The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired North American rights to ALAN PARTRIDGE, a new comedy starring Steve Coogan as the titular Alan Patrtridge, a beloved cult character he created over twenty years ago. The film is a hit in the UK, where it was released on August 7th, and it will have its North American premiere at the 2013 New York Film Festival next month.
A Baby Cow/Studiocanal production, ALAN PARTRIDGE was directed by Declan Lowney, and written by Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons, Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham. Producers are Kevin Loader and Henry Normal, with Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons, Armando Iannucci, Danny Perkins, Joe Oppenheimer and Christine Langan as Executive Producers.
ALAN PARTRIDGE finds Alan at the center of a siege, when a disgruntled fellow DJ (Colm Meaney) decides to hold their station hostage after learning that he’s getting sacked by the new management. While the film is a cinematic gift to longtime fans of Coogan’s seminal character, its accessible humor will equally resonate with American audiences who instead know Coogan through his singular comedic voice in such films as The Trip and 24 Hour Party People.
The character Alan Partridge first appeared over twenty years ago as a BBC sports reporter on the radio show, On The Hour. Since then, this wonderfully conceited, petty, anal, idiosyncratic comic creation has flourished across virtually every medium you can think of. He’s been a sports reporter (again) on the seminal TV news spoof, The Day Today, host of his own TV chat show, Knowing Me, Knowing You, star of the fly-on-the-wall sitcom I’m Alan Partridge, and most recently Mid Morning Matters.
Magnolia is eyeing a release in early 2014.