Ben Affleck-Directed Argo Trailer Highlights Fake Film's Role in 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis

The first trailer for Ben Affleck's new directorial effort, Argo, has been released.

Set during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, the thriller is based on real events, as the US and Canadian governments worked together to rescue six US diplomats who had escaped from the hostage-taking as the American embassy was taken over by Islamist students and militants in Tehran.

The governments set out to create fake identities for the threatened workers, by claiming they were members of a film crew working on a fake science fiction film, Argo.

The crisis saw 66 Americans held for 444 days by the hostage takers, who supported the Iranian Revolution. The event came to a climax with an attempted resuce mission that saw eight servicemen and one civilian killed.

The hostages were eventually released following the signing of the Algiers Accords, brokered by the Algerian government, which centred around the US not intervening in Iranian internal affairs. On the same day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office as president.

Affleck stars in the film alongside Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. Argo will see Affleck attempt to establish himself as an A-list director, following the success of his two previous efforts, The Town and Gone Baby Gone.

Watch the trailer below. Argo is released on 12 October.