Proving once again that Hollywood's moral compass is broken, it appears from the just-released trailer above that some sort of film or documentary is in the works about Dimitri the Lover, Toronto's crude, mysogynistic answer to Borat. Fittingly, the producer behind the Dimitri film is Brad Goodman, known for his post-production work on the films Bruno and Borat.
Readers in Toronto are likely familiar with Dimitri, given the degree of coverage he's received on local blogs and morning radio. Those living outside T.O. got a taste of Dimitri last year when messages he had left a local woman were posted on Youtube and spread.
Despite how badly Borat the movie ruined Borat the TV character, I'm all for film studios making spoofs or mockumentaries about objectionable characters. The catch here is that Dimitri is a very real person. Dimitri, aka Dr. James Sears, was stripped of his licence to practise medicine in Ontario in 1992 following charges of sexual impropriety. After the decision, he continued calling himself doctor, and started a company specializing in medical investigations. And, of course, he took on the persona of Dimitri the Lover and began hosting meetings of Toronto Real Men, designed to teach men his unique ways of finding women.
All of this begs the question, where are we as a society when someone like this can become an overnight celebrity?
