), a Hollywood make-up artist (John
Goodman) and a movie producer (the wonderful Alan Arkin) — gin up a fake movie to
rescue a group of diplomats trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis — it struck me that
Argo was the inverse or the flip side of another fake movie that got a lot of press this
past summer: Innocence of Muslims.
Argo is about the power of film harnessed for humane reasons — specifically, to extract
American diplomats who would have probably faced grisly, public executions had they
been caught after slipping out of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was taken over by
militants in 1979. Innocence of Muslims is about the dark side of that equation. It's the
power of film — still potent even when the so-called movie is little more than a collection
of half-assed scenes cobbled together and thrown on YouTube — misused to incite
violence and stoke mistrust and anger between Muslim nations and the United States.
Argo, which is based on a true story, is about saving lives. Innocence of Muslims was
linked to violent attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Libya on Sept. 11 that left four
Americans dead, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
When I saw George Clooney, who is one of Argo's producers, at a private screening
and dinner for the film at the Time Warner Center on Tuesday night, I ran my idea by
him. Was there any lesson, I asked, to be learned from the controversy and the tragedy
that Innocence of Muslims provoked? I'm not a big fan of asking celebrities their
opinions about international or national affairs, but I've come to admire Clooney's
political activism and his understanding of the way the world really works, as well as his
humanitarian spirit. (In March, he was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in
Washington for protesting the country's blockage of food and aid to its own starving
people.) After listening to my take on Argo and Innocence of Muslims, Clooney
suggested that I was making a bit of a leap, but he did answer my question. For one
thing, he said, "I'm not quite sure that those diplomats did die as a result of that movie. It
seems more like that was a coordinated effort by Al Qaeda" to make a statement on the
anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil.
But getting to the root of my question, Clooney told me: "Freedom of speech means you
have to allow idiots to speak, and that’s the unfortunate thing." "This guy clearly wanted
to create problems," he continued referring to Nakoula Basseley, the Egyptian
immigrant who appears to have masterminded the making of Innocence of Muslims.
Clooney added that he saw part of the YouTube video: "It made me mad and I’m not
Muslim," he said. "It made me mad for the quality of film that it was, more than anything.
But the simple truth is that in order to make [democracy] work, the idiots get to have
their say, too. And that’s unfortunate."
Matt Damon: I thBlame My Grey Hair on My Daughters
Wednesday, October 10 2012
When Matt Damon looks in the mirror these days, he knows exactly who’s responsible
for his changing appearance.
“I point out all of the gray and I say to my daughters, ‘You did this and you did this and
you did this,’” the father of four joked to PEOPLE Tuesday during a dinner for Argo
hosted by the Peggy Siegal Company at Porter House steakhouse in New York. “They
really think it’s funny.”
Damon doesn’t mind it, though — even if the studios do. “They dyed the gray out for We
Bought a Zoo, but I was like, ‘I like my gray hair,’” he said. “I’m proud of it.”
Now sporting a buzz cut for an upcoming role, Damon will have to weather the N.Y.C.
winter clean-shaven. But “it’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got a beanie.”
Last Night’s Parties
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Wednesday, October 10 2012
Argo Screening and After-Party Hosted By The Peggy Siegal Company
Where: Time Warner Room
Who was there: Guests included Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver, Alex
Karpovsky, Barbara Walters, Dan Abrams, George Clooney, Ari Graynor, Bette Midler,
Cynthia McFadden, Brian Williams, Donna Karan, Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, Oliver
Stone, Mariska Hargitay,
Other Details: The cast and crew of the new thriller Argo stepped out in NYC last night
for two private screenings with a dinner party to follow.
Matt Damon Says It’s Unlikely He’ll Be Bourne Again
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Wednesday, October 10 , 2012
The odds of Matt Damon returning to the big screen as Jason Bourne are looking longer
than ever judging from a conversation I had with the actor on Tuesday night. Damon,
who's still sporting a shaved head for his work on the sci-fi thriller Elysium, was part of
the starry crowd that turned out for a special private screening of Argo, which was
beautifully directed by his bud and Good Will Hunting co-writer Ben Affleck. During a
dinner at the Porter House steakhouse in the Time Warner Center, I asked Damon if
there had been any movement on reports that he could reprise his role after Jeremy
Renner's portrayal of Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy, another agent in the Robert
Ludlum-created universe, this past summer. "There has not been any movement,"
Damon told me, explaining that though "I've always been open to it as long as Paul
Greengrass directs, I don't think he's going to do it." Damon laughed when he said this,
as if, perhaps, he was downplaying how Greengrass really felt about The Bourne
Legacy, or perhaps because he had his own falling-out with Gilroy — who has been a
writer on every Bourne film and directed Legacy — over the script to the third movie,
The Bourne Ultimatum. Asked why Greengrass was loathe to return to the franchise,
Damon said that although he hadn't seen Legacy yet, "from what I understand, it kind of
relives [The Bourne Ultimatum] from a different perspective." (Legacy is meant to take
place concurrently with the events of the third movie, and Jason Bourne is referenced.)
"What that means, because they use our actors and characters, is that whatever they
said [in Legacy] is true and so we'd have to acknowledge it in any Bourne movie that
we'd do. And that makes it really tough," Damon said with another laugh, noting: "I don't
think we can do the Dallas it-was-all-a-dream scenario . I don't think the audience would
go for that after they paid money to see a movie." "I'd really love to do another one
because I love the character," Damon said, but then he pointed out another issue that
would make it "a real struggle to extend the franchise": Bourne's search to "find his
identity" was what drove him through the first three movies. Now that he has answered
that question, Damon said, "where do you go next?"
Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ Dazzles – Oscar Bait for Certain!
Thursday, October 11th 2012
"IS THAT your best bad idea?"
"That's the best bad idea I've had today!"
So goes one of the many surprisingly funny exchanges between Ben Affleck and Bryan
Cranston in Ben's astonishing, riveting, hugely entertaining and mostly-historically
accurate movie "Argo."
This is the true tale of six Americans who managed to escape the U.S. Embassy in Iran
during the Shah-toppling revolution of 1979. (Fifty-two other Americans were held
hostage at the Embassy for 444 days.) The six justly nervous people who escaped the
wrath of the mobs were holed up at the private residence of the Canadian ambassador
and his wife.
Argo reveals the hilariously implausible plot to free them. How? To pretend the
Americans are Canadian filmmakers, and spirit them away after their "film location"
duties are complete. The operation is led by CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck). He is
both supported and opposed by his boss, Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston -- whom you
may recognize as the star of AMC-TV's Breaking Bad.)
Maybe any filmmaker could have created something reasonably entertaining from this
material. But only Ben Affleck, I think could have brought forth such a seamless, wildly
nerve-wracking, uproarious and amusing crackerjack entertainment.
This is Affleck's third directorial effort. His first two, Gone, Baby Gone and The Town,
were critically acclaimed, but they don't hold a candle to Argo. I have to agree with
Ben's great friend, Matt Damon. He was there at the screening all evening to give
Affleck support. He said, "Argo is the greatest thing he's done yet." (Matt's head was
shaved, again. He scraped it off for Elysium, but just as it was growing back, he was
needed for retakes. "Oh, it's only hair!" said Matt, good-naturedly.)

ARGO takes its audience on a roller coaster ride from which one thinks recovery
is impossible. he film's first 10 minutes are astonishingly intense, as the
American Embassy is stormed. It appears to be actual footage but it isn't.
Then, quickly, we are in Hollywood, where schlocky producers Alan Arkin
(absolutely brilliant) and John Goodman (absolutely charming) get on board with
the CIA to publicize a "fake movie." They are going to try to convince the Iranians
that such a movie is truly happening. At one point, arguing over casting and cost
(of something that will never exist) Arkin snaps, "Listen, if I'm going to make a
fake movie, I want it be a fake hit!"
The back and forth, between L.A. yuks and very real terror in Tehran (along with
real vintage news clips of people hanging from lamp-posts) shouldn't work. But it
does. I have rarely seen such accomplished filmmaking. Certainly not this year,
so far. The acting, from top to bottom is flawless, from Cranston to Victor Garber
to Tate Donovan to Chris Messina to Clea Duvall to Zeljko Ivanek to Richard
Kind. Every role, no matter how brief, is indelibly played. Affleck, handsomely
sporting a dark beard, is rather stoic, but so, too, was the real Mendez. The
cinematography is breathtaking. The period aspects of 1979/80 are expertly
captured. And the last 15 minutes? Bring oxygen; it is that intense! Yes, of
course, some dramatic license is taken -- that's why they call it a movie.
Ben Affleck has made a real "movie-movie" that leaves its audience wrung out,
exhilarated and misty-eyed. Bravo. Prepare for the Oscar, kid. (He already won
one with Damon for screenwriting Good Will Hunting. Then he descended into
tabloid hell. Now he's back as a movie-making mensch.)

THERE was a party. Two parties, in fact, one for each of the two screenings
seated dinners before and after. At one point, the parties overlapped. It seemed
the entire world was there. Just a few: Columnist Joe Klein...former NY school
chancellor Joel Klein... Bette Midler... Patrick Wilson... Ted Koppel... Deborah
Norville... Bryant Gumble (very trim)... Anthony Edwards... Steve Kroft...
Christiane Amanapour... Mariska Hargitay... Saul and Gayfryd Steinberg...
Richard Kind... Jeremy Jordan (star of Broadway's Newsies)... Brian Williams...
Liz Cho... Alina Cho... Michael Douglas... Blaine Trump, Bruce and Nan Weber...
Donna Karan... Bob Woodruff... Steven Soderbergh... Barbara Walters... Adam
Arkin... Bob Balaban, et, al.
Had a great talk with one of the producers of Argo -- the amazing George
Clooney -- and sent love to his dad who he says has recovered well from the
stroke that beset him down in Georgetown some months ago. (This was after he
and George were arrested at a sit-in protest in front of the Sudanese Embassy in
Washington, D.C.)
One of the hosts, ABC's Nightline correspondent Cynthia McFadden had quite a
table -- it boasted among others Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Oliver Stone,
Brian Williams, Sting. To have been a fly on that tablecloth would have been
hearing the conversation between Stone and Sting. The latter was poured into a
pair of black jeans. When somebody commented on the firmness of his gluteus
maximus, back came back the reply: "Sting is simply not a mortal. We have to
accept that."
Living Landmark Harry Belafonte was also there along with Mike Nichols, the
intellectual's intellectual Ingrid Sischy, Vanity Fair's Beth Kseniak and her writer
guy Walter Owen, MGM's onetime star Arlene Dahl, Tommy Hilfiger and his
purse-designing wife, Dee. One wag quipped, "If a bomb dropped here tonight,
Obama would definitely not be re-elected!"
Bryan Cranston, so great-looking in a beautifully tailored suit, said: "I know my
role on Breaking Bad is the best character I will ever play. Ever. And I fully
embrace it. I'm not all 'Oh, will I ever live up to this again?' Because I won't! It's
an actor's dream and I am awake in it and loving it."
Peggy Siegal put this triumph together, natch. She wore a short red woolen suit
and was last seen twirling and showing it off to Bette Midler. (Peggy and Mr.
Clooney also had a 'hair moment' when posing together. He messed her do. She
messed his salt and pepper thatch. They patted each other's hair down after.
Cute.)
As for Argo -- which eventually became the catch-all phrase
"Argo'n'fuck'yourself!" -- I don't know when a film has so moved me before. It is
terrifying to re-live those days. The fact that this all happened in my lifetime is
quite amazing. In the wake of the recent attack on the Libyan Embassy and
murder of our ambassador and three other Americans, Argo is also a cautionary
tale that clearly hasn't cautioned anyone.
The more things change, the worse they become, in the Middle East for
Americans and everybody else.
Is That Your thBest Bad Idea?
Thursday, October 11 2012
“IS THAT your best bad idea?”
“That’s the best bad idea I’ve had today!”
So goes one of the many surprisingly funny exchanges between Ben Affleck and
Bryan Cranston in Ben’s astonishing, riveting, hugely entertaining and mostlyhistorically accurate movie “Argo.”
This is the true tale of six Americans who managed to escape the U.S. Embassy in Iran
during the Shah-toppling revolution of 1979. (Fifty-two other Americans were held
hostage at the Embassy for 444 days.) The six justly nervous people who escaped the
wrath of the mobs were holed up at the private residence of the Canadian Ambassador
and his wife.
“Argo” reveals the hilariously implausible plot to free them. How? To pretend the
Americans are Canadian filmmakers, and spirit them away after their “film location”
duties are complete. The operation is led by CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck). He is
both supported and opposed by his boss, Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston — whom you
may recognize as the star of AMC-TV’s “Breaking Bad.)
Maybe any filmmaker could have created something reasonably entertaining from this
material. But only Ben Affleck, I think could have brought forth such a seamless, wildly
nerve-wracking, uproarious and amusing crackerjack entertainment.
This is Affleck’s third directorial effort. His first two, “Gone, Baby Gone” and “The Town,”
were critically acclaimed, but they don’t hold a candle, to “Argo.”
I have to agree with Ben’s great friend, Matt Damon. He was there at the screening all
evening to give Affleck support. He said, “Argo” is the greatest thing he’s done yet.”
(Matt’s head was shaved, again. He scraped it off for “Elysium,” but just as it was
growing back, he was needed for retakes. “Oh, it’s only hair!” said Matt, goodnaturedly.)
Ben Affleck A List ‘Argo’ Premiere
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By: Roger Friedman/Wednesday, October 10 2012
What to do when everyone on the New York A list wants to see a movie that’s already
had a Hollywood premiere and is opening nationwide in three days? Why, have a
double dinner and screening back to back at the Time Warner Center and Porter House
Restaurant. That’s what Warner Bros. and the Peggy Siegal company did last night–
and it was quite the scene. Especially the Porter House, which is cheek by jowl with the
Stone Rose in the TW Center, and where the motion picture academy was having a get
to know you night for members who wanted to meet new president Hawk Koch.
The fourth floor hallway was kind of in celebrity gridlock as numbers of stars poured in
and out of both restaurants. But the centerpiece was “Argo,” Ben Affleck’s terrific thriller
that opens on Friday. And imagine this scenario: Affleck, bff Matt Damon (with a
shaved bald pate), the movie’s producers George Clooney (with girlfriend Stacy
Keibler–yes tabloid hounds, they are still together!) and Grant Heslov, not to mention
John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Tate Donovan, and Scoot McNairy–
all from the “Argo” cast.
Then mix in Michael Douglas, who stopped by after the academy event, and took a
private booth with his legendary flack Allen Burry and director Oliver Stone. Plus
Sting and Trudie Styler dined with NBC News’s Brian Williams, Bob and Lynn
Balaban, Iris Love, Christiane Amanpour, and Ted Koppel, New York Times editor in
chief Jill Abramson, People magazine’s Larry Hackett, and Lara Spencer of “Good
Morning America,” not to mention Bryant and Hillary Gumbel, Liz Smith, ABC’s
Cynthia McFadden, Barbara Walters and movie mogul Charles Cohen with wife Clo.
I got a dinner seat with Grace Gummer and brother in law Benjamin Walker– two hot
young actors right now; Grace’s sister is Mamie, who is Ben’s wife and the girls are
Meryl Streep‘s actress daughters. Watch for Ben in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” this winter
on Broadway with Scarlett Johansson.
And yes, Richard Gere and Glenn Close were there just to make this more
complicated.
Peggy Siegal‘s rooster-ready Sally Hershberger hair cut was in extra high fluff as she
and her indomitable staff kept seating all these people for steak dinners, then re-seating
them as they moved to shmooze with friends, and get in and out in time to see the
movie in the TW screening room. Which, let’s face it, they loved. “Argo” is an old
fashioned edge of the seat thriller with 1970s style political intrigue.
What were Sting and Oliver Stone chatting about? How about Clooney with Ted
Koppel? I’ll tell you– table after table was filled with interesting types. It was like a triple
Vanity Fair party. Directors galore came to see how Ben Affleck did, including Barry
Levinson, Oren Moverman, Neil Burger, JC Chandor, Steven Soderbergh and Tom
McCarthy.
More from media: Bob Woodruff, Elizabeth Vargas with star musician husband Marc
Cohn, plus DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, Frazer Pennebaker, Nan and Gay
Talese, great Clooney friend actor Richard Kind, Deborah Norville, the affable
Anthony Edwards (Clooney’s pal from “ER” days), actor Patrick Wilson and the very
legendary Harry Belafonte.
Clooney, Keibler and pals were wooed over to Amy Sacco’s new club No. 8 on West
16th St. and were there well after midnight, running into Gina Gershon–who was
celebrating publication of her book “In Search of Cleo,” with agent David Kuhn and
editor Lauren Marino. (If you can get in, and I was lucky to this time, No. 8 has some
seriously cool private rooms complete with actual turntables and hundreds of LPs, not to
mention nooks and crannies.)
It was around that time that Russell Simmons came on in with Stacey Dash, right after
her “Piers Morgan” show appearance and endorsement of Mitt Romney. In the spirit of
bipartisanship, no drinks were thrown, and the conversation was kept apolitical. But I
had a nice talk with beautiful “Clueless” actress Stacey Dash, who is the cousin of
Damon Dash and sister of Darien (once precariously in a deal with Michael Jackson).
More on that in another item…
Bryan Cranston on Being th‘The Face of Meth
