Believe it or not, but its been 14 years since Sacha Baron Cohen transformed into Borat Sagdiyev. Over the past few months, the actor has secretly been filming the highly-anticipated sequel. Now, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” officially has an October 23 premiere date on Amazon Prime.
The prank-filled mockumentary sees the Kazakh reporter returning to America in order to find a husband for his daughter and having to quarantine during the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The biggest stunt that we see in the trailer above is Cohen as Borat dressing up in a Donald Trump disguise and interrupting Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) earlier this year.
While Cohen had gotten some attention with his characters on “Da Ali G Show” when it aired on HBO (including two Emmy nominations in each of 2003 and 2005), the Borat film launched him into another level of notoriety. The film was made for only $18 million but went on to gross a whopping $260 million at the worldwide box office. The film also proved to be a huge hit with film critics. It has a 91% “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 89 out of 100 at Metacritic.
Cohen had an impressive run during the 2006 awards season. He first gained some serious traction with the critics’ groups. At the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. Awards he tied with eventual Oscar winner, Forest Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland”). Cohen also took home awards from critics in Toronto and San Francisco as well as the Most Promising Performer prize from the Chicago Film Critics. The biggest prize he bagged was the Golden Globe for Best Film Actor – Musical or Comedy. In his acceptance speech, Cohen described, in graphic detail, how the naked fight scene transpired between him and his co-star, Ken Davitian, which had the audience in hysterics.
While Cohen did not make it into the Best Actor race at the Oscars, he still scored a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (“The Departed” scribe won). Now, Cohen could be poised to replicate the awards momentum he garnered in 2006. If it gets a very positive critical reception in a year that’s been fraught with terrible news that could be a big boost. Add to that this year’s Oscars being uncertain due to how the coronavirus has affected the industry, and the end result for Cohen could be VERY NICE!
Watch the trailer here:
