Armando Iannucci reflects on In the Loop
Acclaimed Scottish satirist and film director Armando Iannucci will answer fan questions in a pre-recorded interview to be shown alongside a screening of his 2009 comedy In the Loop at Restless Natives festival this week. First, we posed a few of our own
Your pre-recorded Q&A will be screened at the Restless Natives festival following a screening of In the Loop. Had you hoped to attend in person?
It's simply because I may be in another country on the night. But I wanted to be able to contribute something, so we thought this would be the next best thing. We talked about doing a live Skype, but I might be in another time zone on the night. But I promise we won't sift through the questions for easy ones!
Do you appear at many other similar Q&A events?
Only one or two a year, unless there's a film coming out and you end up doing a whole circuit at festivals and premieres. They are quite good fun. So it's nice to have In the Loop get an outing.
How do you think the film stands up, seven years on?
I haven't seen it since the many Q&As I did when it was first released. I would be interested to find out, but I suspect an awful lot of what it warned about has since happened. The consequence of that invasion has been an absolute terrible mess, really. I don't get the feeling anyone is saying 'well that all sorted itself out in the end!'
You can't be in Glasgow for the festival, but do you still return to the city when you can?
Oh yes, my mum's still there and various aunts and uncles and friends. So I'm up two or three times a year.
Do you take an interest in the Scottish political scene at all?
I get told stuff when I'm on the phone (laughs).
It has been said that Scottish politics is beyond satire...
I'm reluctant to get involved as I don't know enough – and I'm not there enough – to have a complete picture and a complete take on it. So I think I'm the last person to get involved.
A diplomatic answer. You're working on a film which explores the death of Stalin and its chaotic aftermath. Should we file this under satire, or something else?
A lot of the script is based on true events, really. Things like Veep and In the Loop are more fiction – we invent the characters and situations. Although it is a comedy as such, it is very much based on real characters and real incidents. An awful lot of the research I've been undertaking has looked at events that did go on. This, by the way, is the thing that's keeping me from Glasgow, as I'll possibly be in Eastern Europe.
Is this period of Russian history a subject that interested you previously?
It always has, really. The Nazis seem to be, commercially, much more successful than the communists! It's a time that's not really been explored in film. It's a period, when you examine it, that was just such a horrible time for the people living under it. During the Great Terror, if you said the wrong thing, or knew the wrong person, you could be taken away and shot.
In terms of the film we're doing, we're asking what happens when the person responsible for that terror, what happens when they die? Are people still terrified? What happens next? Terror has become such an ubiquitous word. So it's interesting in exploring what happens when an entire nation is terrified.
When can we expect it to be released?
We're shooting over the summer, so some time next year.
Out of all the shows you've produced, which are you asked most about by members of the public?
A lot of people ask me about The Armando Iannucci Shows. I think it's because a lot of people think they've discovered them and no one else knows about them.
In the Loop screens at Drygate on 14 May as part of Restless Natives