Ben Affleck’s new film “Argo,” which he is starring in and director, filmed over the weekend in D.C. at the State Department, but the movie’s connection with the State Department is bigger that just that. Writing for DipNote, the State Department’s Gabrielle Price explained how the movie’s overseas filming has helped U.S. relations with Turkey. You see, the film details a plot to rescue six American diplomats from Tehran after the U.S. embassy is seized by hostage-takers in 1979. Instead of Tehran, the cast and crew spent three weeks in Istanbul, before then moving the shoot to the Washington area.
“In many way, ‘Argo’ embodies many of the goals that U.S. and Turkish officials have for the greater U.S.-Turkey trade relationship,” wrote Price, who serves as the acting Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul.
For instance, nearly 5,000 Turks were put to work on the film set, and struck up friendships with their American counterparts. “U.S. crew members shared with us how their Turkish colleagues quickly picked up American film industry techniques, whereas it didn’t take long for the Americans to develop a few key words of Turkish, such as ‘oyna,’ (‘rolling,’)” Price said.
