Paddington 4: Armando Iannucci to write bear's next movie with Thick of It and Veep cowriter

Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell are set to write the fourth Paddington film. Iannucci is known for political satire work including The Thick of It, In the Loop, and Veep, and for creating characters and series that gained major awards. The Thick of It introduced Malcolm Tucker, a feared communications director portrayed by Peter Capaldi. Veep starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an incompetent and vicious vice-president and won 17 Emmys, including two for Iannucci. In the Loop, a Thick of It spin-off directed and co-written by Iannucci and Blackwell, earned an Academy Award nomination for adapted screenplay. The Paddington franchise has generated more than $800 million globally, and Dougal Wilson is reportedly in talks to return after directing Paddington in Peru.

"Variety reported on Tuesday that the fourth Paddington film will be written by Iannucci and his longtime collaborator Simon Blackwell, who wrote with Iannucci on The Thick of It, In The Loop and Veep. Iannucci co-created Alan Partridge with Steve Coogan and The Day Today with Chris Morris, and is particularly known for his political satires for television."

"The Thick of It, which was centred on the fictional UK government Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, unleashed Malcolm Tucker on the world: the foul-mouthed and feared director of communications played by Peter Capaldi. Simon Blackwell, left, accepts the Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series with Tony Roche and Armando Iannucci for their work on Veep in 2015."

"Iannucci also created Veep, his US political satire starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an incompetent and vicious vice-president, which won 17 Emmys, including two for Iannucci. His Thick of It spin-off film In the Loop, which he directed and co-wrote with Blackwell, Jesse Armstrong and Tony Roche, was nominated for an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay."

"When the fourth Paddington movie was announced earlier this year, the Studiocanal chief executive, Anna Marsh, said that world-renowned comedy writers had been hired to write it but revealed little else. Variety also reported on Tuesday that Dougal Wilson, who made his feature directorial debut with the third film, Paddington in Peru, is in talks to return for the next instalment."

Read at www.theguardian.com