Sacha Baron Cohen To Star In 'The Dictator'

'Borat,' 'Brüno' creator will star in a comedy about dictatorships.
By Aly Semigran


Sacha Baron Cohen
Photo: Charley Gallay/ Getty Images

Sacha Baron Cohen will star in an upcoming comedy that's, yet again, bound to stir up some controversy. Only this time, the character he'll be playing won't be one from his cult series "Da Ali G Show."

Paramount Pictures has announced that the 39-year-old actor, best known for his work in "Borat" and "Brüno," will show the lighter side of dictatorships in a comedy called "The Dictator."

"The film tells the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed," Paramount Pictures said in a statement announcing the film, due May 11, 2012.

Baron Cohen will co-produce and co-write the film, alongside Alec Berg, David Mandel, Scott Rudin and Jeff Schaffer. Todd Schulman is also co-producing under Baron Cohen's Four by Two Films. Meanwhile, writer/producer/director Larry Charles ("Borat," "Brüno," "Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm") will direct the project.

Are you excited to see Sacha Baron Cohen in "The Dictator"? Tell us in the comments below!

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Lady Gaga Gets 'Bigger And Bigger' On Born This Way, RedOne Says

'She's growing all the time, from the day I met her,' producer tells MTV News.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

It's only a matter of weeks until Lady Gaga releases the first single from her highly anticipated album Born This Way, due in May. Producer RedOne recently chatted with MTV News about their latest collaboration, saying it shows the next step in the evolution of the girl formerly known as Stefani Germanotta.

"She's growing all the time, from the day I met her," RedOne said. "Of course, she's an encyclopedia of music. She listened to all the Bruce Springsteens, all the legends, and she has music in her. But on her personal level, she's always growing and growing and growing and becoming bigger and bigger, and her vision's the same thing. She just needed this platform to put all her ideas and learning from what she's been doing [into one place], and she's doing her thing."

With work on the album close to complete, this is a very exciting time for Gaga and him. "It feels exciting. It feels very exciting," he said with a smile on his face. "It's really exciting, and I hope the world is going to enjoy this as much as we do."

RedOne also dished about the album's forthcoming single. "It's so beautiful, and Gaga is very special to all of us — to the world," he said. "Honestly, the only thing we do is we get into the studio and suddenly magic happens. We never overthink, or we just do what we do. That's how it all started. With 'Just Dance,' we did it in one hour. There was no overthinking. Even though I remember when we did 'Poker Face,' people said musically it brought something new to the music and you won't be able to top it, we went into the studio and we did 'Bad Romance' on a bus.

"That explains how we do it, so I can't tell you anything about what's coming, but that's what we do. We just get in and do music we love and feel it, and thank God it comes out good."

What are you expecting from Gaga's new music? Let us know in the comments!

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New Led Zeppelin On The Way? Jason Bonham Hints At 'Jam' Sessions With Jimmy Page -- But Not Robert Plant

Drummer admits he doesn't know what will come of 'new material.'
By Chris Harris


Jason Bonham
Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images

On Friday morning, mere hours before he was due to take the stage with classic rockers Foreigner at Detroit's GM Renaissance Center, drummer Jason Bonham — the son of late Led Zeppelin kitman John Bonham — told Jim Johnson and Lynne Woodison of local rock station 94.7 WCSX that he'd be an ex-member of Foreigner as of September 1. But that's not the only thing he said.

Much to the delight of Led Zeppelin fans everywhere, Bonham revealed that he's been meeting up with Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones in recent months and that they've been "trying to do some new material and writing."

It was the first time since Led Zeppelin announced they would re-form for a single performance (which happened late last year at London's O2 Arena, in honor of the late Ahmet Ertegün, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969) that anyone connected to the band has confirmed publicly that new music could be on the horizon for the iconic rockers. While the bandmembers have stopped short of definitively ruling out such a reunion, singer Robert Plant insisted in the wake of last year's show that he intended to focus on promoting and touring behind his critically lauded album with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.

Not that Bonham knows what — if anything — will happen with the new material he's been working on with Page (who collaborated with pop singer Leona Lewis on an uneven version of Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" at the Olympic closing ceremonies in Beijing on Sunday night) and Jones. He said he just shows up and takes his seat behind the kit.

"I've been over [to England] a couple of times," Bonham said. "I've been working with Jimmy and John Paul and trying to do ... some new material and some writing. I don't know what it will be, but it will be something. At the moment, all I know is I have the great pleasure to go and jam with the two guys and start work on some material. When I get there, I never ask any questions. If I get a phone call to go and play, I enjoy every moment of it. Whatever it ends up as, to ever get a chance to jam with two people like that, it is a phenomenal thing for me. It's my life. It's what I've dreamed about doing."

He said it's still too early to tell what will become of these "jam" sessions, but admitted that the "possibility of doing something is in the cards. I really felt it was in the cards from the moment we walked offstage at the O2." Bonham also explained that, before there could be a Led Zep LP, "lots of politics [would need to] get ironed out," but added that recording with Zep is "something I've always wanted to do."

Bonham noticeably didn't mention frontman Plant's name during the discussion. A spokesperson for Page's management had no comment on the matter, and a spokesperson for Jones' management could not be reached by press time.

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New Treatment Center Encourages Clients to Rock Out on Premesis

Roll over Betty Ford and tell Promises the news. A new rehab center in South Central, Pennsylvania called Clarity Way is providing its clients the use of an in-house recording studio and a music therapist. So now drug-addled artists can try to get clean and be productive at the same time. The studio, which is equipped [...]

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