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In the Loop
The US President and the UK Prime Minister are planning on launching a war in the Middle East, but—behind the scenes—government officials and advisers are either promoting the war or are trying to prevent it.
2009 · Directed by Armando Iannucci · 106 min · Comedy · Screenplay in the scene database · 9 frames
Tagline
The fate of the world is on the line.
Plot
At a time when the United Kingdom and the United States are contemplating military intervention in the Middle East, the UK Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, offhandedly states during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that war in the region is "unforeseeable". The Prime Minister's Director of Communications, Malcolm Tucker, castigates Simon and warns him to toe the line. Toby Wright, Simon's new special adviser, is dating Suzy, who works in the Foreign Office, and he takes the credit when she gets Simon an invite to that day's Foreign Office–State Department meeting.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomacy, Karen Clark, opposes military intervention, and, at the meeting, she flags a report—titled "Post-War Planning: Parameters, Implications, and Possibilities" (PWPPIP)—by her aide Liza Weld about the pros and cons of intervention, which features many more cons than pros and contains caveats for most of the pros. Ambushed by reporters afterward, Simon rambles that the government must be prepared to "climb the mountain of conflict", and is again chastised by Malcolm, though the Prime Minister decides to send Simon to the US to gather information about problems that might arise for the UK in the event of a war.
Back in Washington, DC, hawkish US Assistant Secretary of State for Policy Linton Barwick is concerned that his secret war committee was mentioned during the Foreign Office meeting; Karen and Liza deduce that it is named the Future Planning Committee. Karen teams up with Lieutenant General George Miller, who opposes the war because he believes the US has insufficient military personnel available, and invites Simon to the upcoming meeting of the Future Planning Committee to "internationalize the dissent". Toby thoughtlessly leaks the true nature of the committee to a friend at CNN, and then meets up with Liza, whom he knows from university, at a bar, and they end up sleeping together.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche
- Cinematography: Jamie Cairney
- Edited by: Billy Sneddon, Anthony Boys
- Music: Adem Ilhan
- Production design: Cristina Casali
- Produced by: Adam Tandy, Kevin Loader
Cast
- Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker
- Tom Hollander as Simon Foster
- Gina McKee as Judy Molloy
- James Gandolfini as Lt Gen. George Miller
- Chris Addison as Toby Wright
- Anna Chlumsky as Liza Weld
- Paul Higgins as Jamie McDonald
- Mimi Kennedy as Karen Clarke
- Alex Macqueen as Sir Jonathan Tutt
- Olivia Poulet as Suzy
Production
- Country: United Kingdom
- Language: English
- Studios: Aramid Entertainment, BBC Film, UK Film Council, Protagonist Pictures
- Budget: $1,100,000
- Box office: $6,200,000
- Themes: washington dc, usa, dark comedy, political incompetence, warmongering, united nations, political satire, intern, duringcreditsstinger, satirical, ironic
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