Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman?

Variety reports that Sacha Baron Cohen may play Abbie Hoffman in Spielberg's The Chicago Seven. At first thought it seems odd to think of him playing a serious role but on second thought can Abbie Hoffman really be a serious role?

In other news practically all of us are sick. Cam has bronchitis, I have a cough and a cold, Chris does too and Cullen sort of hanging in there. We've been drinking a lot of orange juice, which to my great surprise has anchovies in it, kind of the last thing I expect in orange juice. It's this dumb omega three fatty oils kick the whole country is on, it's invading everything. Can you imagine orange cream bars with anchovies in them? No thank you.