Last October, we reported that Sacha Baron Cohen was set to produce and star in The Lesbian, which was inspired by Hong Kong billionaire Cecil Chao and his $65 million offer to any man who could turn his lesbian daughter straight.  Today, Variety reports that Cohen has tapped Klown screenwriters and stars Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam to pen the script.  For those who haven’t seen Klown, it centers on two friends who go on a trip to a renowned brothel but one of them kidnaps his girlfriend’s 12-year-old nephew to prove he can be a good father.  It’s pretty funny, although the best gags are at the beginning and end.  More importantly, it has the filthy, irreverent humor that is Cohen’s stock and trade.

According to Variety, Cohen traveled to Denmark to woo the writers away from committing to another project so they could write The Lesbian.  Christensen and Hvam were working on a sequel to Klown, but will now put that project on hold.  Todd Phillips and Danny McBride are working on an American remake of Klown.

In September 2010, Sacha Baron Cohen signed on to play Freddie Mercury in a biopic scripted by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon).  Despite premature production announcements, the biopic has kicked around in development for the past couple years.  Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) was identified as the frontrunner to direct last summer, but several seasons have passed with no update.  At the very least, the biopic is attracting great talent, because Deadline hears Tom Hooper is now circling the project.  No formal offer has been made to Hooper, but I imagine working with a singing Baron Cohen on the Les Mis set was a fun experience worth repeating.

Speaking of Baron Cohen singing: Producer Graham King hinted the actor may attempt to sing all those Queen songs.  Replicating Freddie Mercury is easier said than done (especially if Hooper would make him sing live on set), so we’ll see if that makes it past the Neat Idea stage.  Morgan’s script starts with Queen’s formation in the early 1970s and ends around their 1985 Live Aid set, which you can watch in full after the jump.

And the barrage of marketing material for the Oscar hopefuls continues. Two highly anticipated December films—Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty—recently made their screening debuts, and on the heels of much awards buzz we’ve seen a number of materials from said pics hit the web over the past two weeks.  Earlier today we got a look at five extended clips from director Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation Les Miserables, and now Universal has released 18 high-resolution images from the film.  The production value on this thing continues to look fantastic, and I’m eager to experience the 2+ hours of song when the pic hits theaters.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Anne Hathaway.  Les Miserables opens on Christmas Day.

Having just finished his cut of the film at 2 a.m., Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (A King’s Speech) presented the first screening of Les Miserables to a New York audience this afternoon. Not since 2002′s Chicago has a musical feature been a serious Oscar contender for Best Picture, but early reactions indicate that the trend could change this year. Each musical number was followed by raucous applause with the principal cast taking the stage to a standing ovation at the end of the film. It looks like Christmas has come early for the cast and crew of Les Miserables. 

The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  Les Miserables opens on December 25th. Hit the jump to read some audience reactions.

Director Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Miserables is sure to have audiences leaving the theater humming tunes from the musical, but the film also looks to be a visual feast as well.  The production design and costumes look fantastic in the few pieces of footage we’ve seen in the trailers, and now famed photographer Annie Leibovitz has worked her magic with the main cast.  The result is a batch of gorgeous and moving images of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Isabelle Allen, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham Carter in character.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  Les Miserables opens in theaters Christmas Day.

A new full-length trailer for director Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation Les Miserables has been released.  This trailer highlights quite a few of the film’s musical numbers, especially showcasing Hooper’s method of recording the actors’ vocal performances live on set rather than in a studio.  The bare performances go hand-in-hand with Hooper’s gorgeous yet grounded set design and atypical camera work, and it should be interesting to see how audiences respond to this approach.  I remain impressed by this new footage and can’t wait to see the full film on a giant screen.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  Les Miserables opens on December 25th.

Two new TV spots for director Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech) highly anticipated musical adaptation Les Miserables have been released.  In addition to inducing even more chills with the film’s music, we get a peek at new footage including some impressive effects work done to enrich a few backgrounds.  Running at 2 hours and 32 minutes long without end credits, fans are sure to be plenty satisfied by Hooper’s lush yet grounded iteration of the wildly popular musical and I’m further encouraged by the visuals displayed in these here TV spots.

