Political comedy is sort of Armando Iannucci’s thing. His contributions to the genre include In the Loop, The Thick of It, and, of course, HBO’s Veep. He also has a film adaptation of Fabien Nury’s graphic novel The Death of Stalin on his docket, and Birth Movies Death reports that the project recently brought three new cast members on board and has begun filming.
Rupert Friend (Homeland), Jason Isaacs (The Patriot), and Paul Whitehouse (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) will join a strong cast that already includes the likes of Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin, and Timothy “007” Dalton. The film’s source material follows the infamous despot’s final days and draws dark comedy out of the chaos that reigned in the wake of his death.
Friend will play Vasily Stalin, the son of the eponymous dictator, while Whitehouse will play Anastas Mikoyan, a longtime Soviet statesman. No word yet on who Isaacs is playing, but given his proclivity for looking sinister/frightening, we hope it’s somebody villainous.
If you thought Iannuci’s satire of modern-day American politics was cynical, just wait until he skewers the machinations and double dealings that characterized the Stalin era and the post-Stalin power struggle. You can expect much of what you’ve been getting from HBO’s Veep, but with a much grayer, bleaker filter applied. All due respect to the callous and calculating Selina Meyer — she’s pretty tame compared to some of the characters in this story.
For now, the film’s release date is still TBD, but it is expected to debut sometime next year. In the meantime, those interested in the project may want to check out Nury’s novel, which is broken into two parts: The Death of Stalin and Funeral.
Stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated as news breaks.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.