HOME TRAILERS RELEASE DATES PODCASTS REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS BOB $TENCIL NEWS FEEDS ABOUT APPS

LATEST NEWS

Sacha Baron Cohen & Ben Kingsley Nab Roles in 'Hugo Cabret'

by Ethan Anderton
March 15, 2010
Source: Deadline

Though we heard a little bit about the upcoming Frank Sinatra biopic from Martin Scorsese recently, his more immediate project is the confirmed adaptation of Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret, based on the children's book of the same name. We haven't heard much about this yet except for Scorsese's involvement, but now Deadline New York reports Sacha Baron Cohen (this would be his first Scorsese collaboration) and Ben Kingsley (who just worked with Scorsese on Shutter Island) are in talks to join the story about the 12-year old Hugo Cabret, an orphan, who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in 1930.

In the film's storyline, Cabret is still dedicated to his late father's ambition to solve the mystery of a broken robot while living inside a train station. Cohen will play the role of the station inspector while Kingsley will play George Melies, the famous real-life silent filmmaker who plays a pivotal role in the story. Apparently Scorsese's finally settling on this adaptation next came after his plans for Silence fell through. The book has been a longtime best-seller and it's illustrations have not only received praised in the literary world (winning the Randolph Caldecott medal), but by filmmakers for closely resembling movie storyboard frames. Scorsese adapting a children's book with Cohen and Kingsley? Count me in. Stay tuned as this continues to develop.

Explore tags: Casting, Movie News, Opinions

Jacob Crim

FIRST This is epic news, I have always thought Sacha would be great as a real actor and I hope Scorsese sees that too...and does not use him as comic relief.
Sharlto

Yeah Sacha would definately be a great actor, I'm exctited to see who plays the boy
Lewis Walker

Wow this is great news. A friend of mine who is a school teacher convinced me to read the childrens book and I was blown away. Glad to see Scorsese is behind it!
Dan C.

Yes.
Corran Horn

I believe this is Sacha's first dramatic role. It'll be interesting to see what magic he and Marty create together. Glad to see Ben Kingsley sticking with Scorsese, as SI was Sir Ben's best film in years. Given what Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson were able to do with children's stories, I'm really excited to see what Scorsese can bring to the genre.
SlashBeast

You failures have obviously never seen Sweeney Todd. Cohen was in it, as a real actor, in a real dramatic role.