This is a rather obscure story to be sure, especially for those of us who don’t pay all that much attention to Spain’s film community, but is appears that Borat creator, Sacha Baron Cohen, has expressed interest in starring in a remake of Torrente.
Torrente: El brazo tonto de la ley is the creation of filmmaker Santiago Segura, who also starred in the original as well as the two sequels, the second of which became the highest grossing Spanish film in history (close to 23 million Euros, which is roughly $97). It is the story of a rude, self-centered, racist right-wing cop from Madrid who is trying to bust a ring of drug traffickers.
While nothing is official yet, as Segura seems to be the only one stating Cohen has any interest in the remake, it still makes for an interesting discussion as to whether something like this would have an impact over here. I say if Cohen is involved, and Segura is as funny as I’ve heard some say he is, then bring it on. We need more racist right-wing cop movies anyway (Bride Wars unfortunately is not about cops).
This link will take you to the website that has the audio from the radio interview with Segura. The only problem is it’s all in Spanish, so unless you are fluent enough to understand it you’ll just have to trust me. Once there, simply click the download button (descargar) and enjoy the 12 Spanish minutes of the interview.
Thanks to Andres for the international tip.