Based on a true story, Argo takes place during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-1981.  When the American embassy in Tehran was stormed by revolutionaries and more than fifty U.S. citizens were taken hostage, six Americans managed to escape and find safety thanks to a Canadian ambassador.  In order to rescue these Americans, a CIA exfiltration expert concocted an outrageous plan to evacuate them by posing as a film crew scouting locations for a fictitious sci-fi movie called, yep, Argo.

Watch the trailer below or over at Apple in high definition.

Yes, please.  This will be Affleck's first gig as director which he didn't also co-write, but it looks as though he's bringing the same intensity to the screenplay by Chris Terrio.

The trailer is jam-packed with excellent character actors, but even those two-and-a-half minutes don't quite get across the amount of great actors appearing in the film.  A quick run-down: Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Kerry Bishe, Zeljko Ivanek, Bryan Cranston, Rory Cochrane, Titus Welliver, Adrienne Barbeau, Victor Garber, Clea DuVall, and Michael Parks as Jack Kirby (!).  Basically, you can't swing a dead cat in Argo without smacking a kickass character actor or two.

Argo is scheduled to hit theaters on October 12th.