In November 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen took the world by storm with Borat, which saw his eponymous character, a journalist from Kazakhstan, traveling across the United States to interview real-life Americans and cause all sorts of uncomfortable situations. Nearly a decade and a half later, not only has word come in that Borat 2 is on the way, apparently the sequel has already been shot.
This news comes from Collider, which reports that Borat 2 is the secret project that Sacha Baron Cohen was shooting in Los Angeles, and was discussed on social media. Furthermore, Borat 2 has already been screened for “a select few industry types,” although when it’s going to be released to the public is unclear. As far as distribution goes, 20th Century Fox released the original Borat, but since Fox was acquired by Disney, which isn’t known for churning out R-rated comedies, perhaps Cohen and his team shopped the sequel elsewhere. Maybe a streamer like Netflix or HBO Max is behind it.
So what can we expect from Borat 2? According to Collider’s sources, the sequel follows Borat Sagdiyev thinking he’s a big movie star after the original Borat movie was so successful. As such, he hides from the public by pretending to be someone else and starts interviewing people while donning this disguise. The premise is described as “Cohen playing Borat playing Cohen.”
Just like Ali G and Bruno, Borat Sagdiyev debuted on Da Ali G Show, which aired from 2000 to 2004. And like Borat, Ali G and Bruno both received their own movies, with the former preceding Borat by four years and the latter hopping to the big screen in 2009. Larry Charles directed the original Borat movie, and Sacha Baron Cohen produced alongside Jay Roach, but it’s unclear if Charles or Roach are involved with Borat 2.
Following the release of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen announced that he was retiring the character, but that ended up not being permanent. Most notably, Cohen has appeared as Borat a couple times in the last half decade on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his 2016 movie Grimsby and 2018 Showtime series Who is America?. Prior to Borat’s release, Cohen also briefly played the character in a Saturday Night Live episode.
Borat certainly did a good job of boosting Sacha Baron Cohen’s profile, with the movie making over $262 million worldwide and Cohen going on to star in movies like Hugo, The Dictator and Les Misérables. The downside of Borat is that so many people learned what kind of shenanigans Cohen was up to, but because Borat 2 sees the character disguising himself, that undoubtedly helped with keeping incognito while he spoke with his subjects… at least initially.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news concerning Borat 2, including whether it will get a theatrical release, go to PVOD or end up on a streaming service. You can keep track of the movies that are supposed to hit theaters later this year with our 2020 release schedule.
