Iran to sue Hollywood for fear-mongering with 'Argo'

“Perhaps it was a coincidence,” wrote independent film critic Meysam Karimi for the Tehran-based Moviemag website in September. “But for [the embassy closure] to take place during the Toronto Film Festival, right when this film was being screened, somewhat undermines the theory that this happened by accident.” 

“Argo” went on to win three Academy Awards at this year's Oscars ceremony, including the top prize for Best Picture, which was presented via live telecast by First Lady Michelle Obama.  

Pirated copies of Hollywood films, including “Argo,” are widely available to the Iranian public. They can typically purchase films even before their formal debut in US theaters. Since the film’s release, Iranian state media reports have dismissed the film as anti-Iranian and anti-Islamic “propaganda.” 

Private movie critics inside Iran, while acknowledging Ben Affleck’s sophisticated directorial skills, have decried some of the film’s historical inaccuracies and claimed the film portrays Iranians as stereotypically backward and violent. 

This is not the first time Iranian officials have complained about the portrayal of Iran in Hollywood cinema.

In 2009, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s cultural adviser demanded that a group of US filmmakers and actors visiting Tehran, including Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis, actress Annette Bening, and former chairman of Universal Pictures Tom Pollock, among others, apologize on behalf of Hollywood for creating “insulting” films such as “300,” an animated film about the battle between Greeks and Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BC, which was distributed by Warner Brothers.

Iran has also complained about the 1991 film “Not Without My Daughter" and the 2008 film “The Wrestler,” in which American actor Mickey Rourke fights a character named "The Ayatollah" who tries to choke him with an Iranian flag. 

Follow Roshanak on Twitter at @RoshanakT

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