We know Hollywood is desperate for original story ideas (The Smurfs movie, anyone?), but there’s no way anyone could have predicted Sacha Baron Cohen making a movie based on Saddam Hussein’s novel Zabibah and The King. This is no military history or political drama, either; it’s a sweeping medieval romance that takes place in Saddam’s home town of Tikrit. Published in 2000, the plot revolves around a king who falls in love with a married peasant woman, and must fight to prevent democracy from taking hold of his country. How dreamy! Better bring the Kleenex, ladies.
While the famous novel is officially attributed to a source known as The Author, it’s an open secret in Iraq that the book was written by ghostwriters controlled by Hussein. Cohen’s adaptation, The Dictator, will hit theaters in May 2012. South Park has already mocked Saddam Hussein in every way we thought possible, so we’re looking forward to what the creator of Borat and Burno is going to turn out. We can guarantee one thing at least: the costuming will be…ridiculous.
