Sacha Baron Cohen Cast as Villain in LES MISERABLES?

According to a recent tweet from actor Matt Lucas (Little Britain, Alice in Wonderland) Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast as a villain in Tom Hooper's big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical hit Les Miserables, which stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. Here's the tweet that went out...

Sacha will be amazing in the Les Mis movie. He's the funniest man in the world and a good friend. Am excited to see his Thenardier.

Not sure why he would Tweet out that information if he didn't actually know if it was true or not. What makes this interesting is the fact that Lucas actually played the character Thenardier in a concert production of Les Miserables last year. 

For those of you not familiar with the character, Thenardier is the villainous innkeeper who sings the musical number "Master of the House" with his wife, and he's is really one of the only real villains in the play. I think Baron Cohen will be perfect for the role, it seems to fit his style. 

The story follows Jean Valjean (Jackman), who is on the run during the French Revolution from his nemesis, Inspector Javert played by Crowe. The script for the film was written by William Nicholson, and this will be the musical version, and the musicals original producer, Cameron Mackintosh is producing the film as well. It was also revealed that the original score by composer Claude-Michel Schoenberg's will be used.

Universal is planning to release the film on December 7th 2012. I'm sure we'll get confirmation of this news soon. What are your thought's on Baron Cohen possibly being cast in the movie?