Documentary Now!

There’s a lot of delicious prestige to be had in the world of documentary filmmaking. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the significantly more entertaining world of mockumentary filmmaking. Highly respected British lady Helen Mirren is looking to change that, though, by joining Fred Armisen and Bill Hader’s fake documentary show on IFC. The six-part series, titled Documentary Now!, will feature Hader and Armisen—as well as Jack Black, John Slattery, Aidy Bryant, Mike O’Brien, Paula Pell, and Tim Robinson—telling fictional documentary-style stories that cover important events from history (that didn’t actually happen).


According to IFC’s press release, the topics covered by Documentary Now! will include “guerilla-style filmmakers who vastly underestimate the danger in exposing a drug cartel” and “a soft rock doc about a Chicago band’s rise to fame with their hit album Catalina Breeze,” so this will probably be some hard-hitting stuff. Mirren will take on the important role of introducing the short films, which—in traditional documentary series fashion—will apparently involve her standing in a dark room in front of giant pictures of the things that the documentaries are about. Documentary Now! will premiere on IFC on Thursday, August 20.