So it turns out that Ali G' Sacha Baron Cohen is showing no signs of slowing down his controversial take on things and will be making the The Dictator with his sometime cohort Director Larry Charles; of the first 5 seasons of Seinfeld (yay), Entourage (yay), Curb Your Enthusiasm (yay) The Tick (Yay), Borat (yay) and Bruno (Boo). I'm hoping for more Curb Your Enthusiasm than Bruno, this time round. The controversial bit being that it looks like he got the idea from a 2002 episode of The Late Show when David Letterman lampooned Zabibah and The King when he showed a spoof trailer for the musical.

Anyway The Dictator is loosely, I'm guessing very loosely on Zabibah and The King. Which may or may not have either been written by Saddam Hussein, his ghost writers (so says the CIA) or by someone else entirely. But chances are it would never have been published if Saddam Hussein had not had some involvement.

Saddam Hussein was so evil he even stole the cover of the book from an artist without permission or payment - Jonathon Earl Bowser. Causing the mythic naturalist to fly into an uncontrollable rage and call Hussein a "Malefic!"

But it looks like Ali G' Sacha Baron Cohen get the last laugh on Hussein, as the timeless Charlie Chaplin did on Hitler with his The Great Dictator.

Even thought the original story must have been popular selling over a million copies, spawned a 20-part television serial and a musical. No doubt given the talent involved - the plot of the book... "A love story about a powerful ruler of medieval Iraq and a beautiful commoner girl named Zabibah. Zabibah's husband is a cruel and unloving man" jealous of her relationship with the King he violently wrong her. The King vows to avenge Zabibah "and in the ensuing war, both Zabibah and her husband are killed on Jan. 17 — the day allied air attacks began against Iraq in 1991." ... will be given a hilarious slant with the culture shock firmly turned all the way up.

Love him or hate him, Ali G' Sacha Baron Cohen certainly has a nose for capturing public interest.