'In The Loop' inspired by Blair, Iraq war

In The Loop writer-director Armando Iannucci has revealed that Tony Blair's involvement in the Iraq war inspired him to create the big screen spinoff of BBC comedy The Thick Of It.

Ianucci told DS at the 2009 Empire Awards: "I wasn't thinking of doing a big Thick Of It thing until I read more about what went on in the build up to the invasion in Iraq and all the petty power politics that went on in Washington.

"Everytime I went out and met people who worked in Washington, the first thing they always said to me was, 'What was Blair thinking?' There was just nothing in it for him, he was just so keen to be helpful to the Americans. Basically we got used, we got rogered quite explicitely."

Chris Addision, whose character Toby is on the receiving end of constant insults by government spin doctor Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) in the movie, said that he suspected the abuse was a veiled attack on him from screenwriters Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche.

"The writers clearly take a great deal of joy in identifiying our own physical defects and playing on those," Addison said. "That turns up quite a lot."

"I like it when he calls you Ron Weasley," added Iannucci.

In The Loop is out in cinemas on April 17.