Having mercilessly skewered American (Veep) and English (In the Loop) politics, director Armando Iannucci is turning now to Russia, and to the tensest and most bizarre time in Russian politics: the days after dictator Josef Stalin’s death in 1953.

No one does comedy quite like Iannucci, and as one of our greatest living satirists, his talents are out in full force in The Death of Stalin, which examines the fight to the top amongst Stalin’s squabbling henchmen Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev, and Lavrentiy Beria following the dictator’s death. But if all of these heads of government are fighting amongst themselves about who gets to run the country, then who’s flying the plane?

And did I mention the cast is amazing? Here’s the official synopsis:

The one-liners fly as fast as political fortunes fall in this uproarious, wickedly irreverent satire from Armando Iannucci (Veep, In the Loop). Moscow, 1953: when tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin drops dead, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to be the next Soviet leader. Among the contenders are the dweeby Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), the wily Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi), and the sadistic secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale). But as they bumble, brawl, and backstab their way to the top, just who is running the government? Combining palace intrigue with rapid-fire farce, this audacious comedy is a bitingly funny takedown of bureaucratic dysfunction performed to the hilt by a sparkling ensemble cast.

The Death of Stalin hits theaters March 9.

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