Sacha Baron Cohen Says Goodbye to Borat

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 22, 2007

For those of you looking forward to a Borat sequel, I have some deeply saddening news. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, actor and universally heralded funny-man Sacha Baron Cohen said that our favorite Kazakh journalist is gone forever.

“It is hard, and the problem with success, although it’s fantastic,” Cohen told The Telegraph. “Is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I ‘get’ with Borat again, so it’s a kind of self-defeating form, really.”

It appears that Cohen will also retire another of his alter-egos, Ali G. And as much as I loved Borat, I have to agree with Cohen’s assessment. A character like that cannot last long without it becoming a sham — it’s similar to if Bangbus had started out as a real business, then evolved into something completely fake with paid actresses. It just wouldn’t be the same after you were aware of the gig.

Thankfully though, there is still plenty of hope for a Bruno movie. Also, Baron Cohen is not going anywhere — as seen by his awesome bit role in Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd. As Borat would say, it was “Very Nice!”

For those who are going to get all sentimental over the passing of the great journalist, take a gander at Borat’s Wikipedia Entry.

Read more articles by Neil Miller