London, Jan 21: Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is set to star in a comedy film `The Dictator' inspired by a book thought to have been written by ex Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

The movie is a loose adaptation of the novel Zabibah and the King, which was a best-seller in Iraq in 2000, reports the BBC.

According to Paramount Pictures, the film would tell "the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed".

Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel - writers on `Seinfeld' and `Curb Your Enthusiasm' - have been recruited to pen the script.

Larry Charles, who worked with the actor on both the `Bruno' and `Borat' comedies, will direct the film.

Although Zabibah and the King was written under the pseudonym "The Author", it is believed it was written by ghost-writers carefully supervised by Hussein.

The film will be released on 11 May 2012. (ANI)