Sacha Baron Cohen to play another Ali G alter ego
Article from: Agence France-Presse
September 10, 2007 11:00pm
SACHA Baron Cohen has secretly begun filming his new big screen spoof based on an outrageous Ali G character named Bruno.
The British funnyman is following-up his monster hit Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan with a feature film based on another of his politically-incorrect alter egos.
Cohen will play gay fashion reporter Bruno, one of the outrageous identities he introduced in his Ali G television series.
Production on the movie, which Cohen sold to Universal for a reported $50 million, is believed to have begun several weeks ago under a veil of secrecy.
There have been reported sightings of Cohen - in costume as the flamboyant Austrian television personality - attending low-key events around Los Angeles, accompanied by a small film crew.
Secrecy was paramount in the creation of Borat, with Cohen successfully hoodwinking people into believing he was a reporter from Kazakhstan who was visiting the US to do a serious report about American culture.
The film went on to top global box office takings and prompted several of the people unwittingly involved in the comedy hit to threaten Cohen with legal action.
As Cohen's profile has risen in the US following the success of Borat, it has become increasingly difficult for the 1.91cm-tall star to keep his identity secret as he films his new spoof.
Sources close to the production told News Limited that filming on the movie will take Cohen away from Los Angeles over the next few weeks, right as his fiancee - Australian actress Isla Fisher - is in the final stages of her pregnancy.
Friends of the couple told News Limited that they were planning to have the baby in LA, rather than return to his native London where they have a home in the exclusive suburb of Hampstead.
Fisher, 31, is due to give birth to the couple's first child in about five weeks and Cohen will take a break from filming to be by her side.
The former Home & Away starlet, who shares a lavish pad in the Hollywood Hills with the funnyman, recently told News Limited she had no plans to rush back to her movie career following the baby's arrival. "I don't want to put the pressure on myself to have to race back to something," Fisher said.
"So I'm just taking it easy and seeing how I feel."
Universal Pictures bought the rights to Bruno for a reported $55 million, with Cohen set to pocket a salary of about $16 million and 15 percent of the film's profits.
During Cohen's original television portrayal of Bruno, he duped everyday people and entertainment industry names to say ridiculous and often contradictory things.
Among the high-profile names to be successfully fooled by Cohen and featured on the series were supermodels Gisele Bundchen and Sophie Dahl, fashion designer Carolina Herrera and Hollywood hairdresser-to-the-stars Jonathan Antin.
To play Borat, Cohen spent six weeks growing body hair and a thick moustache while to become Bruno he has his hair shaved into a mohawk and his whole body waxed.
Bruno is being directed by English writer-producer Dan Mazer, who has collaborated with Cohen since he made his British television debut in 1998 on The 11 O'Clock Show as the spoof rapper Ali G.
The film is being produced by Hollywood veteran Jay Roach, who produced Borat and directed the three Austin Powers movies, Meet The Parents and Meet The Fokkers.
Cohen has also signed on to then star in Dinner for Schmucks, an English language remake of the French comedy Le Diner de Cons to be directed by Roach.
