Sacha Baron Cohen Reflects on Retiring Borat
“There was a purpose to ['Subsequent Film'], and I don’t really see the purpose to doing it again.”
Sacha Baron Cohen could be hanging up Borat‘s green mankini for good.
Speaking to Variety, the actor/comedian explained that the character’s return had a “purpose,” and he currently does not see the purpose for Borat 3. “I brought Borat out because of Trump,” Baron Cohen said. “There was a purpose to this movie, and I don’t really see the purpose to doing it again. So yeah, he’s locked away in the cupboard.”
He also touched on the reason behind the fictitious Kazakhstani journalist’s revival after 14 years. In the midst of America’s rocky political climate and the COVID-19 pandemic — the latter forced filming to halt in Spring 2020 — Baron Cohen felt like the message of Subsequent Film was more appropriate than ever. “I felt democracy was in peril, I felt people’s lives were in peril and I felt compelled to finish the movie,” he explained. “The movie was originally about the danger of Trump and Trumpism. What coronavirus demonstrated was that there’s a lethal effect to his spreading of lies and conspiracy theories.”
Baron Cohen added that since his goal was to show the movie before the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, he decided to sell Subsequent Film to streaming services as not to delay the release due to the closure of theaters. “I don’t want to egotistically imply that people would watch ‘Borat’ and not vote for Trump, but that was the aim,” he said.
Elsewhere in entertainment, David Hasselhoff is putting his 14-foot replica from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie up for auction.
