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A version of this story about Armando Iannucci and “The Death of Stalin” first appeared in the Actors/Directors/Screenwriters issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

Long before Donald Trump became president, Italian-born “Veep” creator Armando Iannucci kept an eye on the news from Italy under the leadership of far-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and wanted to do a film about authoritarianism. “These are leaders who claim they are for democracy and rise to power through democracy, but use their power to shut down democracy,” Iannucci said in an interview with TheWrap.

“I saw something troubling rising in politics even before Trump, and I wanted to make a film reminding people that just because you have democracy now doesn’t mean you can’t lose it.”

Also Read: 'The Death of Stalin' Review: Is This 1950s Russia, or Today's Washington?

The result was one of the most darkly...

Chicago – If you want a film to take your mind off the current American power structure, that at the same time provides some truth to the situation, you won’t do better than “The Death of Stalin.” A monster comedic cast – including Steve Buscemi and Jeffrey Tambor – is assembled for this hilarious farce.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

The setting is the Soviet Union in 1953. Josef Stalin, the Premier of the State, continues his iron-fisted rule of the region. When he drops dead, the “Central Committee” of the Communist Party must deal with the transition, which includes a funeral, relatives and their own lust for power. The film is done in the King’s English, with Buscemi and Tambor adding some American flavor, and no attempt is made to have Russian accents. It escalates into a swear-word-filled chaos, an obvious satire and symbol of modern authoritarianism. Using this horrible monster’s death (he executed 600,000 of his own people,...

Who'd have thought the demise of a kill-happy Russian dictator could leave you laughing helplessly? That's The Death of Stalin for you, a slapstick tragedy – and for the funniest, fiercest comedy of the year so far – from the fertile mind of Armando Iannucci, the British political satirist behind the HBO's Veep and the sensational, Strangelovian In the Loop (2009). First, imagine a government run by lunatics (In the age of Trump and Kim Jong-un, that's not so hard.) Then rewind to the Moscow of 1953, when Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin) holds...

Anybody who discusses satire in audio-visual media at some point must mention the work of Armando Iannucci. Creator of TV’s The Thick Of It and Veep, with credits that include The Day Today and Alan Partridge, his work is some of the finest in Comedy. And in 2009, Iannucci made his big screen full feature directorial debut with The Thick Of It spin-off In The Loop (one of the best comedies of our times) and now, Iannucci casts his eye to even darker – and even more volatile – political territory with The Death of Stalin.

As concepts go, this film has a pitch black core, as it not only delves into a figure whose actions have reverberated throughout socio-political history but in looking at the events surrounding his death in 1953 and the power struggles within the Soviet Union, it is a brazen era, to say the least, in which to set a Comedy.

MaryAnn’s quick take… Audacious, outrageous, bleakly funny. Not since Charlie Chaplin sent up Hitler and invited us to laugh at terrible reality has there been a movie like this. I’m “biast” (pro): love Armando Iannucci’s work

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Presenting… Monty Python’s production of George Orwell’s 1984. Or damn close to it. So The Death of Stalin is akin to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, then? Well, sort of. (I definitely scribbled “Brazil” in my notes while watching.) But Brazil was fiction; clearly inspired by actual totalitarian regimes, but entirely fictional. Stalin, however, is based on terrible reality. Perhaps not since Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 satire The Great Dictator has a filmmaker taken on such awful personalities and events and attempted to make us laugh about it all.

Armando Iannucci’s comic-book adaptation, about the aftermath of the despot’s death, is less caustic than his usual offerings

Known and loved for lacerating political satires The Thick of It, In the Loop and Veep, Armando Iannucci has a gift for skewering incompetent authority figures – locating the humour in their bumbling errors – as well as for truly creative, foul-mouthed insults. Iannucci and Soviet Russia: on paper, it’s a match made in heaven – both an opportunity to capitalise on anti-Russia sentiment and a chance to jab one of history’s most notorious autocrats in the ribs at a time when dictatorial, power-drunk figures are actually in power. A shame, then, that it doesn’t jab hard enough.

The film is adapted from Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin’s graphic novel, in which Stalin’s sudden death in 1953 serves as a catalyst for action, with neurotic acting general secretary Nikita...

