When Sacha Baron Cohen dropped his guerilla-style pranks in favour of a traditional scripted comedy for The Dictator, it felt like he had taken a major step back as a comedic performer. It would be one thing if the broad humour had managed to connect with a mainstream audience, but the movie tanked at the box office in the U.S. (although it mostly made up for it overseas). After dropping out of the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic, he is now in the process of setting up his next comedy project and it sounds like he will once again be eschewing edgier material for well-worn cliches (yes, this despite his recent award show prank). The movie will be a James Bond spoof tentatively titled Grimsby. Do we really need another Austin Powers or Johnny English?

According to Variety, Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me, Clash of the Titans) has signed on to direct Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming spy comedy Grimsby. The script was written by Sacha Baron Cohen and Phil Johnston (Wreck-It Ralph, Cedar Rapids), who sold it as a pitch to Paramount Pictures back in August. The story revolves around a “British black ops agent who is forced to go on the run with his long-lost brother, who is a northern English soccer hooligan.”

At the moment, it’s not clear which character Sacha Baron Cohen would play (maybe both?). It’s also unclear if they will directly reference the James Bond franchise or not, but let’s face it, this is pretty well-worn territory. Melissa McCarthy is also starring in a similarly-themed female spy comedy Susan Cooper, which at least has an interesting gender reversal going for it. I’d like to think that Sacha Baron Cohen could do something decent with the material, but the fact that they specifically sought out an action-oriented director like Leterrier makes me think they are more interested in making a mediocre blockbuster than a funny movie. What do you think, are you interested in seeing Sacha Baron Cohen skewer James Bond?