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Jan. 20, 2011 / 2:24 PM

Cohen to star in film based on Saddam book

In this handout photo provided by MTV, actor Sacha Baron Cohen participates in the Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit For Earthquake Relief telethon on January 22, 2010 in Los Angeles. UPI/Jeff Kravitz/HO

In this handout photo provided by MTV, actor Sacha Baron Cohen participates in the Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit For Earthquake Relief telethon on January 22, 2010 in Los Angeles. UPI/Jeff Kravitz/HO | License Photo

HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Paramount Pictures says Sacha Baron Cohen's next big-screen comedy, "The Dictator," is based on a novel by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The studio announced Thursday it plans to release the movie worldwide in May 2012.

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Larry Charles, who helmed Cohen's previous comic blockbusters "Borat" and "Bruno," will direct the film, which tells "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," Paramount said in a tongue-in-cheek news release Thursday.

Hussein was executed in 2006 after he was convicted of crimes against humanity.

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