Hit the jump to check out both the 30 second and 90 second new TV spots.  The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  Les Miserables opens on December 25th.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s next project might be his strangest yet (and that’s saying something); the kicker is that it’s based on real life events.  Set up through Cohen’s Four by Two Films for Paramount Pictures, the tentatively-titled film, The Lesbian, was inspired by Hong Kong billionaire Cecil Chao and his $65 million offer to any man who could turn his lesbian daughter straight.  THR reports that the film is a potential starring vehicle for Cohen, who would presumably star as the billionaire. No writer has yet been attached. Cohen’s last outing for Paramount, The Dictator, grossed $175 million worldwide for the studio.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat hit at the exact right moment to become a phenomenon. It was a huge box office success and led to everyone quoting the movie until they wore it out (you don’t hear much about “sexy time” these days). But since then Cohen’s yet to find a goofy character that audiences have latched on to. Granted, he’s more subversive than – say – Michael Myers “Yeah Baby” schtick, but this year’s The Dictator wasn’t received that warmly in America. But – especially in the unrated cut – it’s laugh out loud funny in a number of places, even if it’s tied to a tired narrative. Our review of the Blu-ray of The Dictator follows after the jump.

He’s spoofed citizens of numerous countries in his various portrayals over the years, but now Sacha Baron Cohen takes aim at the one-and-only James Bond.  He and Phil Johnston recently sold the spoof pitch to Paramount that features a Bond-like spy forced to go into hiding along with his “moronic, soccer hooligan” brother.  Baron Cohen and Johnston will set to work on the script.  Don’t expect the name “Bond” to appear anywhere in the treatment as Paramount doesn’t own the rights.  Per Variety, expect Baron Cohen to star in the film as the brother.  Although, for once, I’d like to see Baron Cohen take a suave, cultured turn as the spy alongside someone rowdy and insane…unless they can land Daniel Craig as the spy.  Fingers crossed.

For the third week in a row, The Avengers dominated the box office. Marvel’s superheroes added another $55 million to their domestic total – putting the film over $450 million in a record-breaking seventeen days. Meanwhile, the three new releases that lined up to challenge The Avengers all struggled in the blockbuster’s wake.

For the first time this month audiences had more than one new release to tempt them into theatres. Trouble is, no one seemed particularly tempted by the three titles that lined up to take down The Avengers. With an estimated $15.3 million on Friday, the Marvel superheroes are now assured their third weekend title with a projected $55 million. That won’t be a record, but who cares? At $1.048 billion worldwide, the film is already Disney’s highest-grossing release of all time. In second place, Universal’s Battleship took in an estimated $9 million from its 3,690 locations for a projected $26 million first weekend. Not only is that well below expectations for the pricey live-action boardgame, it’s also less than John Carter earned for its debut back in March. Draw your own conclusions. After opening to $4.1 million on Wednesday, Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator took in an estimated $5.7 million on Friday towards what should be a $16 million first weekend. Finally, What to Expect When You’re Expecting saw an estimated $3.9 million from 3,021 locations on Friday. Not exactly what Lionsgate was, um, expecting from their ensemble comedy.  Full details tomorrow.

Anyone can be offensive.  The skill comes with trying to get people to laugh at it.  Sacha Baron Cohen, the mind behind the semi-scripted comedies Borat and Bruno, has shown a great skill at getting audiences to laugh at light comic fodder like incest, rape, anti-Semitism, screaming dickholes, and carrying bags of shit to the dinner table.  He also tends to throw in a little social criticism for some spice.  The Dictator marks his first feature-length, fully-scripted film, and while the blade may be a bit more polished, the edge remains razor-sharp.  Despite a slapdash plot and a cop-out ending, The Dictator is brilliantly irreverent, juvenile, cartoonish, and it will have you laughing, feeling guilty about laughing, and then laughing even harder.

Director Quentin Tarantino must have written a doozie of a role for a certain Django Unchained character; not only has Kevin Costner left the picture, but now Kurt Russell has exited as well.  Both veterans were slated to play the role of Ace Woody, a villainous character who trains slaves to fight each other for public amusement.  Granted, the role isn’t feel-good like Man of Steel’s Pa Kent or Miracle’s Herb Brooks, but it’s a Tarantino flick; no one gets out unscathed.  Costner had previously cited scheduling difficulties for his departure from Django Unchained, but Russell’s camp has yet to provide a reason.  Slightly concerning is the fact that with a December 25th release date, there hasn’t been a replacement announced just yet. 

Sacha Baron Cohen also let slip that his planned cameo won’t happen due to a scheduling conflict.  The rest of the Django Unchained cast, however, needs little support, boasting Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, M.C. Gainey, Garrett Dillahunt, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, and Tom Savini. Hit the jump for more. [Update: We've added new information regarding Russell's role]

A biopic of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury has been in the works for quite some time.  In an inspired bit of casting, Sacha Baron Cohen is attached to star as the famed rock musician, and now the project is close to landing a director.  Variety reports that Stephen Frears (The Queen) is the frontrunner to land the directing job, though negotiations have yet to begin.  Apparently other filmmakers are still in the mix, but Frears “has the inside track.”  In addition to more serious fare like The Queen and Dangerous Liasons, Frears also directed the excellent 2000 music-centered dramedy High Fidelity.  Hit the jump for more.