Veep creator Armando Iannucci has claimed Hollywood is too nervous to fund his Donald Trump project.
Armando Iannucci is trying to get funding for a Donald Trump project
The 61-year-old Scottish showrunner – who was the mind behind HBO’s political satire, as well as BBC’s classic British political sitcom The Thick Of It – has admitted plans for a screen project based on the US President’s speeches isn’t getting any support in America.
Speaking at a Creative UK event, he said of chats with US buyers: “I got a lot of, ‘Yeah, you wouldn’t get the money for that at the moment, I’m afraid.’
“So I said, ‘Why not?’ [They replied] ‘Well, you know, if you want what comes with it…’ ”
Armando has been warned that pursuing the idea in the US would be met with backlash.
He added: “[I’ve been] talking to journalists out there who say, ‘If you’re on the list, your life is made miserable.’
“[The message was], the inland revenue will come calling, you better lawyer up, you will spend the next four years just weighed down by legal issues you have to get through.”
Armando – who also created Hugh Laurie’s space sitcom Avenue 5 – didn’t reveal whether the project would be a film or TV series, while he is open to the idea of pushing forward without American financing.
He teased: “Let’s see what happens.”
However, he pointed out that even film projects in the UK are being impacted, particularly after Trump’s threat of a trariff on non-US movies.
He said: “Nobody knows how it works, but that’s not the point.
“The point is, there will be financiers in America about to give money to a project going, ‘Do you know what? Let’s just see how this plays out before I hand that over.’
“And so you’ll have another project sitting there.”
Last last month, Trump insisted he was reviving a policy idea he previously floated earlier this year, noting he would set a 100 percent levy on international film productions.
He wrote on Truth Social: “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby’.
“California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard banger. Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100 percent Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
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