It must be completely nerve-racking to make a Borat movie. Sacha Baron Cohen and the filmmakers obviously do as much planning as they possibly can when it comes to structuring the story and setting up scenes, but so much of the material depends on unpredictable elements (namely the unsuspecting people Borat interviews), and any scene being filmed has the potential to go terribly wrong at any moment.
Cohen surely has tons of stories about times when things nearly fell apart – but you may be surprised to learn that one such set-up was the interview with Rudy Giuliani in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. And what's even more surprising is that the near-disaster wasn't because of the President's lawyer, but instead because of a silly technical issue.
Following the release of Borat 2 this past weekend, Sacha Baron Cohen visited as a guest on A Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and during the interview discussed how everything nearly fell apart in the bit with Rudy Giuliani. According to the actor, the idea for the set up was that he was hidden away in a custom-built wardrobe, set to jump out when signaled via text message by director Jason Woliner. There was just one problem: his phone was nearly dead. Said Cohen,
The interview starts, and I switch on the phone and there’s only 3% battery. And I go, ‘Hold on we’ve got Rudy Giuliani, we’ve got the president’s lawyer, we’ve got this scene, this is the climax of the movie, and no one thought it might be worth charging the phone?!’ I managed to keep it on airplane mode and occasionally check in.
Can you even imagine the perfect terror that he experienced at that moment? His blood must have turned ice cold in an instant. Not only was the fate of Borat 2's big climax at stake, but he also had to feel responsibility for the safety of the young woman who plays his daughter, actress Maria Bakalova. Thankfully it all worked out thanks to the battery-saving powers of airplane mode (again, can you imagine the stress of switching that on and off hoping that the cue isn't missed?), and the rest is now cinema history.
While the making of some movies are best kept as a mystery to maintain the magic of the cinematic experience, Borat 2 is proving to be a film that is proving to be only more fascinating with revelations about how it all came together. You can be sure that we are keeping vigilante watch for the best stories to bring you here on CinemaBlend, and if you haven't had the chance to watch it yet, do yourself a favor and check out Borat Subsequent Moviefilm on Amazon Prime now.
