Sacha Baron Cohen is increasingly controversial, increasingly outlandish and, depending on who you talk to, increasingly funny.
The British comedian has made a career out of creating larger than life characters who also make appearances in the real world (see Ali G at this year’s Oscars). Some of his scenes will be forever burned into the minds of readers and reviews from Grimsby suggest his latest film will be no different. He also doesn’t respond well to authority or being told what to do (again, see Ali G at the Oscars). However, despite largely doing what he wants regardless of the consequences, he revealed in a Reddit AMA that he does have one regret.
This was something he didn't do, however, not something he did do, while in the character of Bruno, a flamboyant fashion journalist.
“I was on this Australian late night talk show, and the talent booker had made a massive mistake. He booked the Australian Prime Minister on the same talk show. I was doing Bruno, and I had a strip tease routine fully planned, including tearaway pants and this g-string. And my intention was to lap dance the Prime Minister of Australia, and stick my crotch in his face. It would have been an international incident, and probably would have got me barred from Australia. But, unfortunately, I wimped out of doing it, and eventually was also barred by his own security.”
He also highlighted one memorable incident that proves he really does do what he wants. In 2009, his character Borat gave a press conference outside of the Kazakhstan embassy while claiming to be a representative of Kazakhstan, much to the embarrassment of the Kazakhstan government.
“I tend to do whatever I want when I'm publicising a movie. In Cannes, it was my idea to go in a green thong on the beach and surround myself with some girls. And when I was publicising Borat, the studio did not want me to stand outside the Kazakhstan embassy and deliver a press conference, but because I own the characters, I have the freedom to do whatever I want with them. So, I managed to avoid the normal boring press junkets that other actors are forced to do. And of course, pretend that they enjoy.”
