Iran may sue Hollywood over Oscar-winning Argo

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iranian media say authorities are planning to sue Hollywood over the Oscar-winning Argo because of the movie's allegedly "unrealistic portrayal" of the country.

According to Sky News, several news outlets, including the pro-reform Shargh daily, have said French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre is in Iran for talks with officials over how and where to file the lawsuit.

Ms Coutant-Peyre is also the lawyer for notorious Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos the Jackal.

The decision on the lawsuit came after a group of Iranian cultural officials and movie critics screened the film in a closed audience in a Tehran cinema.

Iranian officials had previously dismissed director Ben Affleck's film as anti-Iran propaganda and an "advertisement for the CIA".

While Argo has not appeared officially, there has been no shortage of buzz from ordinary Iranians who have seen the movie on bootleg DVDs.

The story is based on the real-life escape of six American hostages from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

City Council member Masoomeh Ebtekar - who was one of the students who took part in the occupation - has said the film exaggerates the violence among crowds that stormed the compound.

The semiofficial Mehr news agency called the movie's Oscar for Best Picture "politically motivated", because it was co-presented from the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama.