Cohen attached to star in 'Chicago Seven'

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- British actor Sacha Baron Cohen reportedly is lined up to play Abbie Hoffman in the upcoming Hollywood movie "The Trial of the Chicago Seven."

Director Steven Spielberg has long been developing the film, which is about anti-Vietnam War activists arrested at the 1968 Democratic Convention, Variety.com reported Tuesday.

Aaron Sorkin, mastermind of "The West Wing" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," has signed on to write the screenplay for the film, while Spielberg will produce it, the trade newspaper said.

Cohen, who recently retired his comic Ali G and Borat personas, can now be seen in DreamWorks' "Sweeney Todd" movie musical.

He is expected to get paid more than $6 million to play 1960s counterculture figure Abbie Hoffman in "The Trial of the Chicago Seven," The Sunday Times of London reported.

A representative for Spielberg would neither confirm nor deny the report for Variety.com.