‘Veep’ creator says retaliation fears are hampering Trump-related project

A new project focused on President Trump could be in financial trouble due to fears of retaliation, “Veep” creator Armando Iannucci said.

“I got a lot of, ‘Yeah, you wouldn’t get the money for that at the moment, I’m afraid,'” Iannucci said at a Creative UK event in Liverpool, Deadline reported on Tuesday, paraphrasing his conversations with potential fundraisers for a project about the president’s speeches. “So I said, ‘Why not? [They replied] ‘Well, you know, if you want what comes with it.”

Iannucci added that in conversations with reporters, he has been told, “If you’re on the list, your life is made miserable.”

“The inland revenue will come calling, you better lawyer up, you will spend the next four years just weighed down by legal issues you have to get through,” the filmmaker added.

Speaking with Channel 4 News, Iannucci added that he will not drop the project and will look for ways to support it without American funds.

“Let’s see what happens,” the regular Trump critic said, according to Deadline.

During an interview with The Independent in 2017, Iannucci compared the president to 20th century dictator Joseph Stalin, while discussing his film “The Death of Stalin.”

“The danger is turning him into a comedy character,” Iannucci said. “Because then he becomes a clown, someone who is quite containable. He’s not. Trump’s dangerous. He’s unstable. He’s not an idiot, he’s deranged.”

While critics have drawn parallels between the developments seen in “Veep” — about a fictional vice president portrayed by “Seinfeld” alumna Julia Louis-Dreyfus and featuring the antics of her staff — with real-world politics, Iannucci responded to a post on the social platform X in 2024 about the similarities.

“We made it all up, though,” he said.