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 Comedy producer Armando Iannucci plans to take on Hollywood in the comedy film business and has joined forces with BBC Films to do it. Iannucci, tha man behind TV projects like The Thick Of It and Alan Partridge, will head a special comedy lab to develop low-budget comedy ideas for feature films, working closely with BBC Films chief David Thompson.
The new development comes as comedy pictures in Hollywood have had to be axed by studios because they have become so expensive. The Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller project Used Guys had to be ditched recently after costs went over the $100million mark.
Iannucci has been quoted as saying "I don't want to make films that could just as easily have gone on telly."
He wants to make films that are original and use workshopping with actors and writers and experimental techniques before filming starts.
Recently, Iannucci has been working on a film idea with Steve Coogan and writer Peter Baynham. The film is set in the Middle Ages and Coogan will play as a priest who, along with his 27-yearold brother, is going through a premature mid-life crisis.
Iannucci says he likes the idea of The Thick Of It being developed on a larger canvas with, say, a developing crisis between the US and Britain.
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