By: Jordan Zakarin/Wednesday, October 10 2012
Critical acclaim, a legion of fans, Emmy Awards: there are a lot of perks to being the
star of Breaking Bad.
One downside? Being, as Bryan Cranston calls himself, "The Face of Meth."
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at an event for his new film, Argo, in which he
plays a CIA officer helping to free Americans hiding from Iranian revolutionaries,
Cranston joked about how his TV role lands him some unexpected column inches and
web real estate. Thanks to his character Walter White, who is an ever-more-gruesome
meth cooker, any time someone is arrested for possessing or deal crystal meth, it's
Cranston's photo that ends up slapped on the article.
"It’s not exactly how I want to be known, but it is what it is," he sighed, laughing. "In fact,
there’s the real Walter White, who was a meth dealer, and it’s like, oh, great."
The White he refers to is an Alabama man who made headlines in August when he
violated his parole for a meth-cooking arrest from 2008. And, as expected, Cranston's
face indeed appeared in many of the stories about the criminal.
"Maybe I should have Heisenberg pay him a visit in prison," he joked, nodding to his
character's dealer code name. "I have a way of getting rid of people I don’t want
around."
Still, Cranston doesn't expect the meth conotations to follow him forever.
"I think what’s going to be good for me, by a lucky, fortunate set of circumstances, I had
to shave my head because the character was going through chemotherapy," he said.
"And by doing so, it gave me a specific look, and now, as you see, it grows back and it
helps to change my look. So for an actor, I look for the opportunity to change and mix it
up."
Warner Bros. and The Peggy Siegal Company Present
A Special Screening of Argo
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By: Colleen Kelsey/Wednesday, October 10 2012
Last night, Warner Brothers and The Peggy Siegal Company fêted the premiere of Argo
with a special screening at the Time Warner Room in New York. Directed by and
starring Ben Affleck, the political thriller features Alan Arkin, John Goodman, and
Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston in an adaptation of events that occurred during 1979's
Iranian Hostage Crisis.
Produced by Affleck, Grant Heslov, and George Clooney, Chris Terrio wrote the
screenplay based on Joshuah Bearman's 2007 Wired article, "How the CIA Used a
Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran," an account of "The Canadian
Caper" —how six Americans found refuge in the home of a Canadian ambassador, and
faced with the immediate danger of exposure, a CIA agent (played by Affleck) hatched a
risky extraction plan to deliver these Americans home safely.
Given the historical context of the film, Interview couldn't help asking a few guests if,
given the opportunity, they could be in any adaptation of an event throughout history.
"That's a doozer of a question!" said Girls' Zosia Mamet. "The opportunities are endless,
but, probably something from the Prohibition era à la Roaring '20s. I love an old-school
noir-heist movie. They were a bit grittier back then. I'm a sucker for the '20s!" Mamet
enthused. We also caught up with For A Good Time, Call... and Celeste and Jesse
Forever's Ari Graynor, looking cozy and autumnal in a brown tweed cape and knee-high
black boots. "I would love to do a film about the suffragettes," Graynor said. "I'm
surprised no one has explored that yet. Maybe that will be my next role!"
Other attendees included CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Adam Driver, Bette Midler, Bob
Balaban, Rula Jebreal, Alex Karpovsky, CBS News' Morley Safer, Barbara Walters,
John Patrick Shanley, Mike Nichols, Glenn Close, Matt Damon, Donna Karan, Ingrid
Sischy and Sandy Brant, Brian Williams, Bruce Weber, and Kate Upton. After the
screening, guests relocated to Porter House New York for dinner with the cast.
Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston Chat Argo At Glittering NYC
Premiere
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Wednesday, October 10 2012
Tuesday night was a celebrity bonanza at the Time Warner Center in New York's
Columbus Circle for the New York premiere of director/star Ben Affleck's acclaimed
Argo. Stars Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman as well as producers George
Clooney and Grant Heslov were just part of the cortege of A-listers and New York
glitterati who dined at the Porter House Steakhouse where Affleck held the spotlight in
the bar talking to folks. Guests were divided into two screenings of the Toronto and
Telluride film festivals world premiere based on the true story about a CIA agent
(Affleck) who rescues six Americans hiding in the Canadian embassy at the dawn of the
Iranian hostage crisis that began in November 1979.
ML caught up with actor Bryan Cranston as well as Affleck at the event. Between
chatting with a parade of well-heeled well-wishers including best pal Matt Damon, Oliver
Stone, Sting, Ted Koppel, Brian Williams and more, Affleck gave a little insight on what
motivated him to take on the project, telling ML he decided to make Argo happen
because it was a fascinating story that was also a challenge, admitting to some fear in
the beginning. "I wanted to direct it because it's a challenge directorially," he told ML. "It
has three competing challenges: It's a comedy, it's a nail-biting thriller and it's a CIAintrigue spy story. I thought if I can execute that and combine those elements and
execute them, unify them and tell something that is true and maintain the integrity of the
truth of the stories then I could do something quite special. It's the favorite thing I've
ever been involved with."
In the movie, actor Bryan Cranston plays Jack O'Donnell, Affleck's boss at the CIA who
is overseeing the operation to rescue the six Americans hiding in the Canadian
Ambassador's residence after a daring escape into the streets of the Iranian capital
soon after the American embassy was overrun by angry mobs with the acquiescence of
the country's new ruler Ayatollah Khomeini. Cranston said he received the Argo script
from his agent and that Affleck and producer Grant Heslov had specifically asked for
him to read it. "I thought, 'Oh that's flattering.' And I thought, 'Please God, let the story
be as good as the offer,'" he told ML. "And it was quite frankly even better. The story is
fantastic. It's true, important and the screenplay by Chris Terrio is great.
What I took away from this and what I think what audiences will is that it's a simple story
about people being selfless and doing things for all the right reasons - just to save other
human beings. There's no greater noble effort than this." Ahead of production, a fellow
actor touted to Cranston the chance to work with Affleck who in turn put a plug in for
Affleck's work ethic and being an all-around great guy. Events such as Tuesday night's
are meant to showcase Oscar contenders in their best light. And the Peggy Siegal
Company, which hosts a number of these dinners and parties tied to screenings, is front
and center in organizing events for titles hitting the awards circuit. "I got a tip from Jon
Hamm, who said, 'You're going to love working with [Affleck].'
And I went, 'Oh good,'" said Cranston. "As an actor turned director he's one of the best
and just as a director in and of itself, he's terrific. He's a kind and a thoughtful man. And
he's willing to do the work. People only see the finished product, but he's very
passionate about stories." "I didn't want to make a story that was partisan right before
the election," Affleck said to ML about Argo and the audience he hopes will come to see
it when it opens this weekend. "I want a movie that the Repubicans I know and am
friends with can go see. I do not want a movie that could be politicized internationally
vis-a-vis, Iran. I went to great pains to just tell a factual story with out being didactic or
tell the audience what to feel."
Matt Damon Has a Small Part in Terry Gilliam’s The Zero
Theorem
Wednesday, October 10th 2012
Last night, Matt Damon was on hand to toast to his good friend Ben Affleck's upcoming
film, Argo. And so, when Vulture approached Damon, we were all ready to talk fake scifi movies and Oscar odds ... but we first had to address his appearance: Why was his
head shaved again? This led to a revealing bit about a "small part" he's shooting in
Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem, which stars Christoph Waltz as a computer genius
on some sort of meaning-of-life quest. Herewith, the complete conversation, which
eventually did veer into Argo and Oscar territory (he thinks The Town was "snubbed,"
by the way) as well as his Liberace movie, Promised Land, Elysium, and more.
Happy birthday! The last time I saw you at the Contagion premiere, your head was
shaved, but that was for Elysium. Reshoots?
I shaved it again this morning. There are two extra days of shooting that we have to do
next week, and not to bore you with this, but I had to shave it because I have to do a
