Jeff Pope has 7/7 drama and new movies in the pipeline
Jeff Pope has revealed that he has a new Disney+ drama, 'Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes', and other movies lined up.
Jeff Pope is working on a serious new project.
The screenwriter — who has once again collaborated with Steve Coogan for the film ‘The Penguin Lessons’ — has lots of work in the pipeline, including a drama series for Disney+ that centres on the killing of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes - who was wrongly identified as one of the perpetrators involved in the failed 21 July 2005 bombing attempts in London, which came just two weeks after the 7/7 terror attacks in the city that left 52 people dead.
In an exclusive interview with BANG Showbiz at the ‘The Penguin Lessons’ UK premiere at the Curzon Mayfair on Thursday (03.04.25), Pope said: "It's called ‘Suspect’, and it's about the shooting of a young Brazilian man during the 7/7 crisis, so there's that coming. That will be on Disney+ very soon, and there are a couple of other movies I don’t want to talk about in case they go away."
Pope has adapted ‘The Penguin Lessons’, a memoir by Tom Michell, into a film directed by 'The Full Monty' helmer Peter Cattaneo.
The picture stars Steve Coogan as Michell, an Englishman who goes to Argentina to teach at a school and ends up rescuing a penguin.
Pope has previously worked with the 'I'm Alan Partridge' star on projects such as 'Stan and Ollie' and 'The Lost King' and says the pair's bond means that they can be brutally honest with each other.
The scribe said: "We've become so close. The greatest thing we both say is that we both tell each other, that's rubbish. That's c***. That's great. Don't like that. Do like that. Neither of us takes offense."
‘The Penguin Lessons’, inspired by Michell’s true story, is ripe with both laughs and tears, and Pope felt that it suited Coogan perfectly.
He said: "I had the great privilege of working with one of the funniest guys there is. But he's not someone who's funny, ha ha, tell a joke. It's wit. It's drawing the humour into a truth, and so that just fits with me really wanting to make movies about true stories."
‘The Penguin Lessons’ will have its UK-wide release on Friday, April 18.
