On the heels of yesterday’s female lead short list, Variety now reveals that Sir Ben Kingsley is joining the cast of The Dictator.
The comedy, from the Bruno and Borat pair of Larry Charles and Sacha Baron Cohen, is inspired by Saddam Hussein’s novel “Zabibah and the King” and will feature Cohen as both a goat-herder and an oppressive dictator who finds himself lost when visiting America.
Kingsley, who recently filmed the upcoming Martin Scorsese project Hugo Cabret with Cohen, would play a resident of the titular dictator’s middle eastern country and would potentially appear opposite Jason Mantzoukas, who is said to be in talks for a role.
The Dictator is expected to begin production shortly and scheduled to hit theaters on May 11, 2012.
