By Kim Voynar Voynar@moviecitynews.com

IFC Grabs Gandolfini Comedy "In the Loop" (press release/news)

Posted Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 - Comments Off on IFC Grabs Gandolfini Comedy "In the Loop" (press release/news)
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IFC FILMS ACQUIRES US RIGHTS TO ARMANDO IANNUCCI’S COMEDY IN THE LOOP
Film will have its World Premiere this evening in the Premieres Section of the Sundance Film Festival
Park City, UT (January 22, 2009) – IFC Films, one of the leading American distributors for independent and foreign films, announced today at the Sundance Film Festival it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to IN THE LOOP, a comedy about politics set in London and Washington.


Directed by acclaimed British comedy writer, Armando Iannucci and written by the team who created the award-winning BBC TV series “In The Thick of It” and produced by Kevin Loader and Adam Tandy, IN THE LOOP stars James Gandolfini, Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, Mimi Kennedy, David
Rasche, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky and Steve Coogan. The film is having its World Premiere this evening in the Premieres section at the Sundance Film Festival.
The deal was negotiated by Arianna Bocco and Betsy Rodgers for IFC Films with Cassian Elwes of William Morris Independent and Ben Roberts of Protagonist Pictures on behalf of BBC Films, Aramid Capital and UK Film Council.
IN THE LOOP tells the story of a mild-mannered British government minister (Tom Hollander) who inadvertently backs a war on prime-time television, immediately alerting the attention of the Prime Minister’s aggressive communications chief (Peter Capaldi), who latches onto him like a hawk. Soon, the Brits are in Washington, where a US General (James Gandolfini) thinks war is a crazy idea; the British minister’s new advisor (Chris Addison) has his eye on an ambitious government intern (Anna Chlumsky);
and soon there’s to be a crucial vote at the UN.
Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment said, “We are going to celebrate tonight. IN THE LOOP is one of those rare movies that you know is destined to be a classic. It’s not often that you get to
introduce such a major talent as Armando Iannucci to American audiences. This is comedy at it’s best with an amazing cast that brings one of the best scripts in recent memory to life. Its going to do incredibly well on all of our platforms.”
Armando Iannucci, Director said, “This is a great climax to a fantastic time at Sundance. I was so excited by IFC’s excitement for the film. I’m really pleased we’ve done the deal with them, and I can’t wait to start working with them on the release of the film later this year.”
Paula Jalfon, Executive Producer, BBC Films said “We are thrilled to partner with IFC Films on IN THE LOOP. We see our film as perfectly compatible with their market leading distribution model.”
IFC Films plans to release IN THE LOOP via its IFC In Theaters program in 2009. IN THE LOOP will also go through IFC Entertainment’s exclusive deal with Blockbuster. The agreement enables IFC Films to reach a broader audience for its titlesthrough Blockbuster’s stores, by-mail subscription services and digital downloading service at Blockbuster.com.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon