'21 Jump Street' and 'The Dictator' Get Casting Directors

Allison Jones has signed on to cast "The Dictator," Sacha Baron Cohen's next project. The film will be directed by Larry Charles, Cohen's helmer on "Borat" and "Brüno," and produced by Scott Rudin, whom you may have heard of as well. If that's not enough star power, the film is loosely based on the novel "Zabibah and the King," rumored to have been written by Saddam Hussein. In the movie, Cohen will play two roles: a dictator and a goat herder. Other roles are presumably still available. The film is scheduled for a May start.

The "21 Jump Street" film project has also picked up a casting director: Jeanne McCarthy. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are slated for the two leads in the reboot of the late-'80s TV series about a group of young and even younger-looking police officers who go undercover at a high school. Johnny Depp has also expressed interest in revisiting the project that launched his career, most likely as a cameo. No news yet from Richard Grieco's camp. Shooting is scheduled to start in April in New Orleans.

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