From Sacha Baron Cohen’s co-writer Ant Hines

Jack Whitehall is to star in a sci-fi comedy movie from Sacha Baron Cohen’s long-term collaborator Ant Hines.

Robots revolves around a couple who trick people into having relationships with illegal robot doubles of themselves.

But when they unwittingly use this scam on each other, their robot doubles fall in love and elope, forcing the duo to team up to hunt them down before their secret is discovered.

American Horror Story actress Emma Roberts will co-star in the indie film.

Hines – who wrote on Borat, Bruno, Who is America? and Da Ali G Show – will be directing a script he adapted with Klown writer Casper Christensen from a short story by science fiction writer Robert Sheckley entitled The Robot Who Looked Like Me.

He told the Hollywood trade press: ‘When this project was first conceived, it seemed relevant – at the risk of sounding incredibly self-important – it now seems almost necessary.

‘Set against a backdrop of an America seeded by the current administration, empathy has been devalued and one underclass has been expelled, only to be replaced by another: Robots.’

Whitehall previously appeared in Disney’s The Nutcracker And The Four Realms, while his major breakthrough role will be in Jungle Cruise alongside Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. It had been due for release next month, but coronavirus has put that back until July 31, 2021.

Published: 24 Jun 2020