If you got hurt on the job, would you want Sacha Baron Cohen to be your personal injury lawyer?Variety reports that the 'Bruno' and 'Borat' comic's next leading role -- and his next act of ethnic impersonation -- will be in Universal's 'Accidentes.' He'll play a Latino lawyer in Los Angeles, an ambulance chaser who becomes a working-class hero (and scourge of wealthy and powerful Angelenos) when he represents an immigrant suing his employer over a landscaping accident.
The script comes from Peter Baynham, who co-wrote 'Borat' and 'Bruno' with Baron Cohen, Ant Hines, and Dan Mazer. That quartet has also written a new movie for Baron Cohen to star in at Columbia Pictures. Details of that script, including its title, are still under wraps, but apparently it's a completely scripted comedy, not 'Borat' or 'Bruno'-style prank comedy that sees the British comic punking real people who aren't in on the joke.
According to Variety, now that he's made features out of all three of his ambush characters from 'Da Ali G Show,' he's done with that kind of comedy for good.
Both 'Accidentes' and the Columbia film are projects of Four by Two, Baron Cohen's newly launched production company. 'Accidentes' had already been in development at Fox Atomic, the Fox quasi-indie division run by Debbie Liebling, the exec who first greenlit 'Borat.' But Fox Atomic folded earlier this year, leaving 'Accidentes' in play. Universal, which released 'Bruno,' snapped it up.
Even though 'Bruno' didn't reach the box office heights of 'Borat,' it still earned almost $140 million worldwide on a budget of just $40 million. Together, 'Bruno' and 'Borat' earned almost $400 million worldwide. But will audiences buy him as a leading man in a fully-scripted comedy, or is 'Bruno' a sign that his ethnic provocateur shtick is starting to wear thin? We'll see when 'Accidentes' has its day in court.
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