The Dictator (2012)

The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

Director:

Larry Charles

Writers:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Alec Berg,

Stars:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Aladeen / Efawadh
Sayed Badreya	...	Omar
Rocky Citron	...	Baby Aladeen
Liam Campora	...	Aladeen Age 6
Aasif Mandvi	...	Doctor
Rizwan Manji	...	Patient
Rick Chambers	...	Newscaster Voiceover (voice)
Elsayed Mohamed	...	Wadiyan Olympic Official
Adeel Akhtar	...	Maroush
Horatio Sanz	...	Aide on Balcony
Ben Kingsley	...	Tamir
Elena Goode	...	Virgin Guard
Nazanin Homa	...	Virgin Guard (as Naz Homa)
Dawn Jackson	...	Virgin Guard (as Dawn Zimniak)
Victoria Beltran	...	Virgin Guard

Storyline

The Republic of Wadiya is ruled by an eccentric and oppressive leader named Hafez Aladeen. Aladeen is summoned to New York to a UN assembly to address concerns about his country's nuclear weapons program, but the trip goes awry.

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Plot Keywords:

dictator | hotel | oil | nuclear weapons | general | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, brief male nudity, language and some violent images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

16 May 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

El dictador

Filming Locations:

7 West 30th Street, New York, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$17,435,092 (USA) (18 May 2012)

Gross:

$59,617,068 (USA) (20 July 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Four by Two Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min 99 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The exterior scenes of the Wadiya Palace were shot at the Plaza de España in Seville, and computer graphics were used to add the twin golden domes.

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Goofs

During the Gotham Helicopter tours scene, the view from the windows show that the helicopter flies over the same river about 3 times randomly between shots.

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Quotes

[Nadal notices Aladeen walking funny as they approach the helicopter]
Nadal: Are you okay?
General Aladeen: My guy has a limp. I fell off me horse at the old Bull & Bush Pub because I'm a cockney.
Nadal: Listen, listen, okay? You need to focus up right now and be prepared to deliver a small, subtle performance.
General Aladeen: Okay, great, okay.
Nadal: Okay, good.
General Aladeen: [Pulling eyelids backwards] Okay, so when we go to fly...
Nadal: [Slaps Aladeen's hands off] Don't do that with your eyes! You can't be a Chinese person on this thing, okay?
General Aladeen: I'm not Chink, I'm ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In loving memory of Kim Jong-il

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #20.126 (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Habibi"
Written & Performed by Ali Hassan Kuban
Courtesy of Piranha Records

User Reviews

TRULY FUNNY....Comedy Gold...B++++

Just been to see this film and could never stop laughing. Sacha Baron Cohen is a true comedic talent...an excellent writer as the jokes in it are genius. The film is short but packed full of laughter. Perhaps I'm an easy laugher, but what can I say, I liked it!!! A LOT!!! As well as the comedy being brilliant, the actual plot/storyline is superb also. From watching the trailer, and then watching the film, it was actually a completely different story to how I thought it was going to be. I wasn't very excited to see the film after the trailers, but decided to venture in... I enjoyed it much more than I expected and will likely see it again! It isn't for the easily-offended but if this is your sort of humor then you need to go and watch it now!