Sacha Baron Cohen to Play Pirelli in Sweeney Todd Film

Sacha Baron Cohen--whose film Borat has become a pop culture phenomenon over the last 2 weeks--has been confirmed to play the role of duplicitous barber Pirelli in the upcoming DreamWorks film version of Sweeney Todd.

He joins the previously announced Johnny Depp in the title role and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. 

Baron Cohen, who is British, plays ignorant Eastern European reporter Borat--a character from his hit "Da Ali G Show"--in the smash film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which he co-wrote.  His other film credits include Madagascar and Talladega Nights, while other TV credits include "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

The film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton, will begin filming in February of 2007.

Sweeney Todd, which will be a co-production with Warner Bros., marks the 6th collaboration between the Depp and Burton. The previous Burton-Depp films have been Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow.

Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will partner with Richard Zanuck and John Logan to produce the screenplay adaptation which was written by Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator).  A late 2007 release is planned. Paramount will distribute for DreamWorks domestically and Warner Bros. internationally.

The Broadway production of Sweeney Todd, with Sondheim's music and lyrics and a book by Hugh Wheeler based on the play by Christopher Bond, opened in 1979 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.  "Its mix of the comic, the dramatic and the macabre held together by Sondheim's movie-like score has had hundreds of productions throughout the world," according to press notes.  John Doyle's highly acclaimed revival (for which he won a Tony) recently played the Eugene O'Neill Theatre; Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone starred. 

The story of Sweeney Todd is of a wrongfully imprisoned barber in Victorian England who sets out to seek revenge on the judge who imprisoned him.  He is helped by Mrs. Lovett, who bakes Sweeney's victims into "the worst pies in London."