The CIA stuff, I wanted to feel like All the President’s Men [1976]—not the sexy CIA, but the CIA where papers are piled up on desks and there’s cigarette smoke everywhere. Bryan Cranston’s character in Argo is also a bit like the Ben Bradlee role played by Jason Robards in All the President’s Men.

For Iran, Missing [1982] was a movie from that era that inspired some of what I was doing.

Cassavetes films like The Killing of a Chinese Bookie [1976] were also especially helpful for the California setting.

I was watching things like Kramer vs. Kramer [1979], Ordinary People [1980], and Raging Bull [1980]—all these movies that were getting made right around then that were amazing.

I was watching things like Kramer vs. Kramer [1979], Ordinary People [1980], and Raging Bull [1980]—all these movies that were getting made right around then that were amazing.

I was watching things like Kramer vs. Kramer [1979], Ordinary People [1980], and Raging Bull [1980]—all these movies that were getting made right around then that were amazing.

It’s funny, because the period of time that the film is set in had this weird dichotomy where some of the greatest films ever, like Being There [1979], were being made right in tandem with some of the cheesiest sci-fi B-movie knockoffs. I watched all of those movies.