Nicolas Cage To Star In Osama Bin Laden Satire From Borat Director (Exclusive)

Borat director Larry Charles is back in action with Army of One, a satirical comedy from Endgame Entertainment and Conde Nast Entertainment starring Nicolas Cage as a regular guy who goes on a hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

In a coup for the producers, Harvey and Bob Weinstein have struck a preemptive deal for North American rights to the project via their new TWC-Dimension label, designed to be a home for more commercially minded fare that both brothers believe in.

Army of One is loosely based on Chris Heath’s GQ magazine article recounting the real-life misadventures of Gary Faulkner (pictured below), a Colorado construction worker who took it upon himself to find Bin Laden, including trying to sneak into Pakistan and Afghanistan numerous times.

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Charles, whose other big-screen credits include The Dictator and Bruno, is set to begin shooting Army of One by the end of March, with an eye to releasing the film at the end of the year.

Glen Basner’s FilmNation will introduce the project to foreign buyers at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin, where it’s sure to drawn keen interest, particularly since a domestic distributor is already in place. To boot, Cage remains a big draw internationally.

TWC-Dimension struck the deal with Endgame’s James D. Stern and Conde Nast Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff (GQ is a Conde Nast publication).

The semi-scripted project was written by Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, who teamed on Draft Day. Ostroff and Conde Nast Entertainment’s Jeremy Steckler are producing alongside Stern and Emile Gladstone at Emile Gladstone Productions.

“For many years I’ve been a fan of Larry Charles, from his work on Seinfeld to Borat and Bruno and, most recently, The Dictator,” said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Co.

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Added Stern, “I’m delighted to be working with Bob and Harvey again and thrilled to be doing so with comic genius Larry Charles.”

The deal was negotiated by TWC president/COO David Glasser, and by CAA and WME Global for the filmmakers and producers.

"This is an incredibly talented group of filmmakers and we are looking forward to working with them to bring this fascinating story from GQ to life," said Ostroff.

Image credits: Getty/Rex Features

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