Armando Iannucci doesn’t make movies and TV about politics. He certainly features politicians and their endless petty squabbling and power struggles, but that’s adjacent to (though obviously entangled with) the real work of political organizing. Most notably, essentially all of the characters in the likes of The Thick of It, Veep, In the Loop, and now The Death of Stalin are politicians, but I honestly couldn’t tell you a single actual political belief any of them are stated to truly hold. That, of course, is a key part of Iannucci’s satire – that these conflicts are over power for its own sake and not for the betterment of anyone’s welfare, that this world is one of pure venality. Death of Stalin ramps this up to its purest form, depicting a sphere of government within which the will of the people is dismissed as irrelevant, and the...

Iannucci’s film features a host of acting talent as the Russian dictator’s underlings, including Steve Buscemi, Jason Isaacs and Michael Palin

Attention comrades! The first trailer for Armando Iannucci’s Soviet satire The Death of Stalin has been unveiled.

Adapted by Iannucci, Ian Martin and David Schneider from Fabien Nury’s graphic novel of the same name, the film depicts the frenzied political manoeuvrings that transpired in the aftermath of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953. The film stars a host of prominent British and American actors as Stalin’s underlings, including Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, Jeffrey Tambor as Stalin’s heir apparent Georgy Malenkov, Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov, Jason Isaacs as Georgy Zhukov, Simon Russell Beale as Lavrentiy Beria and Homeland star Rupert Friend as Stalin’s son Vasily.

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One of the most exciting films of 2017 has just been acquired by IFC Films. Variety reports that the distributor bought the North American rights to Armando Iannucci’s “The Death of Stalin,” about the Soviet dictator’s last days.

Based on the graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, the film chronicles how Joseph Stalin’s stroke in 1953 threw the Ussr into chaos and inspired a mad power grab among his top advisers. The script is written by Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin, with additional material by Peter Fellows.

The film has an incredible cast,including Steve Buscemi as Nikita Krushchev, Jeffrey Tambor as Georgy Malenkov and Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov.

Producers for the movie are Yann Zenou, Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky, Laurent Zeitoun and Kevin Loader

Read More: What’s the Most Exciting Movie of 2017 That No One’s Talking About? — IndieWire Critics Survey

According to Variety,...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: Here we are again, staring down the barrel of another year at the movies, one sure to be filled with its fair share of discoveries, disappointments, and trucks that are powered by monsters. Many of our most anticipated new films can be seen coming a mile away, but what’s the most exciting movie of 2017 that no one is talking about?

Angie Han (@ajhan), Slashfilm.com

I haven’t seen much talk about “The Glass Castle,” Lionsgate’s upcoming adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ memoir, maybe because it doesn’t have an actual release date yet. But I’ve been interested in the project since it was first announced,...

Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin in talks to join ensemble cast.

Germany’s Telemunchen/Concorde and Australia’s Madman have jumped into UK director Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Death of Stalin following the project’s launch in Cannes.

The film revolving around the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 is due is due to shoot in June for a Cannes 2017 delivery. Paris-based Quad and Main Journey are producing in association with Gaumont.

Adapted from the graphic novel The Death Of Stalin by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, the satirical film revolves around the political in-fighting and battle for power which took place behind the scenes in the days leading up to Stalin’s funeral.

Iannucci is currently locking a high profile cast which looks set to include Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, Jeffrey Tambor as his rival Georgy Malenkov and Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov.

Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin in talks to join ensemble cast.

Germany’s Telemunchen/Concorde and Australia’s Madman have jumped into UK director Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Death of Stalin following the project’s launch in Cannes.

The film revolving around the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 is due is due to shoot in June for a Cannes 2017 delivery. Paris-based Quad and Main Journey are producing in association with Gaumont.

Adapted from the graphic novel The Death Of Stalin by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, the satirical film revolves around the political in-fighting and battle for power which took place behind the scenes in the days leading up to Stalin’s funeral.

Iannucci is currently locking a high profile cast which looks set to include Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, Jeffrey Tambor as his rival Georgy Malenkov and Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov.