Sacha Baron Cohen is training nine hours a week in sword fighting for Tarantino’s play
Sacha Baron Cohen is leading Quentin Tarantino’s The Popinjay Cavalier — and he says he’s putting in serious sword-fighting training.
Here we are, stuck watching the slow build as Quentin Tarantino gears up for what he keeps promising will be his tenth and very final film. But if you were hoping for a release date or even a title any time soon—no luck. Instead, Tarantino is sidestepping into theatre, prepping a brand new stage play called The Popinjay Cavalier, and he’s bringing Sacha Baron Cohen along for the ride.
The pair have been circling around each other for decades, apparently, but it's only now they've finally got something off the ground together. We've got a few new details straight from Baron Cohen himself about this oddball project, and yes, it's every bit as Tarantino as you'd expect—swords, swashbuckling, and at least nine hours a week of blade training. I'll get to that.
Sacha Baron Cohen: Swordsman in Training
Baron Cohen told THR that when one of the best directors in the world throws you a script, you don’t really hesitate—especially if it’s someone as single-minded as Tarantino. And it isn’t just about being bossed around by a movie legend; Cohen insisted there’s room for collaboration, not just puppetry. Here’s how Cohen put it, talking about how this all came together:
‘And so if Quentin comes along and says, "I want to do a play," I say yes. Then I actually read the play and I thought it was fantastic. And I felt, why not? So currently, I'm doing nine hours of sword-fighting training a week. And I would just clarify, rather than be a puppet, Quentin did suggest that there would be some element of collaboration.’
For context, this is hardly a spur-of-the-moment move—Baron Cohen says they’ve wanted to work together for the thick end of twenty years. Believe it or not, they almost did a Scarlet Pimpernel project together back around the time the first Borat came out. And remember Django Unchained? Baron Cohen was meant to play a part alongside Kerry Washington. He’d even gone as far as having a prosthetic chin made—all because Tarantino had a very specific look in mind, inspired by some old black-and-white character from the ‘40s. Ultimately, Cohen had to bow out to make way for his turn in Les Misérables.
What Is The Popinjay Cavalier?
This stage show is being billed as a "swashbuckling comedy", with Sonia Friedman Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment making sure nothing gets too sensible. The official line is that it’s set in 1830s Europe, and it’s supposed to be a celebration of theatre—big, romantic, ridiculous, with Tarantino’s usual knack for heightened reality and acerbic wit. Frankly, it all sounds a bit like Restoration comedy by way of Kill Bill.
The Popinjay Cavalier is set to open at London’s Phoenix Theatre in February 2027.
What About the Tenth Film?
Tarantino hasn’t shelved his screen ambitions entirely. While chatting on The Graham Norton Show, he admitted he’s actually got a tenth film script he likes (and that’s saying something), but it’s now parked until he’s knocked out the play and had time for his family. He explained he’d rather live a bit, return to the film script with fresh eyes, and do what he wants—when he actually wants to.
As Tarantino said on the show, ‘I’ve written a script that I really like, but I want to do the play and see who I am, then I’ll go back and spend time with my family and live a little and then see what I want to do.’