Sacha Baron Cohen is working on a soccer-themed film called ‘Grimsby’ and judging by a pic recently Tweeted from teaser-trailer.com, it looks hilarious.
Per the website, the film concerns a secret agent (Mark Strong) who learns that he has a long-lost brother, a dimwitted soccer fan (Baron Cohen), with whom he must go on the run. Set in the 1980s, the Daily Telegraph describes it as "[a] little Austin Powers, a little Football Factory.”
Sounds great to us at Pro Soccer Talk. But for the people of Grimsby, not so much.
The film is already causing an uproar in the small North East Lincolnshire town 30 miles south of Hull City. Mainly because scenes from the film show Grimsby as a place with litter-strewn lawns, rundown shops and urinating residents. Making things more difficult for the good people of Grimsby is that they can’t do anything about it because the film is being shot in Tilbury in Essex.
Grimsby - set pictures --> http://t.co/1KQvfk4DwA starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Strong pic.twitter.com/WrIJbH0172
— Upcoming Movies (@teasertrailer) July 16, 2014
“It is using the town’s name in potentially a poor light,” said North East Lincolnshire ward councillor Matthew Brown. “Such a negative portrayal is bound to have an effect. You see the footage from the filming and it does make it very difficult to keep an open mind.”
An open mind will be key for Grimsby and is what the good people of Kazakhstan eventually came to after Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat’ came out. After initially threatening to sue the comedian the tiny country ended up thanking him after research showed the film actually served as a boon to tourism.
The film is scheduled for release on July 31, 2015 by Columbia Pictures, is directed by Louis Leterrier and additional cast members include Penelope Cruz, Rebel Wilson, Gabourey Sidibe, Johnny Vegas and Cohen’s wife, Isla Fisher.
