If you’re unfamiliar with the popular Spanish TORRENTE movies, they feature writer-director-actor Santiago Segura as an infamously incompetent, mangy, booze-swilling, politically incorrect policeman. But if Torrente were imported into our country (because apparently we don’t have enough of our own similar cops here in the US), who could play him?
According to the LA Times, BORAT and BRUNO star Sacha Baron Cohen would be perfectly capable and theoretically willing to portray such a despicable character.
Cohen has reportedly met several times about the project with New Line, who have been trying for several years to get an American version going. The script is being worked on by Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel, former “Seinfeld” writers who also happen to be already working with Cohen on his COMING TO AMERICA-style comedy THE DICTATOR.
But they’ll face a challenge to make the Americanized TORRENTE even somewhat commercially palatable — the films are smash successes in their native Spain, but I can’t imagine the racist, juvenile, repetitious, culturally specific black humor would translate especially well. Then again, Cohen already proved that such offensive material is his forte…
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed