Sacha Baron Cohen is interested in the lead role of New Line's remake of the Spanish Torrente films.  Santiago Segura is creator and star in the action-comedy series about Jose Luis Torrente, a racist and corrupt cop.  At least, that's how the franchise started out.  Three films in (with a fourth on the way) and Torrente has been fired from the force.  He continues to enact justice in the neighborhood as a vigilante with only the loosest sense of a moral code.  Adam Sandler appears to be a fan: Segura landed a role as Sandler's beau in Jack and Jill.

Hit the jump for more on the remake, plus the trailer for the original.

24 Frames reports that Cohen has met with New Line several times to express his "intense interest" in the role.  He even dreams of keeping the Hollywood version set in Spain.  So far, though, things have not advanced beyond the discussion stage.

Promisingly, Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel are currently working on two screenplays: Torrente and The Dictator.  The latter is Cohen's next starring vehicle, which reunites him with Bruno/Borat director Larry Charles.  Cohen plays dual roles in The Dictator: a goat herder and a deposed foreign dictator who gets lost in the United States.

Cohen has also been linked to a Freddie Mercury biopic scripted by Peter Morgan (Hereafter).  He will next be seen in the Martin Scorsese-directed Hugo Cabret, which opens December 9, 2011.

Here's the trailer for Segura's Torrente, which has me repeating "¡Es Santiago Segura como... Torrente!" over and over in my best (worst?) Spanish accent.

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