A day before Sunday’s Oscars, where Argo is nominated for seven awards, Discovery Channel is giving viewers an inside look at what really happened during the operation that inspired the film.
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Narrated by Bryan Cranston, who co-stars as CIA manager Jack O’Donnell in the movie, the one-hour special Argo: Inside Story reveals details of the scheme to disguise six American hostages as a Canadian film crew to be rescued from Iran in 1978.
The special — which has been updated from its original 2002 broadcast — includes interviews with key people involved in the real-life events, including CIA agent Tony Mendez. In the Craig Piligian-produced special, he gives his side of the story on how he came up with the plan that included forging official documents in the office of the Canadian Ambassador.
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“One of the stamp pads had dried out and I had to mix the right ink color,” Mendez says in the program. “So I went over to the Canadian ambassador’s liquor cabinet and got a bottle of Scotch and poured some on [the pad].”
Argo: Inside Story will air at 10 p.m. Saturday and at noon Sunday.
