IFC Films acquires Armando Iannucci’s “The Death Of Stalin”February 13, 2017 - 15:52 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - IFC Films has bought North American rights to “The Death of Stalin” out of the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market, Variety has learned. Closed by Gaumont, the sale was in the seven figure range. A bidding war involved several distributors, including A24 and The Orchard, according to insiders. The film is a comic look at how Joseph Stalin’s stroke in 1953 threw the USSR into chaos and inspired a mad power grab among his top advisers. It reunites IFC with Armando Iannucci. The company released the writer and director’s “In the Loop,” which earned Iannucci an Oscar nomination for its screenplay. He also created the Emmy-winning political satire “Veep” for HBO. Adrian McLoughlin plays Stalin. Iannucci specializes in a kind of four-letter filled lunacy and has long applied his rapier wit to taking down the pettiness of bureaucratic infighting in the likes of “In the Loop,” “Veep,” and “The Thick of It.” His attraction to Soviet Russia makes sense. The all-star cast made this a hot title at Berlin. It includes Steve Buscemi (“Boardwalk Empire”), Simon Russell Beale (“Into the Woods”), Rupert Friend (“Homeland”), Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter films), Michael Palin (“A Fish Called Wanda”), and Jeffrey Tambor (“Transparent”). Iannucci wrote the screenplay with David Schneider and Ian Martin with additional material by Peter Fellows. Yann Zenou, Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky, Laurent Zeitoun and Kevin Loader produced the picture. Adapted from the French graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, and based on a true story, “The Death of Stalin” chronicles the chaotic days before Stalin’s funeral, marked by fierce infighting for the supreme power. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |