Sacha Baron Cohen to star in I Am Not An Easy Man for Netflix
- Netflix is shooting I Am Not An Easy Man in London, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as a male chauvinist who finds himself in a parallel universe where women are in power
- Co-starring Mean Girls' Rachel McAdams, the film is directed by Thea Sharrock and is a remake of Netflix's 2018 French original of the same name
- Earlier this year, Baron Cohen was accused of bullying and sexual harassment by his Grimsby co-star Rebel Wilson during filming of the 2016 football hooligan comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen is making a sexism satire, gender-swap rom-com for Netflix, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
The Borat creator will star alongside Mean Girls' Rachel McAdams in I Am Not An Easy Man.
Shooting in London and directed by Wicked Little Letters' helmer Thea Sharrock, the film is a remake of the 2018 French Netflix film of the same name, about a chauvinist who ends up in a parallel universe where stereotypical gender roles are reversed.
Baron Cohen is also producing the film, his first comedic live action role since 2020's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
Co-producing is Liza Chasin (Yesterday) for her production company 3dot and Chips Pictures, which previously made Judd Apatow's 2022 Covid comedy film The Bubble for Netflix in London with an ensemble cast that included Karen Gillan, Guz Khan, Peter Serafinowicz, Samson Kayo, Harry Trevaldwyn and Rob Delaney, alongside the likes of Pedro Pascal, Leslie Mann, David Duchovny, John Lithgow, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Armisen, Vir Das and Baron Cohen's Borat co-star Maria Bakalova.
In the original French production of I Am Not An Easy Man (Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile), written by director Élénore Pourriat with Ariane Fert, Vincent Elbaz played Damien, a brutish, shameless chauvinist who enjoys all the benefits of living in a patriarchal society. After a bump to the head, Damien passes out. When he wakes up, he finds himself in what seems to be an alternate universe where gender roles are reversed and women have the power.
Experiencing sexism for the first time, Damien struggles to find his place in this new world but meets and seduces Alexandra (Marie-Sophie Ferdane), an influential novelist looking for her next great idea, who is herself a chauvinist.
Netflix has just added Bruno, the 2009 comedy film starring Baron Cohen as his gay Austrian fashionista character to its catalogue. But I Am Not An Easy Man is his first original production for the streamer since 2021 Mossad drama The Spy.
Part of 3dot's first look feature deal with Netflix, I Am Not An Easy Man originated in a 2010 short film by Pourriat, Oppressed Majority (Majorité Opprimée), about a stay-at-home dad who experiences sexism in a parallel, female-dominated world, and eventually becomes a victim of sexual assault.
Released on YouTube in 2014 with English subtitles, the short attracted international attention and Pourriat was approached by Netflix to turn the narrative into its first French-language film commission.
The remake is an eye-catching role for Baron Cohen, who first came to prominence as Ali G on Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show and earlier this year was accused by Bridesmaids star Rebel Wilson of bullying, sexual harassment and pressuring her to do nude scenes, when they worked together on the 2016 football hooligan comedy Grimsby.
The chapter relating to Grimsby in Wilson's memoir, Pitch Perfect & Bridesmaids, was largely redacted in the UK when it was published in April. But the Australian called Baron Cohen a "fourth-grade bully who teases the fat girl on the playground and tries to make her life a living hell".
Responding to these allegations and others published in other parts of the world, a spokesperson for Baron Cohen told the BBC that: "While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby."
You can watch a trailer for the 2018 version of I Am Not An Easy Man here: