Ben Affleck: Argo makes CIA good guys… for once

Hollywood has instinctively painted the CIA as villains, from 'JFK' to the 'Bourne' films, but Ben Affleck has turned the tables with his new film, 'Argo'.

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! Movies, Affleck said that the CIA has had an evil role in movies for a long time and it that it was nice to finally address the balance.

[Related story: Ryan Reynolds: I don't trust the government]

Watch the full interview below:

He said: "The CIA has been used as a movie bogey man for a couple of decades. The CIA in this period, post Watergate and Vietnam was at an all time low and the American's image of our government was low too."

The star, who directed and starred in the movie went on to explain that the CIA finally being shown as the good guys was an "interesting and sweet" aspect to the story.

'Argo' re-tells the real-life CIA attempt to rescue American diplomats from Iran using a unique disguise. In the crazy story, they dress the diplomats up as Canadian movie makers and pretend they're on a location rekkie in order to get them home.

The elaborate plan had an impressive back-story that included a bogus movie company Studio Six (complete with working office) and placing fake ads for a phony film called 'Argo' in Hollywood papers.

'Argo' is in cinemas now.

Watch our behind-the-scenes look at the movie below: