UPDATE: ARGO Now Not Only U.S. Film Iranian Authorities Want to Sue

Yesterday, BWW reported that Iranian authorities are considering suing Hollywood over the way their country was depicted in the Academy Award-winning film ARGO. (read story here) The film is based on the 1979 escape of six hostages from Tehran who found asylum at the Canadian Embassy during the hostage crisis.

Today, Deadline is reporting that French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, who served as the attorney for Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, also known as Carlos the Jackal, is mounting a case against a series of U.S. films that Iran believes "have portrayed it in a distorted and unrealistic manner."

According to The Guardian, the attorney wants to file a lawsuit in international court against directors and producers who local officials believe have promoted "Iranophobia."

ISNA news agency quotes Coutant-Peyre as saying, "I'll be defending Iran against films that have been made by Hollywood to distort the country's image, such as Argo." Other films that are reportedly included in the complaint are 2006's 300, 1991's Not Without My Daughter, starring Sally Fields and Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated The Wrestler.

At Monday night's "Hoax Of Hollywood" conference in Tehran, attendee Mohammad Lesani, is reported to have said the gathering was intended to "unify all cultural communities in Iran against the attacks of the west, particularly Hollywood."

Warner Bros, the studio behind the Academy Award winning film has not yet commented on the situation.

The 2012 historical drama thriller film was directed by Ben Affleck. This dramatization is adapted from the book The Master of Disguise by CIA operative Tony Mendez, and Joshuah Berman's 2007 Wired article "The Great Escape" about the "Canadian Caper", in which Mendez led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

The film stars Affleck as Mendez with Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman in supporting roles, and was released in North America to critical and commercial success on October 12, 2012. The film was produced by Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney.

Upon release, Argo received widespread acclaim and also received seven nominations for the 85th Academy Awards and won three, for Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. The film also earned five Golden Globe nominations, winning Best Picture - Drama and Best Director, while being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Arkin. It won the award for the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards with Alan Arkin being nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. It also won Best Film, Best Editing, and Best Director at the 66th British Academy Film Awards.

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