The Foreign Service Journal, October 2012

54 OCTOBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL that magazine. But once Mendez confirmed he was cooperat- ing with its coverage, I followed suit. I had never shied away from interviews, and welcomed any opportunity to emphasize the Canadian role. Given the bril- liance of Tony Mendez’s plan and the cachet of his career, he would be sure to receive his due no matter who was telling the story. By comparison, the importance of the Canadian contri- bution tended to be overlooked. What I did not find out until last year is that the Bearman article was, in a sense, a plant. It was written with the deliber- ate intention of selling the story to a Hollywood studio, and Wired was chosen because the right people in Hollywood read it. As soon as the article was published, a Bearman associ- ate began peddling it around town. With his longstanding Hollywood connections and his more recent consulting work, Mendez anticipated this and negotiated with Bearman for a piece of whatever film deal might develop. (With Matt Baglio, Mendez has also gotten a book into print about the episode, “Argo”: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Auda- cious Rescue in History, published by Penguin this year.) His foresight paid off when George Clooney bought the movie rights to the story in 2007. Mendez cautioned that Clooney had a pile of projects, and there was no telling when or if “Argo” would rise to the top. But in the spring of 2011, we learned that the film was finally going forward, though with Ben Affleck rather than Clooney playing Mendez. Shortly thereafter, I was called by an executive producer, who sent copies of the script to my wife and me—and to the other escapees—asking us to sign “True Event Character Con- sent” release forms. By doing so, we agreed to be portrayed and to serve as consultants in exchange for a modest payment. Because we were considered public figures for purposes of the Canadian Caper, the studio did not actually need our per- mission to proceed. But our signatures made the lawyers happy, and we were pleased to play a role, however minor, in the proj- ect. So I spent lots of time answering questions, including from Christopher Denham, the actor who would portray me. Shortchanging the Canadians Yet Again To our disappointment, the script seriously minimized the role of the Canadians, and the Sheardowns had been completely written out of the movie. I understood that this was primarily a story about Mendez, but I was still unhappy about that decision. To me, the Sheardowns were the least dispensable characters. Cora and I also objected to some comments that implied the Canadians had gotten cold feet about helping us. While it was true that Ottawa had pushed for an exit strategy, it was not because they regretted their involvement with us. Both we and the Canadians were concerned that the longer we stayed, the greater the odds of being compromised—whether by a medical emergency, a traffic accident or any number of other possibilities. In addition, the Canadians could see that there was no progress toward a hostage release, and that even such a release would not necessarily get them or us off the hook. We guessed that this angle had been added to the plot to The six American diplomats returned to the United States in January 1980 in the covert operation known as the “Canadian Caper” received a hearty welcome at the State Department. Photos by U.S. Department of State