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Movies & TV

31st Jan 2025

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: First trailer released for Dr. Strangelove starring Steve Coogan

Stephen Porzio

You can watch the trailer for Armando Iannucci’s new adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s classic movie exclusively on the JOE website.

The first trailer for the stage production of Stanley Kubrick’s timeless classic Dr. Strangelove starring Steve Coogan has been released and is available to watch exclusively on JOE.

Co-adapted by Bafta and Emmy-winner Armando Iannucci (Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and Veep) and Olivier winner Sean Foley (Mindhorn), the pair will put their own spin on Kubrick’s jet-black comedy masterpiece about a rogue U.S. General who triggers a nuclear crisis.

The first play to be adapted from the legendary director’s work, Coogan will play multiple roles in the production – similar to Peter Sellers in the 1964 movie – when it comes to Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from February 5 – 22.

You can watch the trailer below:

Back when Dr Strangelove on stage was announced to be coming to Ireland, JOE interviewed Foley and Iannucci about the project.

And during that chat, Iannucci said he wants to send audiences home “laughing and afraid” from his version of Dr. Strangelove as that the story remains “so relevant”.

He explained: “It’s all about the dangers of various political factions – the West, America, the Soviet president, or the Russian president now – threatening each other, coming up with more complicated threats and goading each other to the point where circumstances just run out of control and there’s no way to pull it back.”

While Foley and Iannucci have kept the original’s ’60s setting, the pair have made some changes to the story to reflect modern-day concerns.

Dr. Strangelove will run in Ireland at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre

“In the film, the Soviet premier who we never see or hear but he’s on the end of a phone is portrayed as a sort of drunk, kind of rather ineffectual person. Today, the Russian president is a different beast altogether,” Iannucci said.

“Although we’re still setting the action and events in the 1960s, we’re mindful of changes and adaptations we can make that point a bit more to like the present-day situation. So, the Russian president is a lot more cold and terrifying and sinister.”

Also speaking to JOE about the relevance of the story, the play’s co-writer and director Foley said: “It’s a satire about procedures gone wrong that lead to armageddon.

“It’s a sort of office politics satire – everyone’s trying to one-up [each other]. It’s obviously a satire about the terrible situation of nuclear war… I’m sure we’re in a world in which we can imagine that again.

“Unfortunately, war never goes away and it’s certainly on our screens every night at the moment. So, it’s got that relevance.”

Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove

Speaking about how Coogan is the perfect person to step into Sellers’ shoes, Iannucci praised the actor’s ability to inhabit and get “under the skin” of all the characters he plays.

“As someone who sat editing Alan Partridge, in an edit, you can sit and watch the same take like a hundred times and I’m still laughing the hundredth time of watching,” he explained.

“So, there’s something special about that level of performance I think. It’s a very rare thing to get. [There’s] only a few people I’ve had the experience of going: ‘I’m still laughing.’ Even though I know this back to front now, I’m still laughing.

“But also he’s a master of live stuff. His stage shows are ambitious and do involve changes and he’s not trying to trick you. He’s not like an impressionist trying to just take a hat off and put another hat on, change the voice. He wants to really personify these different characters.

“He’s done [The O2]. He’s done all the big theatres. He knows how to handle a massive audience so this for him, his challenge is now being able to take all that skill and all that ability and that comic kind of knowledge and instinct and give it to this story that we want to be funny but also have a huge impact emotionally.”

Foley was also full of praise for Coogan, stating: “I actually do think he’s very similar to Peter Sellers in that he’s an actor and comedian. He’s incredible at adopting a variety of characters.

“He’s brilliant at finding the comedy within awkwardness and menace and [in] men who aren’t actually good at stuff… I genuinely think he’s totally the right person to do this.”

Dr. Strangelove’s Sean Foley, Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci

As for what goes into making a successful play out of a beloved movie, Iannucci says: “It’s a combination of always remembering what it was about the original that made you want to do the adaptation in the first place.

“Why do you like it so much? What do you get out of it? What do you remember from it? What’s so special about it? At the same time, not being so respectful of it, like you treat it like a kind of very fragile vase that you don’t want to drop.

“I think you have to actually go: ‘Okay, but I’m now adapting this for the stage so I have to forget that it has this status as a movie.’ We have to make it come alive for the stage now so that involves changing something here or altering something there or extending something there or maybe making a little cut there and so on. But at all times maintaining the spirit of the original.

“So, if you’re writing new dialogue, it should feel as if it was part of the original. It shouldn’t jut out. It shouldn’t feel like it was stuck in from a different time and a different era.

“People coming to see the show, some of them will know the film very well and will be looking forward to seeing some of their favourite moments from the film. Others won’t know the film at all and will want to get a story or some will know the film but [will] want to see something new as well as the film. It’s trying to kind of answer all those different kinds of demands.”

Dr. Strangelove is coming to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from Wednesday, 5 February until Saturday, 22 February 2025. Tickets are on sale now.

Visit the theatre’s website here for more details.

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