Sacha Baron Cohen is the latest actor to join Tom Hooper‘s Les Miserables, according to First Showing. Stepping into the role of Monsieur Thernardier, the actor will be flexing his pipes once again (he did so before in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street) as he stars opposite Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and possibly Taylor Swift.
I really like how Cohen is breaking out of the Bruno/Borat bubble. We saw him in Hugo this year and next year he’ll show up in The Dictator and Django Unchained come 2012. I’ve always thought Cohen was pretty talented and have been waiting for him to branch out and drop his usual shtick.
As for Les Miserables, I think it’s shaping quite well. The musical has always been a favorite of mine and I’ve been eager to see a worthy film adaptation for a while now. Hopefully Hooper will deliver and to be honest, I have very little doubt that he’ll give us anything less than fantastic.