Sacha Baron Cohen fit right into bizarre Tim Burton aesthetic when the actor played a small supporting role alongside Johnny Depp in the horror musical Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Now the Borat star is looking to head into yet another one of the director's created universes - albeit this time without Burton at the helm. Variety's source have informed them that the British comedian is now in talks to star in Through The Looking Glass, the sequel to Tim Burton's 2010 mega-blockbuster Alice in Wonderland that is set to be directed by The Muppets' James Bobin
Should he wind up signing on the dotted line, Cohen will be joining both Depp and Mia Wasikowska in the sequel, the two actors reprising their roles as The Mad Hatter and Alice, respectively, in the sequel. Variety says that Cohen is lining up a deal to play the story's main antagonist, but all details about the film's plot are currently being kept under wraps. If the title is anything to go by, the film may be based on the novel of the same name by Lewis Carroll and follow Alice as she steps through the mirror hanging above her fireplace mantel and steps into an alternate universe. Linda Woolverton, who scripted Burton's Alice in Wonderland in addition to other films such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Mulan, is handling the script.
Cohen has always been rather picky about the film roles he has taken, preferring to work on projects that he has developed himself, but he has been known to make exceptions. It's likely that his connection to Bobin - who helmed multiple episodes of both the UK and US versions of Da Ali G show - is what attracted him to this film. The actor's only part in a 2013 movie was a cameo in a comedy that I don't want to spoil just yet, and before that came his part as Thénardier in 2012's Les Miserables. Variety says that the only project the star is currently attached to is Louis Leterrier's spy comedy Grimsby, but that film will shoot in early summer and will give Cohen time in the second half of the year to shoot Through The Looking Glass. The actor is also developing a new comedy called The Lesbian at Paramount, but the trade report suggests that one doesn't have a schedule set up just yet.
Through The Looking Glass has been slated for a May 27, 2016 release date by Disney, so the fact that they are starting production this year is a sign that the studio wants a lot of time to be spent working on the film. After all, the first one made over a billion dollars at the box office, and one can imagine they would love to see a repeat of that success.
