Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, and Tate Donovan, among other Argo cast members, answered questions at the film’s press conference early this afternoon. Here are the best of their answers.

On taking creative liberties when depicting a true story:

Affleck: “Because we say ‘based on’ — I learned this from the lawyers — we’re allowed to take some liberties. I think there’s the spirit of truth, and then there’s actually what happened. We got lucky that what happened was actually very compelling.”

On the challenges of filming Argo:

Affleck: “We couldn’t get any Iranian nationals in Turkey to be in our film because they were afraid of the repercussions that would happen to their families back home.”

On keeping up with a busy acting schedule:

Cranston: “That activity is because I don’t play golf.”

On coaching actors to act Canadian:

Affleck: “I just told them to be twice as nice as you actually are.”

On the challenges of directing and acting in the film:

Affleck: “It kind of sounds like ass-kissing, but it’s a lot easier to deal with directing when you don’t have to deal with the actors at all. All these guys made my job feel really, really easy. They carried the ship.”

Arkin: “He’s being modest. He’s as meticulous a director as I’ve ever worked with. He directed.”

On fearing repercussions for participating in the film:

Tate: “I was just scared of Ben.”

On if they’ll get an Oscar nod:

Affleck: “I have no idea, right now I’m just worried about getting humans to come see it and pay for the tickets.”

On whether they balked at having to grow 70s hair for the film:

Arkin: “Does anybody really do that anymore other than Mr. Cruise? I don’t know any working actor who would do a period piece and balk at having to look like that person.”

On the power of the film:

Arkin: “The most potent aspect of the whole film is that you’re presented with an untenable situation with a solution that could’ve blown up the world. And it was done without any violence or guns whatsoever.”  

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Sabrina Maddeaux is Toronto Standard’s managing editor. Follow her on Twitter at@sabrinamaddeaux.

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