The Times is reporting that Sacha Baron Cohen is to turn dramatic for The Trial of the Chicago Seven. The film, which will be directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Aaron Sorkin, tells the story of Abbie Hoffman, a famed 1960s counterculture protester.
Hoffman was at the centre of a series of creative, surreally comic, protests against the Vietnam War that disrupted the 1968 Democratic Convention and devolved into a violent clash with the police. The title refers to the group of protesters who were put on trial for the crimes. Oddly, there were actually eight people in the dock, but one, Bobby Seale, was tried separately and Chicago Seven has a nicer ring.
Beside the fact that Hoffman was a bit on the stumpy side, while Baron Cohen is huge, the comedian seems perfect casting. He bares at least a passing resemblance to the curly-haired, Jewish Hoffman and can you think of anybody with a more macabre sense of humour than the Borat star?