Sacha Baron Cohen Signs on to Play ‘Mandrake the Magician’

Image by Getty Images/ Comics Alliance

By Maia Efrem June 8, 2016

British funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen has signed on to play the classic 1934 comic book illusionist “Mandrake the Magician.”

Based on Lee Falk’s newspaper comic strip of the same name, Variety reports that Cohen will play the mysterious Leon Mandrake, a magician that uses hypnotism to fight villains, “gangsters, mad scientists, extraterrestrials and characters from other dimensions.” The project, more than a decade in the making, will be directed by Etan Cohen, who made his directorial debut in “Get Hard” and who’s writing credits include “Tropic Thunder,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” and “Men in Black 3.”

Cohen has proven to be a master character actor, with memorable roles as “Borat,” “Ali G” and “The Dictator,” he can currently be seen as Time in “Alice Through the Looking Glass.”

Maia Efrem is the former research editor and assistant to the editor and was also responsible for the Forward’s annual Salary Survey. Previously she served as the editor of Blognik Beat, a blog written by students who emigrated from or have ties to the Former Soviet Union. Maia is a graduate of Hunter College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO