'The Dictator' casts Anna Faris opposite Sacha Baron Cohen

By Sarah Sluis

The idea of turning Saddam Hussein's memoir into a comedy, a mainstream studio comedy, is a risky choice in the vein of director Ernst Lubitsch's awesome Nazi comedy To Be or Not to Be (which coincidentally did terribly since it was released right after the U.S. entered WWII. But I digress). As previously announced, Sacha Baron Cohen will adopt another foreign accent for The Dictator. He will play a Saddam Hussein-ish character who goes to New York for a United Nations meeting, only to be usurped by a look-alike sheepherder (also played by Baron Cohen). Anna Faris, a funny girl who was recently the subject of a flattering profile in The New Yorker, will play his love interest, the owner of an organic food store.

Deadline has some of the backstory around the project, which has a relatively high budget of $58-65 million, including $20 million for Baron Cohen. In a move that seems more suited to "Entourage" than real life, Paramount sent goats wearing Paramount t-shirts to Baron Cohen and his agency's executives, encouraging them to sign on instead of choosing three other interested studios. And sign on they did, reportedly in a cushy contract that will give Cohen the near-extinct perk of first-dollar gross.

I thought Baron Cohen's Borat and Bruno were both hilarious, though Bruno fell short at the box office. Baron Cohen's characters have always felt and read like impersonations and used the mockumentary style. The Dictator preserves Baron Cohen as an impersonator, and perhaps it will even be shot in a mockumentary style. But it's more grounded in reality: The story and character are riffs on Saddam Hussein. Like To Be or Not to Be, however, this project will be incredibly vulnerable to current events. News like the death of Osama bin Laden could change the national mood and make people less receptive to seeing something so fresh skewered. Still, I applaud Paramount for taking on a comedy that feels truly risky and exciting.

Scorsese assembles cast for 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret'

By Sarah Sluis

As a big Scorsese fan with high expectations of his work, I, like many others, was disappointed by Shutter Island. It did well enough at the box office, so at least he gets points for making a profitable picture, but the movie itself was smoke and mirrors followed by a fairly obvious revelation.

I'm more enthusiastic about his next venture, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which has assembled its lead cast, pending final deals. Twelve-year-old Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) would play an orphan living in a French train station. He steals mechanical parts from different merchants in an

attempt to bring to life an automaton. The robot-like being intrigued his late father, a clockmaker who worked in a museum, and the boy wants to carry on his legacy. When he steals from a toy store, he ends up entangled

with the owner, Georges Mlis (Ben Kingsley), who in actuality was the pioneer of French cinema and special effects. Fellow kid Chloe Moretz (upcoming Kick-Ass, Let Me In) becomes Butterfield's sidekick, and Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) plays a station inspector who must deal with the trouble-prone boy.

The Sony-distributed movie is based on a young adult book of the same name and winner of the Caldecott Medal in 2008. The award goes to illustrated books, but this one is unusual in that it is a 550 pages--great source material from which to craft a meaty plot and visual style.

Why would Scorsese be interested in a project like this? The most obvious reason is its tie to film history. Scorsese is a passionate lover of film and advocate for film preservation. He would jump at the chance to depict Mlis, who was famous for films like A Trip to the Moon, which employed what were at the time cutting-edge special effects. Hopefully, part of the movie involves recreating some of Mlis' trick photography.

From a character and plot perspective, Scorsese is attracted to morally ambiguous heroes. The boy, who resorts to stealing to fulfill his goal of re-creating this robot, is typical: a good person doing a bad thing. Expect the danger of his actions played up for the cameras.

Left unclear is whether this movie will be a PG-rated family film or something darker. I suspect the former. Tim Burton has had great success drawing a wide audience to his children's tales (Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) with very adult sensibilities. If The Invention of Hugo Cabret has a PG rating and a Scorsese feel, adults and kids alike will be interested in seeing the movie.

Payne enlists Giamatti, Witherspoon, and Baron Cohen in 'Downsizing'

By Sarah Sluis

In the kind of casting decision which is why we cover casting decisions, writer/director Alexander Payne has cast Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon, and Sacha Baron Cohen in his next project, about a man who copes with the recession by shrinking himself. He's "downsizing," if you will, which will also be the title of the film.

I can't think of a more bizarre clash of film personas, nor such a fantastical, Charlie Kaufman-like premise from a director who has focused on the decidedly more realistic: Sideways, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth. Payne hasn't finished the script, meaning the details are subject to change (as well as the casting decision--no one will be officially signed until the script is complete).

The sketched-out plot goes something like this: Paul Giamatti, a man hard on luck and short on money, decides to make himself smaller. Witherspoon plays his love interest, a (full-sized) woman he meets on his journey. Cohen would play a double role, a tiny Spaniard who likely thinks his life is great and models the miniature lifestyle for Giamatti, and his full-sized brother.

Payne is known for his dark satires, and has worked with both Witherspoon (Election) and Giamatti (Sideways) before. I do think that Payne's black comedy + weird plot quirk approximates Kaufman, although admittedly Kaufman's screenplays tend to use these devices to move back and forth between different worlds or time periods, instead of choosing something and running with it, which is the route I suspect Payne will choose.

Also on board the project is Jim Taylor, who has co-written all of Payne's directorial projects. After Payne finishes the script, it will make the rounds at Fox Searchlight, where Payne has a first-look deal. Because of the special effects involved (although isn't shrinking pretty de rigueur and easily executed these days?), some think the studio will balk at the budget, although from my viewpoint, the cast will cost a lot more than the special effects.

The film joins a number being made about the recession, which hopefully will be in the past once this set of films release. Fox is making a sequel to Wall Street, Baz Luhrmann has his eye on The Great Gatsby, and Ridley Scott plans to make his Monopoly board game adaptation relevant to current economic conditions. I'm all for these projects, but where are the glitzy musicals about poor showgirls scraping by with their dimes from the can-can lines? I want my Depression-era musicals!