Science Fiction Land

I generally see about three movies a year. One of the movies I saw this year was ARGO. It was a fantastic movie. There was some poetic license in telling the story, but for the most part the story was as most Americans remember it. The idea of smuggling out the hostages as part of a movie crew was very creative, and it was wonderful to get them out of Iran alive and without having been tortured.

Yesterday the U.K. Mail posted a story about the drawings of the fake movie used to get the Americans out of Iran. The article posted a number of the drawings–they are fantastic.

The article reports:

The ‘Argo’ movie illustrations that the CIA used in 1980 to fool Iranian officials into freeing six American hostages have been made available for the first time in decades. 

The author of the concept illustrations, Jack Kirby, who co-created X-Men, died in 1994 but the man who hired him to draw them lives to tell the true story behind the original ‘Argo.’

Barry Ira Geller was an aspiring producer in 1978 when he purchased the production rights to the science fiction novel ‘Lord of Light‘ by Roger Zelazny, a story set on a faraway planet that was published in 1967.

Chambers and Mendez changed the name of the production from ‘Lord of Light’ to ‘Argo’ and the rest of the story became history, as the plan was successful and all six Americans made it home safely.

Geller said he didn’t learn that his script had been used for the top secret mission until 2001. 

Asked how he feels now about the fact that his script played such an important role in history, Geller said, ‘I feel fantastic about it.’

‘It shows me that we all make a difference in the world,’ he added.

Kirby also would have been thrilled to know that his art had made such an impact, Geller said.. 

‘He would have loved it,’ he said.

Geller’s story, which was omitted from the blockbuster movie ‘Argo,’ is now being told in a upcoming documentary by director Judd Ehrlich called Science Fiction Land.

The documentary is being billed as the ‘true story behind “Argo.”‘

Please follow the link above to the U.K. Daily Mail to see the drawings. They are amazing.

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