With a pot of Hollywood money

Sacha Baron Cohen is to seek out new British talent after signing an exclusive deal with Hollywood studio Paramount.

The Borat star has signed a three-year deal which means the studio gets first refusal on any project he wants to do.

And as part of the arrangement, Paramount has created a development fund for Baron Cohen to generate projects in the UK, with the explicit aim of discovering new talent.

Paramount chief Brad Grey, Chairman said: ‘Sacha is a comic genius. A wildly talented writer, actor and filmmaker. Beyond that, he is the rare global comedy star.’

The studio is releasing Baron Cohen’s new film The Dictator, on May 16 in the UK and Ireland.

The star caused chaos at the Oscars on Sunday when he turned up dressed as despot Admiral General Aladeen and tipped what he said were the ashes of Kim Jong-il over presenter Ryan Seacrest.

The incident seemed to have especially upset billionaire Donald Trump, who posted an online video saying: ‘Believe me, if that ever happened to somebody with real security, Sacha Baron Cohen would not be in a good shape right now. He'd be in a hospital. He would have been punched in the face so many times, he wouldn't know what happened.’

Published: 1 Mar 2012