The man of many accents and funny facial hair styles, Sacha Baron Cohen, has just sold a movie pitch to Paramount that “follows a James Bond-like spy forced to go on the run with his long-lost brother, a moronic soccer hooligan.”
There has been no definite confirmation on who Cohen will play in the movie (or even if he will definitely star), but whenever a ‘long-lost brother’ character appears in a comedy it tends to be the same central actor in a silly wig, which I’m guessing will be the case here with Cohen playing both brothers. This is just guesswork on my part but it is something that he did do recently in The Dictator, where he played the titular despot and an identical simple-minded goat-herd.
Cohen’s new film will be a further move away from the unscripted, hidden camera style films and sketches that made the actor a star. We saw him start to move away from the style with The Dictator and although not as good as his previous films, it still had its fair share of funny scenes and an enjoyable central performance.
Cohen is a genuinely talented character actor, as proven by his work in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, and it is quite likely that he will be able to create another iconic comic character with his new film.
However, I’m personally a lot more excited to see Cohen don the iconic moustache for his role as Freddie Mercury in the much-anticipated biopic of the Queen frontman. As good as Cohen is in his comedy films, I’m looking forward to seeing more of his serious side.
What do you think, does this James Bond spoof interest you? Or would you rather see Cohen step further away from the comedy realm?