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SACHA BARON COHEN AND WILL FERRELL
DETECT NEW COMEDY BASED ON CHARACTERS OF
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND WATSON
FOR COLUMBIA PICTURES

--Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller to Produce--

CULVER CITY, Calif., July 2, 2008 ­ Comedy superstars Sacha Baron Cohen and
Will Ferrell will team together for a Columbia Pictures comedy based on the
renowned characters Sherlock Holmes and Watson, with Baron Cohen taking the
role of the master detective and Ferrell as his partner in solving crime,
Watson, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents
of Columbia Pictures. The screenplay will be written by Etan Cohen (Tropic
Thunder). Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller will produce.

The film will re-team Baron Cohen and Ferrell after their collaboration on
the 2006 box office hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. The
Sherlock Holmes characters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will inspire the
screenplay, which will use the works as a starting point for the comedy.

Commenting on the announcement, Tolmach said, ³Just the idea of Sacha and
Will as Sherlock Holmes and Watson makes us laugh. Sacha and Will are two
of the funniest and most talented guys on the planet and having them take
on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious.²

SACHA BARON COHEN most recently appeared opposite Johnny Depp for director
Tim Burton in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Baron Cohen was, until recently, best known to the public as his alter ego
Ali G, the in-your-face host of HBO's popular multiple Emmy Award-
nominated comedy variety/talk show "Da Ali G Show." The show was already
the #1 comedy phenomenon in Baron Cohen's native England when he brought it
to the United States, where it became an instant sensation on HBO. After
completing two seasons, Baron Cohen set out to conquer the world with
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of
Kazakhstan, a feature film starring his second alter ego Borat Sagdiyev, a
Kazakhstani news reporter. Baron Cohen earned the Golden Globe for Best
Actor in a Comedy or Musical for his performance, as well as an Academy
Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Baron Cohen's past film projects include the hit feature comedy Talladega
Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby which co-starred Will Ferrell and John C.
Reilly, and voicing King Julien, the lead character in DreamWorks
Animation's Madagascar, which grossed over $500 million worldwide. He is
set to reprise the role in the sequel to the animated hit.


WILL FERRELL has come a long way since his days on ³Saturday Night Live,²
crossing over from television icon to motion picture star shortly after
joining the ³SNL² cast in 1995.

He will next star in Step Brothers, which reunites him with his Talladega
Nights co-star John C. Reilly and director Adam McKay. Ferrell also
executive produces the project, co-wrote the screenplay with McKay, and
co-wrote the story with McKay and Reilly.

He most recently starred in Semi-Pro and just completed production on the
adventure/comedy Land of the Lost, set for release next summer. Prior to
that, in 2007, he starred in the comedy hit Blades of Glory with Jon Heder.
The film took in over $118 million at the box office.

In 2006, Ferrell demonstrated that his dramatic gifts equal his comedic
talents, earning his second Golden Globe nomination (Best Actor in a Comedy
or Musical) for his portrayal of IRS agent Harold Crick in Stranger than
Fiction, starring opposite Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and
Maggie Gyllenhaal for director Marc Forster.

Earlier that year, Ferrell starred in the hit comedy Talladega Nights: The
Ballad of Ricky Bobby, with co-stars John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Earning nearly $150 million at the U.S. box office, the film became the
season¹s #1 comedy (non-animated) and set records on DVD.

In the summer of 2004, Ferrell starred in the comedy Anchorman: The Legend
of Ron Burgundy for DreamWorks Pictures, which grossed over $85 million
domestically. Ferrell co-wrote the script with ³SNL² writer Adam McKay.
Judd Apatow (³Freaks and Geeks²) produced, with David O. Russell (Three
Kings) executive producing. Ferrell portrayed Ron Burgundy, a 1970s
anchorman with an inflated ego threatened by the arrival of an ambitious
female newscaster who, unlike him, has mastered journalism.


ETAN COHEN is one of the most sought after comedy minds in the business.
Named one of Variety's "10 Screenwriter to Watch" in 2006, Cohen has
written projects for some of the movies¹ biggest directors and stars,
including Jay Roach, Mike Judge, Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell.

Cohen recently wrote "Tropic Thunder"(Paramount) with Ben Stiller and
Justin Theroux which is set for release on Friday, August 15th and is also
one of the writers on Madagascar 2" (DreamWorks) set for release Friday,
November 7th.