wig fitting. I'm going to do three days with Terry Gilliam, and now that I have to shave
my head, I need to do a wig for Terry's movie.
You're doing The Zero Theorem?
I'm just doing a very small part in it. Someone finally gave him money to do this one,
thank God. It's with Christoph Waltz and Tilda Swinton. I'd do anything for Terry. It's
been ten years since I last worked with him. I wrote Terry this whole e-mail, because we
had this whole conversation about what the character would look like, because the story
takes place in the future, but he had a specific look that he wanted, but then I had to
[points to shaved head], and I said, "Terry, what should we do?" And he said, "Actually,
we can take advantage of the fact that your head is shaved. Why don't we change your
hairline?" So he mocked up a picture and sent me a real receding hairline, with white
spiked hair. "We might as well take advantage of the fact that you're bald and really do
something, present you in a way you've never been seen before."
White spiked hair like punk rock or Graydon Carter–style?
Graydon Carter–style. But we'll see when I get there. They're making the wig now, and I
saw the hair sample — they've got to get it to London and send it. It's, like, gray-white.
He's supposed to be my age, and it's supposed to be a believable hairline, but a few
inches back to here [points to an area much further back]. Still believable that it could be
mine, and then they'll fine shave my head all the way down. Terry's so visual, you know,
which I love. It makes it very easy to work with him. He always knows exactly what he
wants.
Do you think the sci-fi Argo — the film within the film — is filmable?
Judging from the table-read scene? Probably not. [Laughs.] Not that I'm not morbidly
curious and wouldn't want somebody to try, but I hope they wouldn't sink too much
money into it. Maybe with the new way to distribute movies, there's a way to make it
make sense.
How do you think it compares to Elysium?
Hopefully Elysium is a really unique and nonderivative, exciting, futuristic actionscience-fiction movie. The thing about making movies, you always feel you're one step
away from making Argo, the movie within the movie. What is much rarer is when you
make Argo. That doesn't happen very often, and it only happens when there is a great
director and a lot of really wonderful people who do their best work and make it happen
together. I'm so proud of Ben. We don't get a chance to see each other a lot, but we'll
get a minute somewhere in here to catch up.
He's doing a lot of press over there, which is good. There's already talk of an
Oscar nomination for him for this one.
I hope so! I think he deserves it. I really do. I'd be shocked if it's not one of the Best
Pictures. It really is. And they snubbed him last time. The Town was great, and Gone
Baby Gone was wonderful, too, so hopefully that means something.
Since you sometimes don't know, can't know, how a film is going to turn out just
from reading a script, how do you separate the bad Argos from the good Argos?
It's tough. Really, you're looking for as much information as possible, but at the end of
the day, it's an educated guess. I just take the math out of it and bet on the director, and
if I like the director's body of work, chances are I'm going to like the movie that they
make, and I think that's the safest way to do it. When younger actors ask me, "You've
been around for a while; you've got a good track record," I tell them that: Work with the
best director you can, and chances are you'll do okay, over time. It doesn't prevent you
from sometime being in a great director's worst movie, you know? [Laughs.] That can
happen.
That ever happen to you?
Yeah, yeah, but certainly none that I would ever mention! [Laughs.] But you know, I live
in New York, so people aren't shy about coming up to you and telling you what they
think about your career. And so I've certainly, when a movie's come out, had people
come up and say, "What the hell were you thinking? That movie was terrible!" And I
usually say a version of what you just said, which is, "Look, we don't get to see the
movie before we make it!" [Laughs.] It's always a crapshoot. There's always an element
of risk, and sometimes that's part of the gig.
Well, if you're doing Zero Theorem, that's like your fourth sci-fi movie in two years
— if you consider Contagion to be sci-fi. Is that a direction you want to continue
going in?
I've always done it on a one-off basis. I've never looked at any trend. I'm interested in
making good movies with great directors, and that's it. It's all problem-solving, you
know? The problems are just slightly different in different genres, but it's really basically
the same thing. Even if you compare big budgets with small budgets, it's still all the
same.
You and Ben are producing The Whitey Bulger Project. Where are you with that?
We're waiting ... Terence Winter is a brilliant writer, and he's doing a draft right now that
we're waiting for. I'm really curious to see it. I think the world of him. He's a wonderful
writer, so we'll see — we'll see if there's a movie there that we all think is worth telling,
that would be different than other things that have been made in the same genre, and
then, yeah. It's so hard making movies because so much has to happen for these things
to come together, but I really hope that one does.
For Promised Land, you were going to direct, but you handed it over to Gus Van
Sant. Is that a load off?
In terms of things like Promised Land, there's a huge buy-in there, because we wrote it,
John [Krasinski] and I are starring in it and producing it as well, so it doesn't feel like
less of a commitment. It feels like more of one. But, yeah, I think Ben and I are, with our
production company now, are gearing up to do that [meaning, produce more films they
aren't actually in]. I wouldn't count it out. So I think we're about to start doing more of
that, but we haven't yet, up to now. I mean, I've executive-produced things like
documentaries, but I haven't just produced a film yet. Producing is a real trade. I know in
this business, people will take a credit if they can get it, but I want to treat it like a real
thing. Because we know so many great producers, we wouldn't want to take advantage
of it.
Since Michael Douglas is here, did you guys finish the Liberace movie Behind the
Candelabra for HBO? Because they were waiting before for Michael to feel better
...
Yeah, and then I pushed it actually because it conflicted when they wanted to shoot, so
that was part of the reason it got pushed a year, but we finished. Michael and I are both
here, and my kids are in school here, so we wanted to do it in the summer. It turned out
great. I'm really proud of it. It doesn't come out until May, and it's going to Cannes first
before it airs on HBO.
Since you play his lover, did you have any interesting love scenes with Michael?
A lot of interesting love scenes with him, yeah! [Grins.] But you know, look: We knew
what movie we signed up for, and it's a really interesting, the dynamic between the two
characters, and a lot like a marriage. So we had a lot of experience, both of us, in that
regard, so it's really unique, just the power dynamic between them and the craziness of
their lives. I mean, he was the biggest performer in the world, and what that did to their
dynamic, and at the same time, they're like an old married couple. There are fights, you
know, because they battled endlessly, because Scott had a drug problem and they
really fell out in large part because of that. And it had a really tragic end there. I've never
seen a relationship like that portrayed before, so hopefully people will like it. I'm really
proud of it. I think it's really interesting! Maybe people will disagree, but I'm really proud
of it.
Ben, Matt, Andth George Hit the NYC Premiere of Argo!
Wednesday, October 10 2012
Just in case you had any doubt over whether Ben Affleck and George Clooney have still
got it, here's a picture of the silver foxes looking particularly fine at the premiere of Argo
in New York. The former E.R. hunk worked as a producer on the politically charged CIA
thriller, which Affleck himself directed and stars in. The pair will debut the movie in the
UK as part of London Film Festival next week.
George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Michael Douglas Fete Political Thriller
‘Argo’
th
Wednesday, October 10 2012
COLUMBUS CIRCLE — A thrilling political season has created a great appetite for a
political thriller.
“Argo,” Ben Affleck’s highly anticipated new movie, premiered at the Time Warner
Screening Room Tuesday night for an audience packed with bold-faced names from the
film and media worlds.
Affleck pals George Clooney and Matt Damon joined film co-stars John Goodman,
Tate Donovan, Bryan Cranston and guests Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Bette
Midler, Kate Upton, Sting and Trudie Styler.
In addition, news personalites Dan Abrams, Steve Kroft, Hoda Kotb, Lara Spencer,
Alina Cho, Morley Safer and more turned up for the screening.
“Argo” is based on the true story of the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran during
