Post 5: Adapting your Book 2

      Some challenges that filmmakers would have in bringing Argo to the big screen is that it's based on a true story, so you have to bring some kind of plot twist to keep the audience interested. The book is extremely long and goes into great depth to explain very minor and minute details that most filmmakers would say aren't important, so those details would need to be most likely cut. I believe that in order to make the plot and characters work is that they need to keep the characters how they are in the book, but add a little more detail to them, and their persona. An example would be like giving their character a little more of an adventurous lifestyle so to speak. The plot of the story for the most part should stay the same, but you would probably need to add a little bit more drama to the embassy attack and the escapes.
      One scene that is tremendously essential to keep is when the U.S Embassy is under attack by the Tehran revolutionaries.This most be in the film because not only is it one of the most tense parts of the book, but it is always the whole plot of the book. In this scene we see the U.S Embassy workers brave the crowds of the revolutionaries and actually hold out for hours waiting for help to arrive, only to be disappointed and eventually have to give up the embassy and be taken as hostages.
      A second scene that must be kept is the reaction that the CIA and Washington D.C. show when they find out about the embassy being taken over. The shock of the whole situation in my opinion is captured in this very moment and chapter. as an audience we see the massive shock on the face of the U.S in this sole chapter because of all of the cables that the CIA were receiving for the attack on the embassy.
      The final scene that is a must-have, in order for this movie to be successful, would be the exfiltraion scene. This is when Tony and Julio (a member of the CIA) enter into Tehran disguised as Hollywood producers looking for a sight to shoot their new movie Argo. The whole time that Tony is in Tehran he his actually making a plan with the 6 American Emassy workers that managed to escape, to get out of Tehran. As Tony, Julio, and the 6 are trying to escape and exfiltrate the country, they encouter close calls and a near breaking point for some of the houseguests.
      One thing that the filmmakers must cut out of the story would have to be when Tony Mendez is explaining who everyone at the office is, and what they do, where the person is from, where they have been, and all sorts of unnecessary information like that. This information is relevant to the story, but it doesn't have a sense of importance to it like some other scenes.
      I would also cut out the scene when he is talking about the NESTOR operation because this one example is just Tony Mendez giving an example of how one of his past plans was successful, and he is hopping that this operation will be just as successful. There is also another scene like this earlier in the book that I feel is more relevant to the current situation that is present in Tehran. Tony goes into deep detail about the operation involving a high-level KGB officer code named NESTOR and him needing help with getting out of the country, and Tony making a creative disguise for the officer.