Argo (2012) is an American historical thriller directed by Ben Affleck, based on the real “Canadian Caper” during the Iran hostage crisis. The film follows CIA specialist Tony Mendez, who develops an unusual rescue plan after six American diplomats escape the storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and take refuge with Canadian officials. By creating a fake science-fiction film production called Argo, Mendez gives the Americans cover identities as a Canadian film crew scouting locations in Iran. The film stars Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall and Scoot McNairy, and combines political drama, spy thriller and Hollywood satire. Although the film takes liberties with the historical record, it became one of the major prestige films of 2012 and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Argo is set mainly in Iran, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, but the production used a combination of California, Turkey and real American government locations to recreate the story. The Tehran sequences were not filmed in Iran; instead, parts of Istanbul were used to stand in for Tehran, including areas such as Balat, Eminönü, Bakırköy and Etiler, while landmarks such as Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and the Golden Horn helped give the film its Middle Eastern urban texture. In California, Los Angeles and Ontario were used for much of the production, with the Sepulveda VA Medical Center in North Hills doubling for the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the opening takeover sequence. Ontario International Airport was used for the tense airport departure scenes, while Los Angeles locations helped represent both the Hollywood side of the fake film operation and parts of the Tehran material. The film also used Washington, D.C. and McLean, Virginia, including the real CIA headquarters exterior for Tony Mendez’s arrival at the agency. This gives Argo a deliberately layered location identity: a film about Tehran that could not be made in Tehran, using Istanbul, Los Angeles, Ontario, Washington and Virginia to reconstruct a political crisis, a covert intelligence operation and the strange Hollywood machinery behind the fake movie.
Grand Bazaar
Grand Bazaar has appeared in From Russia with Love (1963), The International (2009), Argo (2012), Taken 2 (2012), Skyfall (2012), Inferno and Charlie’s Angels.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia has appeared in several international films, including "From Russia with Love" (1963), "Argo" (2012) and "Inferno" (2016).