the Iran hostage crisis, under the guise of making a Hollywood film.
BEN, MATT, AND GEORGE HIT THE NYC
PREMIERE OF ARGO!
Ben Affleck had his best buds Matt Damon andGeorge Clooney for support at last
night's NYC premiere of Argo, which is out Friday. The trio made the rounds at the
debut, held at the Time Warner Screening Room, and then moved the fun times on to
the Porter House restaurant. They had the company of other friends like Michael
Douglas, Oliver Stone, and Ted Koppel. The screening also brought out celebs curious
to see Ben's latest like Kate Upton, Sting, and Richard Gere. Ben and George, along
with George's longtime work partner Grant Heslov, actually produced the picture
together, and they were able to toast the finished project along with the film's stars
Bryan Cranston, Tate Donovan, and Scoot McNairy.
Just Like Old Times! Matt Damon supports best friend Ben
Affleck at Argoth screening
Wednesday, October 10 2012
They’ve been the best of friends for years, and even appeared together in 1997 movie
Good Will Hunting together.
And 15 years on, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck showed they are still as chummy as
ever.
Matt Damon, who married in 2005 and now has three children with wife Luciana
Barroso, attended the Time Warner Screening Room in New York City to support his pal
who has a leading role Argo.
The 42-year-old flung his arm around Affleck who was there to promote the motion
picture with Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman.
There’s no doubt, Ben – who also married in 2005 and has a trio of kids with Jennifer
Garner – would have appreciated his presence at the star-studded event.
Earlier in the day Matt was spotted squeezing in some time with his youngest daughter
Stella, who turns two on October 20.
George Clooney – who was spotted leaving his hotel en route to a star-studded
screening and dinner – was happy to sign autographs for fan.
He helped to produce the flick which was directed by Affleck and was sure to make a
prominent appearance at the gathering for the film.
It follows a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist who concocts a risky plan to free six Americans
who find shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador, as the Iranian revolution
reaches a boiling point.
The screening for the flick, out on Friday, was also attended by Michael Douglas, Trudie
Styler and Sting as well as Richard Gere.
George Clooney
& Ben Affleck's "Argo" NYC Screening Night
th
Wednesday, October 10 2012
Teaming up for another promotional spectacle, George Clooney and Ben Affleck were
front and center at a New York City screening of their new film “Argo” on Tuesday night
(October 9).
Held at the Time Warner Screening Room, the "Ocean's Eleven" dreamboat acted as
lead producer on the flick while the "Good Will Hunting" hunk directed and starred in the
drama/thriller.Also on hand at the Big Apple event were Michael Douglas, Tate
Donovan, Richard Gere, Bryan Cranston, Grant Heslov and Scoot McNairy, with the
fellas greeting press before taking seats inside the venue's cinema room.
Due in theaters October 12, “Argo” is about “A CIA 'exfiltration' specialist who concocts
a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian
ambassador.”
“BRIAN WILLIAMS”
Wednesday, October 10th 2012
Brian Williams attends the "Argo" screening at the Time Warner
Screening Room on October 9, 2012 in New York City.
Boys night as George and Ben team up to
present their CIA thriller
th
Wednesday, October 10 2012
George Clooney and Ben Affleck have both walked the red carpet with their other
halves lately to present their joint project Argo.
But there were no sign of glamorous plus ones at a New York screening of the CIA
thriller this week as the boys teamed up to promote their new project.
George's statuesque girlfriend Stacy Keibler was nowhere to be seen, and Ben's wife
Jennifer Garner was probably at home looking after their daughters Violet, six and
three-year-old Seraphina and seven-month-old son Samuel.
No, tonight was strictly boys night.
Ben was also thrilled to be supported at the unveiling by his best pal Matt Damon – his
childhood friend who he collaborated with on the script for Good Will Hunting.
The friends, who grew up together in Boston and shared a flat, shared a hug at the
screening.
In the past, Ben has spoken about how lucky he feels to still be close to his childhood
buddy.
"It's a different kind of satisfaction being around your friends, the friends you grew up
with," he said.
"They have kids, have barbecues and that kind of deal. That is really satisfying, too. It's
one of the nice things about having friends for a long time."
Ben and his family regularly go on holiday with Matt and his wife Luciana Barroso and
their three biological daughters plus Luciana's daughter from her first marriage.
At the premiere Ben, George and Matt were joined by Hollywood big hitters Richard
Gere, Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone.
There were some ladies present, however. Trudy Styler attended with her musician
husband Sting. They were joined by Bette Midler and Glenn Close.
George produced Argo, and passed the script on to Ben, who directs and stars in the
thriller, which is based on a true story.
It has already generated Oscar buzz and recounts a joint effort by the CIA and the
Canadian government in 1979 to rescue six Americans from Tehran in Iran after the US
embassy was taken over by Islamist militants.
Bette Midler Attends Ben Affleck’s “Argo” Premiere In New
York
th
Wednesday, October 10 2012
Others in attendance were Matt Damon, George Clooney, John Goodman, Sting,
Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Barbara Walters, Oliver Stone, and others.
This was a different kind of screening in that it was a double dinner and screening back
to back at the Time Warner Center and Porter House Restaurant.
The A-plus list steps out to fete Ben Affleck and George
Clooney for ‘Argo’
th
Wednesday, October, 10 2012
Do what I tell you to do and everything will be fine," Ben Affleck answered when I asked
how Affleck the director and Affleck the actor get along during the making of his Oscarbound "Argo." Affleck warmed to the topic and continued, "I am in great sync with
myself. But the actor in me wants the next part, and first we have to promote this film."
And promote Affleck did, at a star-crammed Peggy Siegal-produced double dinner and
screening at Manhattan's Porter House Steakhouse. I saw the film over the weekend at
the Hamptons International Film Festival and was wowed. Affleck's third picture as a
director is a humor-laced, fact-based drama about the daring rescue of six American
foreign-service workers stranded in the house of the Canadian ambassador during the
Iran hostage crisis in 1979-80. Affleck plays a CIA extraction expert who pretends to be
scouting locations for a cheesy Hollywood sci-fi film called "Argo" as a cover to remove
the Americans posing as a film crew.
I told George Clooney, whom I first met at the premiere of "Good Night, and Good Luck"
in 2005, and who produced this film with partner Grant Heslov (standing nearby), that
"Argo" is a genuine crowd pleaser. I said it reminded me of the smart political thrillers of
the '70s, like "Three Days of the Condor." Clooney replied, "It's like 'The Parallax View,'
the films of Alan Pakula. Affleck goes to a new level as a director in this one."
John Goodman, sipping soda at the bar beside veteran actor and Academy member
Peter Riegert ("The Good Wife"), had this to say about Affleck's direction: "He knows his
onions," which is an old-school American way of saying that Affleck knows his subject,
knows what he's doing. Goodman knows what he's doing, too. In "Argo" he plays John
Chambers, a Hollywood make-up artist best known for crafting the masks for "Planet of
the Apes."
Also there was friend of Ben (and joint Oscar winner for "Good Will Hunting") Matt
Damon, with a freshly shaven head. He's going back into two days of reshoots for the
futuristic sci-fi film "Elysium" -- and that required a few more bald-hair days. Clooney
couldn't resist the temptation to get the feel of the new-mown scalp, rubbing his hand up
and down Damon's head and commenting that it was smooth one way and stubbly the
other. Show and tell over, Damon mentioned that he was looking forward to the release
of the small-town drama "Promised Land," which he co-wrote with John Krasinski from a
Dave Eggers story. The pair co-star with Frances McDormand, and Gus Van Sant
directs for a December 28 limited release.
The overall atmosphere was that of a Halloween party where guests were asked to
dress as their favorite star. Besides Affleck, Clooney, Damon, and Goodman, "Argo" costar Bryan Cranston was in the house. Other bold-faced names included Trudie Styler
with Sting, Tony Shalhoub, Harry Belafonte, Patrick Wilson with Dagmara Dominczyk,
Brian Williams, Barbara Walters, Glenn Close, Liz Smith, and Deborah Norville, to name
a few.
As if that weren't enough, right next door, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences was holding an even more exclusive cocktail party, hosted by newly elected
