Sacha Baron Cohen on why 2009 film Bruno left him ‘fairly traumatized’
"I vowed never to make another undercover movie again"
Words: Jamie Tabberer; pictures: wiki/Universal Pictures
Sacha Baron Cohen has said making hit film Bruno left him “traumatised”.
The actor portrayed the gay Austrian fashion journalist in the 2009 film, which grossed $138.8 million worldwide.
The undercover shoot involved dangerous interactions with unwitting US homophobes, including the Westboro Baptist Church.
“Whenever I heard a police siren, I would start to get tense”
Reflecting on the era to Variety, the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm star said: ““After ‘Bruno,’ I was fairly traumatized.
“For about six months afterwards whenever I heard a police siren, I would start to get tense, because I’d been chased by the police so much. I vowed never to make another undercover movie again.”
The star also discussed the inclusion of coronavirus in this year’s Borat sequel, saying: “Rather than run away from how the world was dealing with coronavirus, I felt we should lean into it.
“Borat is a fake character, played by me, in a real world. … If we got people to take their masks off, it would be a fake character in a fake world, in a manipulated world, so the basis of the comedy wouldn’t work.”
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