Sasha Baron Cohen: Borat and Ali G No More
December 22nd, 2007
Comedian Sasha Baron Cohen has announced that he will no longer be playing his much-loved characters Borat and Ali G, as they’ve become so successful that it is now hard to "get anybody", with Baron Cohen saying that playing the roles is "a kind of self-defeating form".
Baron Cohen discussed the decision with the UK’s Daily Telegraph while promoting his new movie, ‘Sweeny Todd’, a slasher-horror musical in which he stars alongside Johnny Depp.
"When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing," he explains.
"It is like saying goodbye to a loved one. It is hard, and the problem with success, although it’s fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I ‘get’ with Borat again, so it’s kind of a self-defeating form, really.
"It’s upsetting, but the success has been great and better than anything I could have dreamed of."
He also discusses the various lawsuits that have resulted from making the film ‘Borat: Cultural Learings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’.
"Since last year I’ve been sued by about 3,000 people. Some of the letters I get are quite unusual, like the one where the lawyer informed me I’m about to be sued for $100,000 and at the end says, ‘P.S. Loved the movie. Can you sign a poster for my son Jeremy?’"
During the interview, Baron Cohen also reveals that a new movie starring his gay, Austrian fashion reporter character Bruno is on the way, but was reluctant to give details saying, "It would probably hurt the film if I started talking about it, so I prefer to comment once I’ve got a finished film."
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Photo courtesy of Dune Entertainment.