president Hawk Koch. I slipped in and caught actress Rachel Weisz talking to director
Steven Soderbergh (the subject was his kidney stones) while her husband, Daniel
Craig, looked on. Craig and I had had dinner together when he was at Sundance
promoting "Layer Cake" with director Matthew Vaughn in 2004. I told him that I
remembered returning to my office, then Us Weekly, and saying that Craig was going to
be big. I got no traction. Then along came Bond. Oh well. By then they knew he was
big. We mentioned Craig's little upcoming film, "Skyfall," but concentrated on Weisz's
possible Oscar run for her starring role in Terrence Davies' "The Deep Blue Sea."
Chatting nearby were Vondie Curtis-Hall and "Law & Order" star S. Epatha Merkerson,
who has a role in the Oscar-buzzed "Lincoln," by Steven Spielberg, which has begun to
screen this week. Michael Douglas and Melissa Leo were also making the scene.
Honorary Oscar-winner (2013) D.A. Pennebaker ("Don't Look Back," "The War Room")
and his wife, Chris Hegedus ("Startup.com," "The War Room"), were leaning on the bar
beside Michael Moore ("Bowling for Columbine") in a documentary-film cluster.
The 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, to be hosted by Seth MacFarlane on February
24 in Hollywood, is over four months away, but the season is clearly in full swing here in
New York City.
LIZ SMITH: “IS THAT your best bad idea?” ...
Ben Affleck's, Dazzling, Dizzying, Oscar-Worthy "Argo"
Knocks Out New York.
And Peggy Siegal puts on not one, but two parties to
celebrate Ben's triumph.
by Liz Smith
Thursday, October 11, 2012
“IS THAT your best bad idea?”
“That’s the best bad idea I’ve had today!”
So goes one of the many surprisingly funny exchanges
between Ben Affleckand Bryan Cranston in Ben’s
astonishing, riveting, hugely entertaining and mostlyhistorically accurate movie “Argo.”
This is the true tale of six
Americans who managed to
escape the U.S. Embassy in
Iran during the Shahtoppling revolution of 1979.
(Fifty-two other Americans
were held hostage at the
Embassy for 444 days.) The
six justly nervous people
who escaped the wrath of
the mobs were holed up at
the private residence of the
Canadian Ambassador and
his wife.
Tony Mendez.
“Argo” reveals the hilariously
implausible plot to free them.
How? To pretend the
Americans are Canadian
filmmakers, and spirit them
away after their “film
location” duties are
complete. The operation is
led by CIA operative Tony
Mendez (Affleck). He is both
supported and opposed by
his boss, Jack O’Donnell
Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in
(Bryan Cranston — whom
"Argo."
you may recognize as the
star of AMC-TV’s “Breaking Bad.)
Maybe any filmmaker could have created something
reasonably entertaining from this material. But only Ben
Affleck, I think could have brought forth such a seamless,
wildly nerve-wracking, uproarious and amusing crackerjack
entertainment.
This is Affleck’s third directorial effort. His first two, “Gone,
Baby Gone” and “The Town,” were critically acclaimed, but
they don’t hold a candle, to “Argo.”
I have to agree with Ben’s great friend, Matt Damon. He was
there at the screening all evening to give Affleck support. He
said, “Argo” is the greatest thing he’s done yet.” (Matt’s head
was shaved, again. He scraped it off for “Elysium,” but just as
it was growing back, he was needed for retakes. “Oh, it’s only
hair!” said Matt, good-naturedly.)
Ben and Matt at the screening of "Argo."
“ARGO” takes its audience on a roller coaster ride from which
one thinks recovery is impossible. The film’s first ten minutes
are astonishingly intense, as the American Embassy is
stormed. It appears to be actual footage but it isn’t.
Then, quickly, we are in Hollywood, where schlocky
producers Alan Arkin(absolutely brilliant) and John
Goodman (absolutely charming) get on board with the CIA to
publicize a “fake movie.” They are going to try to convince the
Iranians that such a movie truly is happening. At one point,
arguing over casting and cost (of something that will never
exist) Arkin snaps, “Listen, if I’m going to make a fake movie, I
want it be a fake hit!”
John Goodman and Alan Arkin.
The back and forth, between L.A. yuks and very real terror in
Tehran (along with real vintage news clips of people hanging
from lamp-posts) shouldn’t work. But it does. I have rarely
seen such accomplished filmmaking. Certainly not this year,
so far. The acting, from top to bottom is flawless, from
Cranston to Victor Garber to Tate Donovan to Chris
Messina to Clea DuVall to Zeljko Ivanek toRichard
Kind. Every role, no matter how brief, is indelibly played.
Affleck, handsomely sporting a dark beard, is rather stoic, but
so, too, was the real Mendez. The cinematography is
breathtaking. The period aspects of 1979/80 are expertly
captured. And the last 15 minutes? Bring oxygen; it is that
intense! Yes, of course, some dramatic license is taken —
that’s why they call it a movie. Ben Affleck has made a real
“movie-movie” that leaves its audience wrung out, exhilarated
and misty-eyed. Bravo. Prepare for the Oscar, kid. (He already
won one with Damon for screenwriting “Good Will Hunting.”
Then he descended into tabloid hell. Now he’s back as a
movie-making mensch.)
THERE was a party. Two parties, in fact, one for each of the
two screenings seated dinners before and after. At one point,
the parties overlapped. It seemed the entire world was there.
Just a few: Columnist Joe Klein ... former NY school
chancellor Joel Klein ... Bette Midler ... Patrick Wilson ...
Ted Koppel ... Deborah Norville ... Bryant Gumble (very
trim) ... Anthony Edwards ... Steve Kroft ... Christiane
Amanpour ... Mariska Hargitay ... Saul and Gayfryd
Steinberg ... Richard Kind ... Jeremy Jordan (star of
Broadway’s “Newsies”) ... Brian Williams ... Liz Cho ... Alina
Cho ... Michael Douglas ... Blaine Trump, Bruce and Nan
Weber ... Donna Karan ... Bob Woodruff ... Steven
Soderbergh ... Barbara Walters ... Adam Arkin ... Bob
Balaban ... Anne Eisenhower and Wolfgang Flöttl, et, al.
Had a great talk with one of the producers of “Argo” — the
amazing George Clooney — and sent love to his dad who he
says has recovered well from the stroke that beset him down
in Georgetown some months ago. (This was after he and
George were arrested at a sit-in protest in front of the
Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C.)
Tate Donovan, George Clooney, Bryan Cranston, Ben Affleck,
Grant Heslov, and Scoot McNairy.
One of the hosts, ABC’s “Nightline” correspondent Cynthia
McFadden had quite a table — it boasted among others Ben
Affleck, George Clooney, Oliver Stone, Brian Williams,
Sting. To have been a fly on that tablecloth would have been
hearing the conversation between Stone and Sting. The latter
was poured into a pair of black jeans. When somebody
commented on the firmness of his gluteus maximus, back
came back the reply: “Sting is simply not a mortal. We have to
accept that.”
Living Landmark Harry Belafonte was also there along
with Mike Nichols, the intellectual’s intellectual Ingrid
Sischy, Vanity Fair’s Beth Kseniak and her writer guy Walter
Owen, MGM’s onetime star Arlene Dahl, Tommy Hilfigerand
his purse-designing wife, Dee. One wag quipped, “If a bomb
dropped here tonight, Obama would definitely not be reelected!”
Clockwise from top left: Mike Nichols; George Clooney ;
Anthony Edwards; Michael Douglas; Bette Midler; Harry
Belafonte.
Bryan Cranston, so great-looking in a beautifully tailored suit,
said: “I know my role on ‘Breaking Bad’ is the best character I
will ever play. Ever. And I fully embrace it. I’m not all ‘Oh, will I
ever live up to this again?’ Because I won’t! It’s an actor’s
dream and I am awake in it and loving it.”
Peggy Siegal put this triumph together, natch. She wore a
short red woolen suit and was last seen twirling and showing it
off to Bette Midler. (Peggy and Mr. Clooney also had a ‘hair
moment’ when posing together. He messed her do. She
messed his salt and pepper thatch. They patted each other’s
hair down after. Cute.) The parties happened at Porter House
Steakhouse in the Time Warner Building. Even if the movie
had been a dog, the food was divine. But, oh, lucky night —
everything was divine!
Clockwise from top left: Sting and Trudie Styler; John
Goodman; Bryan Cranston and Glenn Close; Barbara Walters
and Dan Abrams; Christiane Amanpour and Robert Woodruff.
As for “Argo” — which eventually became the catch-all phrase
“Argo’n’fuck’yourself!” — I don’t know when a film has so
moved me before. It is terrifying to re-live those days. The fact
that this all happened in my lifetime is quite amazing. In the
wake of the recent attack on the Libyan embassy and murder
of our ambassador and three other Americans, “Argo” is also a
cautionary tale that clearly hasn’t cautioned anyone.
The more things change, the worse they become, in the
Middle East for Americans and everybody else.
Clockwise from top left: Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo;
Cynthia McFadden and Brian Williams; Mariska Hargitay;
Alina Cho; Adam Arkin. Argo screening photographs courtesy
of PatrickMcMullan.
TWEETS:

