Sacha Baron Cohen Bags Big Money to Play Deposed Dictator
"Deadline Hollywood" proprietress Nikki Finke and her poached Variety scribe Mike Fleming reported, via "Deadline New York" on Friday, that Sacha Baron Cohen, who scored with "Borat" but stumbled with "Brüno," has wooed Paramount to back his newest comedy vehicle (continued).
“Deadline Hollywood” proprietress Nikki Finke and her poached Variety scribe Mike Fleming reported, via “Deadline New York” on Friday, that Sacha Baron Cohen, who scored with “Borat” but stumbled with “Brüno,” has wooed Paramount to back his newest comedy vehicle. The studio and star are at the fully committed stage, say Finke and Fleming, and Cohen is set to make a boatload of money for his latest act, “and the only way it’s not made is if Sasha does not approve the script.” –KA
Dig, Root, GrowDeadline New York:
Said another source: “Not only is it a studio greenlight based on a pitch, but they’ve also gone to that pre-recession place by offering first-dollar gross. That’s what makes this deal huge. Sasha can make $30M-$50M-$80M here. Whereas under recent deals he’d get his $20M upfront — and then he’d bottom out.” Paramount, meanwhile, “didn’t accept everything that WME was asking for,” a source tells us. But the studio “feels good” about the relatively modest $65M budget that was agreed upon. (Deal details below).
In the laugher, Sacha Baron Cohen (repped by WME) plays dual roles: both a goat herder and a deposed foreign dictator who gets lost in the United States. Cohen wants to keep the storyline close to the vest, but we’re told it’s in the spirit of Coming To America meets Trading Places. It will be his next film. Not only is Cohen starring, but he’s also writing the film with the three Curb Your Enthusiasm scribes — writers Alec Berg (repped by UTA), Jeff Schaffer (repped by UTA), and David Mandel (repped by WME) — and all four are producing.
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While accepting a leadership award from the Anti-Defamation League, the comedian sounds off on the deleterious effects of social media.
This year, Sacha Baron Cohen can thank the Academy Awards for giving his latest politically flavored comedy, "The Dictator," some excellent free publicity. Not that he didn't engineer it himself.
Is it too soon? It never seems to be for British prankophile Sacha Baron Cohen, whose summer 2012 cinematic effort, "The Dictator," goofs on certain global leaders who may or may not still be with us. Judging from the film's newly released trailer, it remains to be seen whether Baron Cohen has another "Borat"-sized hit on his hands, but he hasn't lost his edge.
Sacha Baron Cohen is already notorious for his alter ego Borat, and now, fortunately for his career (and unfortunately for those who get caught in his comedic cross hairs), he has another invented personality -- Austrian fashionista Bruno -- who just pulled one over on former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher.
Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat) has secured a salary in excess of $30 million for his next film, in which he will portray Bruno, the gay "voice of Austrian youth TV," who mercilessly mocks denizens of the U.S. fashion and entertainment industry.
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