Sacha Baron Cohen Turns Down Film That He Considers Too Controversial?

I've been e-mailed by at least two different Spanish readers of film ick this morning about the very same thing, so I can only assume it has made the press in Spain or been covered on their breakfast TV news or similar. Apparently, Sacha Baron Cohen has turned down a part in Alejandro Amenábar's next film because he considered it too controversial a role. That marks it out as pretty darn controversial, I think. He's been pretty fearless up until now.

Almost nothing else is known about the film, though it is assumed to be on the subject of religion (as was The Others, in particular, but also a certain amount of Open Your Eyes). It seems likely to film next March, and Rachel Weisz is, I'm told, already onboard. Other than that... it's entirely top secret.

Each of Amenábar's films so far has been better than the last, I reckon, and I really loved The Sea Inside - plus, I definitely love a bit of controversy too (don't we all, really?) so, of course, I'm dead keen to see this next one hurry along.

Sweeney Todd Site

The Sweeney Todd site has gone live and contains the official synopsis:

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd. Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who “shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again.” Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney’s amorous accomplice, who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge’s wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Borat is writing a guidebook to both the US and to Kazakhstan. Or, at the very least, some of the men behind the man will be. No news if Sacha Baron Cohen will write as much as a single world, or if Dan Mazer or Peter Baynham or any of his other script team will be involved either. This thing could be ghost written by just about anyone, I suppose.

It's going to be a flipper, with half dedicated to the US and half to his mother country, each side given it's own title: Borat: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of U.S. and A on one cover, Borat: Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan on the other.

Movie Minesweeper - The So Many Deletions Edition

Disney have removed the Enchanted trailer from the internet. Sooner or later, however, they'll put it back... and I'll be watching them. In the meantime, more movie minesweeping.

- Another strange deletion. At the blog of Daniel Lee, editor, a post relating to the Iron Man trailer today vanished into thin air. What did it say? Let me share: I start to say "Joe Carnahan!" but am interrupted when he says "Hi, I'm Joe" and extends his hand. I shake his hand and he asks me if I'm working on Iron Man. I tell him I am... and he asks if he can see what I'm working on. Joe Carnahan asks me if he can see the piece I'm cutting. I say "absolutely" and play my teaser for him. It's still in rough shape at this point, but he seems to dig it.

- Sacha Baron Cohen has already begun the filming of Bruno in LA. He appears to be ambushing the World Trade Week, and has a new hairstyle.

- Jay Roach is making a comedy that is, reportedly, a little bit similar to Vertigo. And I don't mean High Anxiety.

- Michael Patrick King is to direct the Sex and the City fillum.

- Sam Neill is the latest cast member to join Daybreakers. I liked Undead rather a lot. You?

- Mike Mills new video for Blonde Redhead's Top Ranking is online, starring Miranda July. Download it directly.

- As promised earlier, Michel Gondry's new video for Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight is now online too, starring Mackenzie Crook, Natalie Portman, some laundry and a mandolin. A nicer quality version most be forthcoming, this YouTube encode is hardly acceptable. There's also a nice behind the scenes clip at Dazed and Confused.

- A dozen writers have formed the 1.3.9 co-op, a group of writers who will set about penning pet projects for thespians. So, let's suppose for example, Al Pacino really wanted to play Gonzo in a live action, non-puppet Muppet movie, he'd get one of these guys and they'd draw him up a screenplay. What is this going to mean in reality? Lots of ego boosts hitting the page but never making it to the screen?

- Our Lady of Victory is a based-on-true-events underdog yarn about women's basketball and it is going to star David Boreanaz and Carla Gugino.

- Beowulf is to screen at Venice - in 3D. I think that's a genuine wow moment in the making and I wish I could be be there. Other films tipped to screen include Ken Loach's These Times, Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, PT Andersons There Will Be Blood and Jiang Wen's The Sun Also Rises. Two and a half out of six 'aint bad.

- Mike Myers' Walter Mitty is being scripted by Jay Kogen, a Simpsons scribe.

- A walk-on role in Terminator 4 is to be auctioned off tonight.

- In the UK? Win a pair of tickets to a screening of Stardust... and a Q&A with Neil Gaiman afterwards.

- What does the word Pingu mean to you?

- You can download a Lost game for your suitably equipped iPod. If you wish.

- Radical Publishing is another one of these comics/Hollywood two-headed calves, like that Virgin set up recently launched with Shekhar Kapur. Destined to fail?

- Reuters have listed the films Warner Bros. are restoring to 4k resolution.

- Was a pilot filmed for the alternate Veronica Mars? The one where she's in the FBI? TVSquad seem to think so - and they've run a full synopsis of it. Somebody please find me a copy!

- BBC Films are undergoing something of a rejig.

I'm off to find more links to trailers Disney don't want you to see (for some reason).

No Borat Bulsara

Sacha Baron Cohen's publicist has made it crystal clear that he won't be playing Freddie Mercury in a biopic. The story started in The Daily Mirror and spread like wildfire, and it took VH1 to put a stop to it. The last actor linked to The Barry Bulsara Story aka The Great Pretender aka Freddie! was Johnny Depp, and despite no official denial from his people, don't hold your breath for that one either.

Anybody else in the Sweeney Todd cast look the part?

Borat Denied Human Rights

The 2006 Human Rights Report from the US State Department has named Borat as a victim of censorship.

The closure of Borat's Kazakh website in 2005 was cited alongside the 'freedom of speech limitations' placed upon the very few local media outlets to dare criticise President Nursultan Mazarbayev. At the time of the website closure, Sacha Baron Cohen responded in character, saying that he would "fully support my government's position to sue this jew". The site was simply relocated to www.borat.tv, instead of the .kz domain.

Until the site closure order was complied with, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry had simply threatened 'legal measures'. It seems like a genuine act of goodwill for Cohen to close the site readily when the plaintiff so clearly had no genuine cause for protest.

Murdoch/Borat Update

Rupert Murdoch was speaking out of turn - not only has no deal been struck for any Borat 2, no deal is under negotiation either. Oh dear. I wonder if he even feels the tiniest twinge of embarrassment?

Rupert Murdoch Announces Borat 2

Rupert Murdoch has announced a second Borat film, to come after the Bruno film that Sacha Baron Cohen is putting together later this year. Surely another Borat film would have to avoid the documentary format, even in Cohen gets away with it on Bruno?

Murdoch was speaking at a New York press conference where he also alleged that, in fact, he really liked Borat and has already seen it three times. I'm not sure I believe him.

Rap Rap Rap Rap Rapping

According to The Sun (an often inaccurate source despite being the biggest selling daily publication in the UK) Tim Burton has given Sacha Baron Cohen permission to not sing his role as Pirelli in Sweeney Todd but instead rap it. They quote an insider as saying "Any professional singer would struggle so Sacha has been told to go for a rap style. It will be a bit like Jim Broadbent's performance in Moulin Rouge. That won him a BAFTA. Sacha is going to do a fantastic job but he couldn't cut it with the singing. His voice was too low."

Maybe somebody else should have been cast in the role, then?

Actual Pornography To Appear On Eventual Borat DVD

During the filming of Borat, the titular character - and by extension, Sacha Baron Cohen - was filmed taking part in an actual scene from an actual shoot for an actual porn film. Little wonder it was cut from the theatrical release.

According to Dan Mazer, talking to Fantasy Moguls, the scene is now most likely to be included on an unrated release of the film on DVD - as an extra feature, rather than reincorporated scene. I would be very surprised to see Cohen take on any more involvement in the pornography than, say, Louis Theroux did for his Weird Weekends TV show, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see other people acting in quite an unfettered, uncensored, explicit and, to many, shocking way. How much were Cohen and co. simply trying to shock, I wonder?

So, what do you reckon: did the film suffer because this scene was deleted? If not, then was there any reason to film it at all? I guess the argument comes down to how much like sculpting you see moviemaking, and how much clay you believe needs to be gathered every bit as much it does your attitudes to the content and where you draw the lines of good and bad taste.

Borat - Pending Lawsuit Edition

Oh dear. In the not too distant future the DVD shelves in HMV could be rammed with even more versions of the same films.

Take Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan for example. According to Yahoo!, the two US college students who were allegedly hoodwinked into watching porn, making racist remarks and being general gits now want their scenes cut from the forthcoming DVD release, after their original lawsuit was thrown out a while back.

Can't happen. Otherwise those DVD shelves will be packed with copies of Borat - Litigious Bigots Edition, or Borat - The Non-Romanian cut and all the other movies in the world won't have space to get a look in.

Thank god this sort of nonsense didn't happen in 1979, otherwise I don't think I could ever have seen Life of Brian.