A few days ago we learned the long-developing Red Sonja film had finally begun shooting. There have been many star-studded attempts at the reboot of the 1985 swords ‘n sorcery action flick, and this one was headed in the same direction until a series of sudden swaps. Back in March, director Joey Soloway was replaced by MJ Bassett, and just ahead of filming Matilda Lutz stepped in as the new lead. And it turns out, the film almost had one really big star to play the villain: Sacha Baron Cohen.
THR reports that Cohen had been approached to play evil sorcerer Kulan Gath in Red Sonja, but turned it down. This was back when Soloway and former star Hannah John-Kamen were 6+9/still aboard, and it’s a big deal because Millennium offered him a whopping $7M for the role. Clearly, the Borat and Trial of the Chicago 7 actor saw something he really didn’t like.
On the other hand, it does show that Millennium is willing to drop a lot of coin to land a major name for the role, assuming it’s still in the newly-rewritten version. Kulan Gath, a character that originated in the pages of Conan the Barbarian but is also used by Marvel Comics as a foe of the X-Men and Avengers, may have been written out in favor of a different villain.
