Anna Faris may co-star in 'Dictator'

LOS ANGELES, May 4 (UPI) -- Comic actress Anna Faris is in talks to co-star with Sacha Baron Cohen in "The Dictator," The Hollywood Reporter said.

Faris is best known for her work in the "Scary Movie" franchise, as well as in the big-screen comedies "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and "The House Bunny."

Larry Charles, who directed Cohen in "Borat," is scheduled to start shooting "The Dictator" June 5 in New York and Spain.

The Paramount film is based on a novel published anonymously in 2000, but purported to have been written -- or at least influenced by -- by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was executed for crimes committed against humanity.

The studio described the movie in a press release last January as "the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. It is inspired by the best-selling novel 'Zabibah and The King' by Saddam Hussein."

Ben Kingsley and Jason Mantzoukas have also joined the cast of the movie, The Hollywood Reporter said.