hanging out with spies

Did you also gain a little more respect for Ben Affleck during his best picture acceptance speech at the Oscars? Bless his heart, he was so excited.



Today, I went to a talk at the International Spy Museum for a TSA (The Smithsonian Associates) program. One of the perks of working at the Smithsonian are getting into cool things for freeee. The speakers were Tony and Jonna Mendez--Tony was Ben Affleck's character on "Argo." So, basically, I heard "Argo" in real life. Jonna and Tony both used to be CIA Chiefs of Disguise, so I bet Jonna has some pretty sick stories, too. They corrected any Hollywood-ization of the story in the movie, but, I mean, without those parts in the movie, it'd still be a crazy story. Here are some interesting things they said:

• At the end of the credits, they say "To Ian, in memoriam." Mendez's son in the movie was originally named Michael. Apparently, Tony and his first wife had a boy named Ian who passed away a couple of years ago. So they called the studio and asked if the name be changed to Ian in his honor. Production not only said yes, but they asked for photos from when Ian was young so they could include them in the film. How sweet (and not typical) of them!
• There were two men who went to Iran, Tony (who went by "Kevin") and a man who went by "Julio." No one knows where Julio has been. Not even Tony the old CIA agent can find him. Also, those who were extracted, the "house guests," never knew Tony's real name until about 17 years later. They always called him "Kevin." 
• Tony got the job at the CIA because of his artistic talent. He thought he was applying to be a graphic designer for an unknown company, but they met in a shady hotel in Denver and the interviewee told him to tell no one about the interview. That's how he's so good at forging documents.

It was such a cool event!
I tried to get a picture afterwards, so I asked him if it was OK. He said "sure," but when I walked over to take the picture, he went on to signing books and ignored me. Ha! I was a bit put off at first, but the more I thought about it, I realized that he has had a crazy life and he probably doesn't give a hoot about getting a picture with an intern. ESPECIALLY a cheap one who didn't buy his book. Duh.

cia master of disguise>unpaid intern