Sacha Baron Cohen said...

"Borat is based actually on a guy I met in southern Russia. I can't remember his name. He was a doctor. The moment I met him I was totally crying. He was a hysterically funny guy, albeit totally unintentionally. "

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Real Life Idiot or Comic Genius?

Sacha Baron Cohen is an English comedian, actor, writer, and creator of the controversial characters Ali G, Borat and Bruno.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was released in U.S. movie theaters in November 2006. The mockumentary about Borat, the fake Kazakh journalist, and his trip to America earned $26.4 million at the box office on opening weekend only to surpass itself the following weekend with $29 million in box office sales.

Sacha Baron Cohen's fictitious characters play on cultural stereotypes and his subjects inexperience with such. Many Americans know little to nothing about eastern European cultures, or the socially sublimated cultures of hip-hop and homosexuality. Cohen embodies the grand stereotypes of these respective cultures as represented by each of his characters; Borat, the hairy, tackless, naive, American-loving journalist from Kazakhstan; Ali G., the wanna-be hip-hop gangster journalist from London; and, Borat, the sexually ambiguous, fashion journalist from Austria. The controversy around Borat is between those unwittingly overexposed and those that get the joke.

Borat takes his unscripted character to the streets; interviewing unsuspecting people who believe the entire act, complete with film crew and release forms from a mock news station. Some people may suspect something off-beat and comical about a happy-go-lucky foreigner who introduces his sister as the highest paid prostitute in their home town, in Kazakhstan, where beer is made from fermented horse urine. During an interview, no one calls Borat out for his outlandish behavior. Some of the more prominent interviewees play along, like Pat Buchanan when asked by Ali G. about Iraq's ability to make BLT's instead of WMD's. Buchanan refrained from correcting Ali G. and used the term to explain the bigger idea. While people have complained about the way they appear in the movie, which is both spontaneous and usually embarassing.

The producers of Borat were sued for $30 million by two residents of the Romanian village used for the opening sequence of the movie. The residents felt the producers misrepresented the intent of the movie and made them look like savages. The case has been dismissed. Another lawsuit against the movie is from three fraternity brothers who allege they were duped into making racial slurs and signed the release form after being told the movie would not be shown in America.

The Kazakhstan government has had mixed responses to the sexist, homophobic, antisemitic journalist that says he is from their country. In 2000, the government removed the Borat website from the country-code-domain name for being in violation of registering under a false name. The website changed from www.borat.kz to www.borat.tv. In 2004, Roman Vassilenko, press secretary for the Embassy of Kazakhstan, wrote a public letter denouncing any affiliation with Borat in the Washington, D.C. weekly newspaper The Hill. Soon after, the Kazakhstan government took out a four-page tourism add in The New York Times. After the success of the film, Kazakhstan invited Borat over for a visit.

Borat Sagdiyev is one of three alter-egos created and performed by Sacha Baron Cohen on Da Ali G. Show. Ali G., a wanna-be hip-hop gangster journalist from West Staines, England, first made an appearance on the English variety show The 11 o'Clock Show in 1998. In 2000, HBO picked up the show for a two season run naming itAli G in da USA. Though the show was successful, Cohen's notoriety has broken his cover. Now that people know who he is there is difficulty in getting genuine responses from interviewees. In 2005, HBO announced the cancellation of the series.

Cohen was born in the London borough of Hammersmith, the second of three boys. He was raised as an orthodox Jew. His father, Gerald Baron Cohen is from Wales and owns a menswear shop in Piccadilly. His mother, Daniella Weiser is a Persian Jew from Israel. His brother, Erran Baron Cohen, is a trumpet player, composer and member of Zohar, a world-music electronic group. Cohen's second cousin, Simon Baron Cohen, professor of psychology at the University of Cambridge, is famous for his theory on the cause of autism.

As a boy, Cohen attended Haberdashers' Aske's School for Boys and was part of the Jewish Zionist youth movement and theater group "Habonim Dror." The Cambridge educated gentlemen, studied history and wrote his college thesis on the Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement in America.

In addition to creating the characters Ali G. and Borat, Cohen co-wrote the screenplays for both movies and was recently offered $42.5 million from Universal Pictures for a feature-length Bruno movie.

Ali G. gave the graduation address to the Harvard University class of 2004.

Cohen is engaged to Australian actress Isla Fisher.