Filmmaker Ash Baron Cohen is Officially on Our Radar!
Although he comes from a famous family, Ash Baron Cohen (not to be confused with his cousin, Borat star Sasha Baron Cohen) is definitely making a name for himself in Hollywood by writing, producing and directing films starring well-respected actors such as James Woods, Burt Reynolds, Rosario Dawson, and Wentworth Miller, just to name a few. With two feature films and one documentary in the works, Ash definitely has his hands full, but he still managed to find the time to speak with Hollywire exclusively about his upcoming projects!First up is a documentary called Little Warriors: Big Fists, which is actually a follow up to another documentary called Little Warriors. The first documentary followed kids who were living with HIV at the age of 11, and the follow up film documents the same kids who are now 17 years old. Both documentaries show what these kids have to deal with while they are growing up and trying to live normal lives with an abnormal condition. Ash says you will see that there are very simple things that we probably take for granted that are very hard for these kids to do considering the fact that they have AIDS. For example, in Little Warriors: Big Fists, Ash says that there is one kid who wants very badly to get a tattoo, but because getting a tattoo involves blood and needles, it becomes extremely difficult to find a tattoo artist who will do it for him. The first film won an award for the Discovery Channel and the next film sounds just as promising.
As for his feature films, this summer, Ash is going to start production on RadioActive, a film that he wrote which is from the standpoint of a female gangster, which he says was, "interesting writing a script from a female standpoint, but fortunately I have a crossdressing pen." Lots of big names are said to be in talks to be a part of RadioActive, including Diane Kruger from National Treasure and Troy, Ed Harris, and Donald Sutherland.
Following RadioActive, Ash is set to direct the infamous Lenny Kravitz in his first leading role in a film called Novella, which was a bit surprising to hear at first, but Ash explained that this film is going to change the way we see the sex symbol otherwise known as Lenny Kravitz. "Lenny had seen my last film This Girl's Life in which we had an unknown girl as the lead in a first time performance. He had seen that film and had really responded to what I'd done with a first-timer so he asked to take a meeting and we sat down. I saw that he does have the charisma and the range to be an interesting actor. It's sort of a basic instinct type of movie where he is going to play a professor. He does have legions of female fans that I'm sure when they go into Victoria's Secret they have images of him in their heads when they're picking things out, so it will be interesting to redefine him out of his iconic popstar image." Ash says that currently they are still looking for the female lead to play opposite Lenny, and one of the actresses they are talking to is the ultra-sexy Megan Fox. Lenny Kravitz and Megan Fox?! That film would literally ooze sex!
Watch clips from This Girl's Life as well Pups below!
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This Girl's Life starring Rosario Dawson and James Woods
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Pups starring Mischa Barton
So how did an unknown independant filmmaker from London suddenly gain so much success and begin working with some of the most respected actors in Hollywood? By getting kicked out of film school of course! Ash says he "got expelled for making a documentary about a dominatrix. They failed me because they felt that I'd overstepped my boundary as a student by shooting it on 16mm as opposed to Super8 film. Interestingly enough, afterwards quite a few of the professors asked me if they could get the contact for the dominatrix." Ash says that getting kicked out of film school was actually a good thing for him, saying that "that pushed me to make my first movie Bang, which was a microbudget film."
Check out two clips from Bang below!
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Bang - Part 1
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Bang - Part 2
Ironically, after that film was praised and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, the same film school that kicked Ash out asked if he could come give a motivational speech at the school. He didn't go for fear that they would have realized they had made a terrible mistake and invited back the one guy they had kicked out. However, if he had gone he says he would've told the students to take the money they were using for film school and make their first film with it because, "you learn from making your own mistakes all behind the camera. Making a movie is a bit like sex in a way. You can't learn it from other people, you have to experience it and learn from your mistakes. Like if someone picks up a book while you're in the act, you know you have a problem..."
With his film career just starting to take off, we wanted to know which filmmaker's career Ash would like his to eventually emulate and he responded saying, "I've always admired the work of [Stanley] Kubrick. What I really like about his work is that he managed to make movies that will be remembered for as long as man has a memory. At the same time his movies were commercial hits." And although he has already worked with an impressive resume of actors in his career to date, Ash says that he would love to have the chance to work with Daniel Day Louis at some point. He says, "I've always admired that quote of Sean Penn's, when he was asked, 'What's it like to be the greatest actor alive?' Sean Penn said, 'I'm not sure, ask Daniel Day Louis.'"
With so much success so early on, it seems like things are only looking up for Ash Baron Cohen and we here at Hollywire can't wait to see what he does next! Make sure to keep an eye out for Little Warriors: Big Fists, RadioActive, and Novella, all set to be released sometime in 2010!
**You can also find Ash's previous films Bang, Pups and This Girl's Life on Netflix if you want to check out the full versions!
