The Playlist is reporting that Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) has signed on to star in Ben Affleck‘s latest directorial effort entitled Argo. His role will be that of former O.S.S. spy turned movie producer Lester Siegel, described as “equal parts bookie and rabbi.”
Affleck has showed determination in continuing his directing career. He’s already done the critically acclaimed films Gone Baby Gone and The Town, and now, in order to get Argo underway, he has turned down a chance to helm The Man of Steel as well as a starring role in Baz Luhrmann‘s upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
Argo is being produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck) from a screenplay by Chris Terrio. The film is “a based-on-fact tale about a C.I.A. plan to rescue a group of diplomats from Tehran after the 1979 Iranian revolution by claiming that they were part of a Hollywood movie crew.”
The film will start shooting in the near future, so there’s a good chance we’ll see it released in the latter half of next year.