Patrick Wilson (@patrickwilson73) tweeted at 2:22p.m. on October 10, 2012 to
6,860 followers:
@patrickwilson: Hey people...been AWOL running. And daddying while
daggy d is rehearsing. Ummm... #Argo is awesome. Congrats to #benaffleck
and crew.So good

Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) tweeted at 1:54p.m. on October 10, 2012 to
299,460 followers:
@BetteMidler: Have to single out John Goodman and Alan Arkin for their
scene-stealing turn in #ARGO...worth the price of admission.

Brad Aldous (@bradlicious) tweeted at 10:14 a.m. on October 10, 2012 to 289
followers:
@bradlicious: Saw #Argo last night at the NYC premiere. Go see it!

Scott Feinberg (@ScottFeinberg) tweeted at 10:03a.m. on October 10, 2012 to
5,610 followers:
@ScottFeinberg: ARGO's Clooney and Affleck hosted the likes of Damon,
Douglas and Midler, plus Koppel, Williams and Walters in NYC
http://bit.ly/SLPObk

Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) tweeted at 9:42a.m. on October 10, 2012 to
299,460 followers:
@BetteMidler: Ran to screening of #ARGO last night. Terrific from start to
finish; @BenAffleck's best so far. Alan Arkin killed.

Nigel Smith (@nigelmfs) tweeted at 8:18a.m. on October 10, 2012 to 497
followers:
@nigelmfs: Saw Argo. Gone Baby Gone is still Affleck's best. Just sayin'.

Ted Hope (@TedHope) retweeted Vanessa Hope at 8:08a.m. on October 10,
2012 to 21,922 followers:
@TedHope: RT @vhopeful felt #Argo could have used its own
#ChenGuangcheng type of interview for an Iranian character, but it gets
something of Iran

Ted Hope (@TedHope) retweeted Vanessa Hope at 8:06a.m. on October 10,
2012 to 21,922 followers:
@Ted Hope: RT @vhopeful Jealous #Argo got "first as tragedy, then as
farce" line about history into a movie before I could & movie itself reflects it

Liz Cho (@LizCho7) tweeted at 8:01a.m. on October 10, 2012 to 2,380
followers:
@LizCho7: Saw #Argo last night .. Amazing

Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) tweeted at 11:28p.m. on October 9, 2012 to
8,614 followers:
@PGourevitch: Just saw screening of #Argo: terrifically gripping smart
1979-Iran hostage/CIA/Showbiz movie by &with @BenAffleck: treat yrslf when it
opens

Kate Upton (@KateUpton) tweeted at 10:53p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 560,739
followers:
@KateUpton: Finally a really good movie is out!!! #Argo i loved it

Michael Hogan (@m1keh0gan) tweeted at 10:37p.m. on October 9, 2012 to
3,581 followers:
@m1keh0gan: "Argo" is the best movie about getting through airport
security ever.

Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) tweeted at 10:14a.m. on October 9, 2012 to 151,120
followers:
@hodakotb: #argo was amazing. what a movie!

Alina Cho (@AlinaChoCNN) tweeted at 10:01p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 7,244
followers:
@AlinaChoCNN: I'm no expert but I'm just going to say it:#argo will be on
everyone's best picture list. Amazing film. Ben Affleck stars/directs... See it.

Derek Blasberg (@DerekBlasberg) at 10:01p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 97,216
followers:
@DerekBlasberg: The XX played at the @Chanel dinner. Stalked George
Clooney and saw my favorite band play in a darkened black box. Not a bad
Tuesday!

Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) tweeted at 9:53a.m. on October 9, 2012 to 151,120
followers:
@hodakotb: Omggggg @jmjewelry #argorocked
http://instagr.am/p/QlfILDNYQu/

Dan Abrams (@damabrams) tweeted at 9:12p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 34,672
followers:
@danabrams: Just went to a screening of #Argo. It may be my favorite
movie of the year.

Byron Pitts (@byronpitts) tweeted at 9:07p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 8,029
followers:
@byronpitts: Just left a screening of #Argo. In Manhattan. Must see.
@benaffleck brought his A game

Mara Siegler (@MaraSiegler) tweeted at 8:22p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 494
followers:
@MaraSiegler: Ben affleck chilling with matt damon at argo premiere
@mikevilensky

Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) tweeted at 7:48a.m. on October 9, 2012 to 151,120
followers:
@hodakotb: Guess who we ran into http://instagr.am/p/QlQvfmNYTy/

Jerry Ferrara (@jerrycferrara) tweeted at 7:32p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 148,
462 followers:
@jerrycferrara: Just went to a screening of #argo with @MzKatieCassidy
. I must say. Great film. Beyond well done. Great story and film making

Katie Cassidy (@MzKatieCassidy) retweeted Jerry Ferrara at 7:32p.m. on
October 9, 2012 to 87, 987 followers:
@MzKatieCassidy: “@jerrycferrara: Just went to a screening of #argo
with @MzKatieCassidy . I must say. Great film. Beyond well done. Great story
and film making”

Brian Brooks (@Brooksld) tweeted at 6:46 p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 726
followers:
@Brooksld: #Ben Affleck, #Matt Damon, #George Clooney at Argo dinner
Near Columbus Circle. Steak and salmon served.

Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) tweeted at 6:18p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 151,120
followers:
@hodakotb: #Argo

Derek Blasberg (@DerekBlasberg) at 4:51p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 97,216
followers:
@DerekBlasberg: Heading to a screening of 'Argo.' Not sure if I'm more
excited to see the film, which is supposed to be amazing. Or stalk George
Clooney.

Ari Graynor (@AGraynor) tweeted at 4:44p.m. on October 9, 2012 to 8,518
followers:
@AGraynor: Ok. I am in the same place as Bette midler. How do I play
this???