Paramount Pictures has released an early image of Sacha Baron Cohen as The Dictator, the comedy in which he plays the dual roles of a ruthless dictator who heads to the U.S. for a meeting at the United Nations and finds that his number two has replaced him with an unsuspecting sheepherder lookalike. As the dictator wanders the city, he meets the owner of an organic food store (Anna Faris) who gives him a different perspective on the idea of oppression. Baron Cohen’s Borat and Bruno director Larry Charles is helming, and Paramount has set a May 11, 2012 worldwide release date. Scripted by former Seinfeld scribes Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel, The Dictator is being produced by Scott Rudin, Baron Cohen and the scribes.
I saw a report that claimed Baron Cohen was playing Saddam Hussein, a bit of confusion because the filmmakers have said the film was inspired by Zabibh and The King, which was written by the late Iraqi strongman. But that’s a misnomer and I think Baron Cohen’s hairstyle is more Seinfeld’s Kramer than Hussein.
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