Armando Iannucci embraces his Daredevil side with new Marvel comic
Armando Iannucci is indulging his boyhood love of superheroes, penning a graphic novel about blind crimefighter Daredevil and forging ahead with a US television show about the trials and tribulations of making a superhero film.
The Thick Of It creator wrote a Spider-Man comic last year. And he told comedians Joe Wilkinson and David Earl on their Chatabix podcast that he was about to start work on a story about another much-loved Marvel character.
"As a kid I used to spend all of my money on Marvel comics. I had all these first editions but when I went to university my mum threw them out. I know, I know.
"I mentioned it when I was in America and they said 'look, it's the sixtieth anniversary of Spider-Man, do you want to do a comic?' ... And I really enjoyed it, so I'm about to do a Daredevil, that's my next thing."
Elsewhere in the interview, Iannucci talked about making The Franchise for US channel HBO with Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.
Set to star Jessica Hynes, Lolly Adefope and Richard E. Grant among others, and with Dead Pixels creator Jon Brown acting as showrunner, Iannucci appeared to confirm that the American show had been picked up for series.
"This will be a series, this is an HBO show" he said.
"I'm an exec producer. I don't quite know what that is. I put the team together. It was a Sam Mendes idea and Sam's going to direct the first couple of episodes ... I'm there as the guy at the back with a cigar going 'you're all doing very well!' I'll be around for the pilot then hopefully it will run its own course."
Iannucci's previous HBO show, the recently cancelled sci-fi comedy Avenue 5, starring Hugh Laurie and Rebecca Front, was a co-production with Sky in the UK and aired on Sky Comedy. That suggests Sky would be the likeliest destination for The Franchise to broadcast in the UK.
The Scot also reflected on working briefly with Peter Cook and rare, failed comedies he'd worked on for the BBC. These included an adaptation of the Radio 4 librarian sitcom Shush! with Front and Morwenna Banks and another about a psychologically disturbed ventriloquist with Nina Conti.