Sacha Baron Cohen plans James Bond-style spoof

Sacha Baron Cohen could star in a James Bond-style spy spoof about a secret agent forced to go on the run with his football hooligan brother, according to the Hollywood Reporter . The British actor has written the screenplay for the untitled film alongside Phil Johnston, who wrote the 2011 comedy Cedar Rapids, and may take a role if his schedule allows it. Paramount Pictures, which has a long-term arrangement with Baron Cohen, has bought the pitch for the new project. Spy films and spoofs have proven fertile ground for Hollywood, even before the long-running James Bond series began driving all before it at the global box office in the 60s. Oscar-winning The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius was previously known for his 2006 spy spoof OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and its 2009 sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio , both based on a 50s and 60s series of French "Eurospy" films that borrowed liberally from the Bond canon. The first of those, OSS 117 N'est pas Mort , debuted in 1956, five years before Terence Young's Dr No, the first 007 film. More recently Mike Myers appeared as over-the-top spy Austin Powers in three films between 1997 and 2002, while Rowan Atkinson starred as a bumbling agent in 2003's Johnny English and its 2011 sequel Johnny English Reborn .