14 years after Sacha Baron Cohen brought his Da Ali G Show character Borat to the big screen, the actor is reprising the socially inappropriate Kazakhstani journalist for Borat 2, a.k.a. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (to use its shorter official title). Just like in 2006, the sequel will see Borat Sagdiyev interacting with real-life people and causing plenty of uncomfortable situations. In fact, some of those situations became downright dangerous, to the point that Cohen was legitimately scared for his life.
Sacha Baron Cohen touched on a particularly frightening incident he experienced during the making of Borat 2 in an editorial he wrote for Time. As Cohen recalled:
While filming my latest Borat film, I showed up as a right-wing singer at a gun-rights rally in Washington State. When organizers finally stormed the stage, I rushed to a nearby get-away vehicle. An angry crowd blocked our way and started pounding on the vehicle with their fists. Under my overalls, I was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it felt inadequate with some people outside toting semiautomatic weapons. When someone ripped open the door to drag me out, I used my entire body weight to pull the door back shut until our vehicle maneuvered free.
To quote Will Ferrell’s Anchorman character Ron Burgundy, boy, that escalated quickly… I mean that really got out of hand fast. It had previously been reported that Sacha Baron Cohen donned a bulletproof vest on two different shooting days, and at least now we have a frame of reference for why that layer of protection was necessary for one of those days.
Still, considering what kind of shenanigans Sacha Baron Cohen got into in the first Borat movie, him angering a crowd of people like this is nothing new. Judging by the Borat 2 trailer released last week, Cohen didn’t miss a beat in getting into this ridiculous and disruptive groove. Of course, it helps that Cohen briefly appeared as Borat on Jimmy Kimmel Live! a few times in recent years, so it’s not like the character had been entirely collecting dust for nearly a decade and a half.
When 2020 began, there was no indication that Borat 2 was on the way, and it was only at the beginning of September that the sequel’s existence was publicly revealed. Shot both before and during the current health crisis, Borat 2 sees the eponymous character traveling to the United States to deliver his daughter, Sandra Jessica Parker Sagdiyev, to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as explore how American culture has changed since his last visit.
However, with Borat saying that his first movie “brought great shame” to Kazakhstan, and with so many people in the U.S. recognizing him, the sequel will also see Sacha Baron Cohen donning various other disguises so he can more effectively take his interviewees off guard. Along with Borat 2, Cohen can also be seen soon in Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, where he plays political activist Abbie Hoffman.
Rather than play in theaters like its predecessor did, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery Of Prodigious Bribe To American Regime For Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan (that’s a mouthful) will premiere on October 23 on Amazon Prime Video. As for movies that are getting a theatrical release, you can learn what’s expected to come out next year in our 2021 release schedule.
