Say what you want about Hollywood, but when there’s the barest whiff of a good idea floating around they do not waste any time. Case in point: Veep creator Armando Iannucci, who tweeted a gag about US President Donald Trump late yesterday that’s already become the subject of a Hollywood bidding war.
[jwplayer 2B7AX07V]
Yesterday afternoon, Iannucci – who also created The Thick of It, The Death of Stalin, and the irrepressible Alan Partridge – sent a half-joking film pitch out onto Twitter, wherein a character of President Trump would be drugged, placed in a fake White House, and made to believe he was still governing at an exorbitant cost. Like In The Loop meets The Truman Show.
Film pitch.. Trump drugged and moved to a replica Whitehouse, where he carries on thinking he’s governing. Millions spent on hiring actors to play his staff, Senators, news anchors, people at rallies.
There you go. Studios, your highest bid please.— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) September 5, 2018
I mean, that sounds incredible, to be perfectly honest. Definitely would watch.
As it turns out, I’m not the only one who thinks that. Deadline reports the tweet quickly attracted giant amounts of interest from Hollywood studios, with as many as eight reaching out to Iannucci to express interest, with at least one “big offer” being made.
Er…looks like Hollywood’s interested. Now what do we do? https://t.co/oTB2KonqFO
— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) September 6, 2018
The proposed film even scored the most perfect title of all time, thanks to one of Iannucci’s followers: Fake America Great Again.
Hell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus probably half-joking but probably-not really expressed interest in being in it.
I’m in. https://t.co/6Wm36PxhAN
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) September 5, 2018
So there you go. A throwaway gag posted to Twitter is probably going to wind up being a movie, and a very good one at that.
Maybe the bastard blue website isn’t a *complete* garbage fire after all.
