RUSH HOUR - POLITICIANS AND ACTORS ALIKE GET STAR-STRUCK IN WASHINGTON

POLITICIANS AND ACTORS ALIKE GET STAR-STRUCK IN WASHINGTON

Actor Chris Addison has revealed he became "giddy" while filming in Washington DC, even while parodying British politicians in the same situation.

The stand-up comedian plays a ministerial aide in new political comedy In the Loop and said the cast and crew of the film were unable to prevent themselves being swept up by the glitz and glamour of the US capital.

The Armando Iannucci film tells of a diplomatic storm between the US and UK and depicts British officials becoming star-struck by the enormity of the Washington political machine.

And speaking at a London press conference ahead of the release of In the Loop, Addison said he believes this is "exactly what happened to our politicians" in the past.

"When [Alastair] Campbell and [Tony] Blair went to America they just got a bit giddy, which is one of the reasons they managed to sell everybody, including the people of Iraq, so far down the river," he claimed.

"But it absolutely happened to us [while making the film]."

He continued: "There are a couple of scenes where mine and Tom's characters are in a limo in a motorcade and our looking pretty wide-eyed… and we were pretty wide-eyed!

"I remember we had this enormous long limo, that you'd normally expect to see a senior politician or a hen night in, and we couldn't move through Washington because it was rush hour.

"And eventually one of the police officers knocked on the window and said (American accent) 'You want us to turn the lights on?' And for a good four or five minutes, everyone in the limo was just giddy as we slid through the Washington traffic!"

In the Loop is released on April 17th.