‘Dear Dictator’ Trailer: Michael Caine Channels Fidel Castro — Watch

At 84, Sir Michael Caine finally gets the chance to play with Barbies onscreen. He’ll next star as General Anton Vincent — akin to a kindly, English-accented Fidel Castro — who seeks refuge with his teenage American pen pal (Israeli “Lady Bird” actress Odeya Rush) once he’s ousted from his British-Caribbean island. While hiding out in young Tatiana Miles’ closets and garage, the despot enlists her dolls to strategize a takedown of her suburban high school’s clique, The Slushies.

Katie Holmes plays Tatiana’s mom, a doctor’s office employee whose storyline involves getting her toes sucked by her boss (Seth Green). Also part of the comedy’s ensemble is Jason Biggs, cast as the teacher who fails to dissuade Tatiana from beginning her correspondence with Vincent. Set for distribution from Cinedigm, “Dear Dictator” is the latest collaboration of married writer-directors Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse (2016’s “Amateur Night,” a loose autobiography of their early days in Hollywood, starred Biggs).

It’s the first of two Caine performances that will land in theaters a week apart this March — he’ll play another authority figure, Lord Redbrick, in “Sherlock Gnomes.” The two-time Oscar winner previously had a voice cameo in Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” a film (like “Lady Bird”) expected to receive a Best Picture nomination from The Academy this Tuesday.

“Dear Dictator” will be released theatrically and on VOD March 16. Watch the trailer below. 

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