Sacha Baron Cohen is set to portray legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen in a new Netflix drama-thriller series set to debut next week.
Cohen, 47, is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev for his comedy show and later in the 2006 film “Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”.
Now, Cohen takes on the role of the real-life spy Eli Cohen in the espionage thriller series “The Spy”, scheduled to begin on Netflix on September 6th.
Eli Cohen, an Egyptian-born Jew, was recruited by the Mossad – Israel’s national intelligence agency – who posed as Kamel Amin, a Syrian businessman living in Argentina.
Upon his ‘return’ to Syria in 1962, Amin (Cohen) developed ties with prominent Syrian businessmen, government officials, and military leaders.
Before his discovery and execution in 1965, Amin/Cohen had managed to secure a position within the Syrian military establishment, becoming a senior advisor to the defense minister.
The series was produced by Netflix and France’s Canal+, and was directed by Israeli filmmaker Gideon Raff, creator of the ‘Prisoners of War' series.