Anna Faris; the Scary Movie star who recently sold her own stalker comedy to Paramount; has recently been offered a role in Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming comedy The Dictator; based on a book written by the infamous Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, about a heroic dictator who refuses to allow democracy come to his country.
Based on Saddam’s book; Zabibah and The King; The Dictator has been written by Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, and David Mandel, and will follow Baron Cohen’s dictator, as he journey’s to the US for a United Nations meeting, but ends up wandering the streets (after his number two replaces him with a body double) and meeting an organic food shop owner (Faris) who provides a romantic interest, and turns around his dictatorial thinking.
A film that will clearly be one to watch; as it was originally pursued by four studios (before Paramount finally won the rights); The Dictator is due to be directed by Larry Charles (who has already directed Sacha Baron Cohen in both Borat and Bruno), co-stars Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island), and is due to be released on May 11th, 2012, in both the US and UK.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
