I just got off the phone with Armando Iannucci, director and one of the writers of this year’s flat-out brilliant Oscar nominee In the Loop. One of the funniest movies I have seen in years, In the Loop is a head-spinning satire filled with the most amazing insults and swear words that may have ever been uttered on film. Seriously, it’s the kind of film that changes your very approach to language. You should buy it from CHUD by clicking here.
In the Loop spins off from a British TV show called The Thick of It; after asking Iannucci about the possibility of finally getting The Thick of It on DVD in the States (people are looking into it, he says. Expect the Oscar nom for In the Loop to hurry that process), he mentioned that the show had been briefly up for a remake at ABC, but that language restrictions obviously made things tough. Specifically it was ‘terrible,’ according to Iannucci.
But then Iannucci said that he had been talking to HBO about a comedy set in Washington. I asked if we might see some of In the Loop‘s Washington characters show up, and Iannucci said,
“I like the State Department [as a setting]. It gives you the big and the small all together – it gives you the office politics and the international politics all at once. And it’s important, and it wants to be important, but it can be ignored when the President wants to ignore it. So they’re insecure about what their status is in everyday politics. That’s interesting and that gives you something to work with.”
How amazing would it be to have James Gandolfini return to HBO not as Tony Soprano but as General Flinstone? And to have David Rasche bringing weekly magic? Anna Chlumpsky would surely be happy to come back, and maybe Iannucci could import Chris Addison or Tom Hollander to reprise their roles. And just like that I’ve slipped into fancasting… but anyone who has seen In the Loop will forgive me immediately. Then they’ll start thinking about revisiting Zach Woods’ Chad every week and smile.
8 comments
Screw Gandolfini, I want a weekly dose of Peter Capaldi
He's spoken about the possibility of this a couple of times elsewhere, but if I remember correctly he said that it wouldn't feature the same characters as In the Loop. Though considering he just had Addison and James Smith play different characters in In the Loop from The Thick of It, I'm assuming that doesn't rule out the possibility of seeing Zach Woods or David Rasche in the series.
And to the above, your weekly dose of Peter Capaldi is called The Thick of It
Damn but you have to do everything in your power to get The Thick of It. 3 series of fucking brilliance and the 'Election special' is going to be an absolute belter given the ending of series 3. With regards an HBO version as long as Tucker is in it I'm sold.
Seriously how can you do any fancasting of this without mentioning Capaldi?! Too brilliant.
As long as they don't try to get Oliver Platt to replace Malcolm.
I wonder how Christopher Guest fucked this up. 5's comment sounds like a joke but as a huge fan of The Thick of It and In the Loop, I desperately need to see this – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thick_of_It_%28US_TV_series%29
Iannucci is a genius. The Day Today, Alan Partridge, The Thick of It… everything he has a creator/writer credit on is a masterpiece.
I'd much rather see an American take on Alan Partridge (The Anchorman is the closest thing USA has to an Alan Partridge right now), but I'll buy anything Iannucci is selling.
Fuck Partridge, quit living in the past, anything Iannucci touches is pure gold. I strongly urge everyone to get the DVDs of the Armando Iannucci shows and if possible Time Trumpet. You want dark. he's got dark.
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