Sacha Baron Cohen says he sees no purpose in doing Borat 3 at this point, saying the character is "locked away" for the time being. The British actor made a surprise return to the role of Borat for his 2020 sequel Borat: Subsequent MovieFilm, which was shot in secret during the coronavirus pandemic and released just ten days before the US election. Like most of Cohen's efforts, the movie attracted praise and controversy in equal measure, not least for a notorious scene involving former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Despite the controversy, though, the movie was, at its heart, a sweet tale which saw Borat go through a transformation, realizing he had been treating women, and his daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova) in particular, in a misogynistic way. Cohen has also gone on record saying that he made the movie to expose the hypocrisy at the heart of America, especially for the way it has veered towards the far right in recent years, electing Donald Trump as president. The sequel's success spurred many into believing that Borat 3 wouldn't be far behind, but Cohen has poured cold water on that idea.
In a wide-ranging interview with Variety covering how the sequel came about and his motivations for reprising the role, Cohen says he won't be playing Borat any time soon. The actor says the character was brought back after almost 15 years for a particular reason: to take down Donald Trump. Now that President Donald Trump has been voted out of office, he doesn't see a reason to make another movie featuring the iconic character. He ends by saying Borat is "locked away." You can read his full comments below:
I brought Borat out because of Trump. There was a purpose to this movie, and I don’t really see the purpose to doing it again. So yeah, he’s locked away in the cupboard.
The news will be a blow to Cohen's fans, hoping the sequel's success would see Borat 3 get greenlit quickly. This after Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm seemed to set up a third movie, focused on both the reporter and his daughter, now armed with her own microphone and journalistic experience. Disappointed fans can take solace from the fact that Cohen said similar things about Borat after the first movie was released, only to bring him back a decade-and-a-half later.
That might not happen again, though, as Cohen is pushing 50, and he has spent the past few years working on other projects, such as The Trial of the Chicago 7, which don't require him to put his own life in danger for the sake of getting footage. So, for now, at least, it sounds like we've seen the last of the often offensive but always entertaining Kazakh reporter, meaning Borat 3 is unlikely ever to see the light of day.
Source: Variety