Eddie and/or Sacha headed to Israel?
Comedic actors Eddie Murphy and Sacha Baron Cohen might be well on their way to the holy land, as the two are reportedly in talks to shoot a commercial in Israel for an undisclosed brand, “Israel Hayom” local daily newspaper reports today. Israel’s second largest producer and marketer of soft drinks “Jafora-Tabori” has been having ongoing negotiations with the two to appear in one of their products’ upcoming ad campaign.
Per the article, the company’s ad agency Reuveni Pridan IPG has been looking to cast a high profile American comedian, and in the last few weeks has approached other well known figures, with Jason Alexander and Adam Sandler being two of the names mentioned. The company’s official statement was that “it does not wish to discuss future projects”, hence vague on details, but something is in the works.
If he were to sign on for the project, this is set to be Eddie Murphy’s first visit to Israel. However Sacha Baron Cohen is hardly a stranger to the holy land, being fluent in Hebrew and having extensive family living in the country. Cohen has been to Israel numerous times, most notably in 2009 when he shot scenes for his 2009 mockumentary comedy film “Bruno”. Two years ago he has voiced the character of a Jerusalem tour guide on an episode of “The Simpsons”.
Botth actors were in the headlines recently in Academy Awards’ related news stories. Murphy withdrew from his hosting duties in favor of Billy Crystal, while Cohen got into a publicized spectacle with Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet, as he was in character promoting the May release of “The Dictator”. Hopefully if he does make it to Israel for the commercial he’ll make for some very entertaining coverage.
