Today I learned that amidst all his mustache growing and chemical warfare, Saddam Hussein took some time to write a novel. The book is called Zabibah and The King, and it’s now being adapted into a feature film called THE DICTATOR set to star Sacha Baron Cohen. Wonder who the royalties go to?
The film is said to be “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.” This would indicate it’s going to be a highly satirical version of the actual story, which is about a king who defends a commoner against her abusive husband in 7th century Tikrit, with the metaphor being about Saddam, the Iraqi people and US invaders respectively. The book was a best seller in Iraq (surprise!).
The film is being directed by Larry Charles, who helmed BRUNO and BORAT, and I’ll look forward to seeing Cohen create a new character in the form of an assuredly comedic despot. I’m asumming the Borat ‘stache will be back.