Armando Iannucci & Chris Morris interviewed for BBC arts documentary
Armando Iannucci is to be profiled by the BBC's imagine arts series.
More than 30 years on from his television breakthrough with The Day Today, the prolific satirist is interviewed by Alan Yentob in imagine... The Academy of Armando, which also features interviews with some of his best-known collaborators, including Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Michael Palin, Rebecca Front, Chris Addison, Jesse Armstrong, Peter Capaldi and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Comedian-turned-director Addison has previously used the phrase "The Academy of Armando" to describe the way in which Iannucci encourages those working for him to try new roles on set and expand their creative repertoire, as the former stand-up did, graduating from acting in The Thick Of It to directing the political comedy.
From The Day Today's Radio 4 predecessor On The Hour, through The Thick Of It, Veep, The Death Of Stalin and The Personal History Of David Copperfield, up to his current stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's cinematic masterpiece Dr Strangelove with director Sean Foley, the documentary explores Iannucci's career in depth.
Reuniting him with Coogan, who plays four roles in the adaptation of the 1964 black comedy, including the eponymous deranged scientist, the production was staged last year at the Noel Coward Theatre in London and is currently running in Dublin, although Coogan pulled out of last night's performance due to laryngitis.
"In these sad times, what better way to cheer the nation up than a stage show about the end of the world?" Iannucci quips about the production.
In development since 2018, the one-hour imagine film supplements original footage with material from the BBC's archives, including Iannucci at work on the set of his HBO comedy Avenue 5, and the screening of The Death Of Stalin at the Sundance Film Festival.
It will also discuss Iannucci's epic poem turned play Pandemonium, described as "a scornful account of the activities of Mr Boris Johnson and 'others' during the pandemic and its aftermath".
imagine... The Academy of Armando is due to air on BBC One and iPlayer this spring.
It is a BBC Studios specialist factual production. Yentob is series editor, the executive producer is Tanya Hudson and the producer and director is Catherine Abbott. The film was commissioned for BBC Arts by Mark Bell.