David McCloskey

But the propaganda connections are not what produces the Argo operation.

This is much less about propaganda and much more about technical expertise.

Because from the early 70s onwards, the CIA's Office of Technical Service, which is Mendez's crew, has started contracting with Hollywood makeup artists, special effects builders, prop designers, even stage magicians to solve operational problems that Langley can't crack on its own.

And one of the central contractors is this guy named John Chambers, who again is played by John Goodman in the film.

Mendez calls...

uh chambers jerome calloway throughout his memoir because when mendez was writing chambers had not yet passed

Chambers, sort of like Goodman in the film, is a larger-than-life character in real life.

He's got his hair slicked back with a thick sheen of pomade on it.

Mendes described him as looking more like a bouncer than a makeup artist.

He wears white short-sleeved shirts and black ties.

He's got a big pinky ring.

He drives a big yellow Pontiac.

Very Hollywood.

Very Hollywood.

And he and Mendes are thick as thieves.

So Mendes first met Chambers in the early 70s.

on the set of a spy-themed TV show.

And Chambers had won an honorary Academy Award in 1969 for the makeup work on the original Planet of the Apes.

Very good film.

Very good film while researching this.