The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire comedy film directed and co-written by Armando Iannucci. It stars Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough and Jeffrey Tambor. Based on the French graphic novel La mort de Staline, the film depicts the Soviet power struggles following the death of dictator Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin) in 1953. It was released by eOne Films in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2017 and was released in the United States by IFC Films on 9 March 2018.
The Death of Stalin was screened in the Platform section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and received critical acclaim. It caused controversy in Russia and many other former members of the Soviet Union, and was banned in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.