Sacha Baron Cohen is done for now being “Borat,” the fake Kazakhstani journalist character he portrayed in his latest film, the British actor and comedian said in an interview out Wednesday.
Mr. Baron Cohen, who created Borat in the late 1990s, told Variety that he revived the character in his latest film to take on President Trump before Election Day.
“I brought Borat out because of Trump,” said Mr. Baron Cohen. “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.”
Mr. Baron Cohen, 49, first brought his Kazakhstani journalist character to the big screen in the 2006 film “Borat,” which in turn earned him accolades including a Golden Globe Award, among others.
The character was revived for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which became available through Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service beginning in late October, roughly two weeks before polls closed.
Mr. Baron Cohen pokes fun in his latest movie at the president and his lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, in addition to mocking the Trump administration’s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t want to egotistically imply that people would watch ’Borat’ and not vote for Trump, but that was the aim,” Mr. Baron Cohen told Variety.
“I felt democracy was in peril, I felt people’s lives were in peril and I felt compelled to finish the movie,” he added. “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.”
Mr. Baron Cohen previously called Mr. Trump an “existential threat to democracy” and cited that as his reason for making a “Borat” sequent after more than a decade and a half.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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