Trivia / The Dictator

• Acting for Two: Sacha Baron Cohen played three roles: the dictator His Excellency Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen and two of his doubles, Efawadh and the one who is shot in the head at the beginning.
• Banned in China: The film has been informally barred from showing in Belarus, officially banned in Tajikistan and was censored in Uzbekistan. (These countries are ruled by leaders who are criticized for being dictatorial).
• Dyeing for Your Art: Anna Faris dyed her hair brunette, cut it short, and grew out her armpit hair for real to play the role of Zoey.
• Jews Playing Nazis: Sacha Baron Cohen is Jewish plays Admiral-General Aladeen, who (like many other Middle Eastern dictators) despises Israel and Jews as a whole.
• Method Acting: Sacha Baron Cohen appeared at the Oscars as General Aladeen and has done many interviews as him.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Anna Faris, usually typecast as a Dumb Blonde, is playing a tomboyish political activist of the Soapbox Sadie kind who admittedly is otherwise as dumb as Dumb Blondes tend to be in fiction.
  • Jason Mantzoukas typically plays comically crazy Cloudcuckoolander types. Here, he's the exasperated Straight Man to the much more flashy and eccentric Aladeen.
• Star-Derailing Role: The film, which was Sacha Baron Cohen's first film based on an original character after retiring his three signature roles (Ali G, Borat, and Bruno), instead received mediocre reviews. This film performing below expectations convinced him to revive Ali G to save face.
• What Could Have Been: Gillian Jacobs and Kristen Wiig were considered for Zoey.
  • When the movie started pre-production, some journalists reported that the story would've been an adaptation of Zabibah and The King, a romance novel written by Saddam Hussein. (Yes, THAT Saddam Hussein.)

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