Film about Northampton won't be shown here
A film chronicling the fortunes of a fictional Northampton MP and his constituents – the "mentally dispossessed" – will not be showing at either of the town's cinemas.
In the Loop, the first big-screen project from master satirist Armando Iannucci, has been garnering rave reviews from critics and will be released in a selection of cinemas nationwide today.
As well as starring Sopranos leading man James Gandolfini and a host of performers from Iannucci's cult political comedy The Thick of It, In the Loop also features Steve Coogan as an irate Northampton resident worried about a garden wall.
A prominent role is also given to the Chronicle & Echo, which was asked to create several front pages to be used for a key plot, while a reporter can briefly be spotted in the background of a bar scene.
Producer Adam Tandy said Northampton was chosen for the film because "it's a normal town" which had both a Labour and Tory MP, allowing scriptwriters to be non-specific about which party their fictional MP, Simon Foster, belongs to.
But real constituents will have to travel to Milton Keynes to see the comedy as its limited release means it will not be played at Cineworld in Sixfields nor Vue in the town centre.
Labour MP for Northampton North, Sally Keeble, said she would be going to see the film, but added she would never dream of referring to voters as mentally dispossessed crazies.
She said: "Northampton has a very discerning electorate, who care about a wide range of issues.
"Although I have to say when I was a minister at the Department for Transport I got more letters about potholes than anything else. It's a national obsession.
"It does seem to be open season for satire about MPs at the moment, which is perhaps a little unfortunate."
Conservative MP for Northampton South, Brian Binley, said he had never heard of the film but was not happy with its labelling of voters either.
He added: "Now it's been mentioned to me, I may well go and watch it but if it's a load of rubbish, I will say so. Of course I would never say such disparaging things about my constituents."
A spokesman for Cineworld, which will be showing the film in Milton Keynes but not in Northampton, said: "When a film goes on selective release, certain cinemas which are predicted to draw in bigger ticket sales will be chosen around the country, and that's what has happened in this case."
In the Loop will be screened at Forum Cinema in the town, but not until May.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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