Maria Bakalova's rise to fame in Hollywood is as unexpected as it is refreshing, and her latest movie The Honeymoon is proof that the comedic chops everyone fell in love with during Borat Subsequent Moviefilm are still intact. The young Bulgarian actress has been busy since her Oscar nomination last year, not only starring in the A24 horror hit Bodies Bodies Bodies but also helping to produce the Bulgarian film Triumph, in which she will also star.
It was in fact The Honeymoon that first gave Bakalova a true taste of the work that goes into a film behind the scenes, and her passion for the project is evident both onscreen and off. She plays Sarah, a newlywed who hopes to enjoy a stress-free honeymoon with her husband Adam (Pico Alexander). She soon learns, however, that their troublesome friend Bav (Asim Chaudry) is along for the ride—and he manages to get them in trouble with a handsome mobster named Giorgio (Lucas Bravo, Emily in Paris) in record time.
Screen Rant spoke to Bakalova about how her passion for acting has developed into an interest in producing thanks to The Honeymoon, why she never thought she could do comedy before Borat, and what she took away from her Guardians of the Galaxy experience.
Maria Bakalova on The Honeymoon and More
Screen Rant: You seemed like you had a great time filming The Honeymoon. What first brought you to it and made you want to be a part of it?
Maria Bakalova: I cannot stop smiling right now seeing that you have a poster behind you. It's been a little bit over a year since we filmed the movie and now, seeing it come to life? It's something that makes me really excited, happy, proud, and smiley.First of all, I was filming Bodies Bodies Bodies with A24 at the time when the script came to me. I was like, "Gosh, I'm covered in blood, mud and water. It's April in New York, it's freezing cold, and this situation [onscreen] is so traumatizing to imagine." Then I had this beautiful script about a couple and their best friend filming in Venice and Rome, and I was like, "I cannot wait to jump on a Zoom call."Then I saw that it's Dean Craig, who did Death at a Funeral, which is a great movie. We jumped on a Zoom call, and we started talking and talking and talking, discussing the movie and the script. It's a romantic comedy, but we got sucked into the discussion of [Russian novelists like] Dostoevsky and Gogol, and all of these dark writers. I was like, "It's gonna be spectacular to be filming with him." I asked who he was thinking about [casting], and we got into the idea of bringing this international cast together.I was just so excited to be able to play a person from my region of the world, an Eastern European woman, in a romantic and positive light. Usually, you fall into the stereotype of being the hooker or the spy, which is still kind of cool if it's developed enough, but usually it's just on the side with two or three lines here and there. Having this opportunity to portray someone romantic and elegant and feminine has been a dream, and I hope it opens more doors for women like me and for girls from that region of the world—because we also can be nice. [Laughs] Everything fit perfectly with the idea of what I wanted to do next.
You have not one but two gentlemen vying for your attention in this film, and Lucas Bravo spends a lot of time with you as Giorgio. How do you think Sarah's feelings about evolve over the course of the film, and what was that dynamic like to play?
Maria Bakalova: Gosh, it's so freakin scary to even think of being in that situation. He's a charming character, but we see him being this gangster and discussing how he got involved with that. It's just pretty much to please his father, and we all can relate one way or another to trying to please our parents, meet their expectations and continue their work somehow. Not that it's an excuse, but you can [understand] him because he's still a young person. He can pursue his dreams if somebody is there to push him.And then on top of everything, my husband bringing his weird best friend on our honeymoon, who pretty much caused the situation of me being a hostage. "Am I doing the right thing right now? Is this real?" I'm happy that we have this in the script because she is a little bit confused. Should she go for it? Should she stick with her husband? We all try to be proper, and we always judge on morality, but we all probably have a thought about, "What if...?" And we've explored a little bit of that.I think Sarah fell into a situation of, "What if?" Because Giorgio is genuinely a nice person, he's just in the wrong circumstances. But he's treating me nicely; maybe much nicer than my husband, who is the love of my life. But fortunately enough, she comes to her senses that there is a reason she chose exactly that person to spend the rest of her life with.
Understandably, Sarah is very annoyed by the situation with her husband and Bav. But I have to imagine that it's much less annoying behind the scenes. How much fun did you have with Asim Chaudhry and Pico Alexander on set?
Maria Bakalova: I love those two so much. Believe me, I was counting the days [until] the movie came out so we can actually talk about the situations and relationship it, because they're so freaking funny. Asim is completely one of a kind. I got to work with Sacha Baron Cohen, who is very well known for improvisation and being daring, and Asim is doing a similar thing with People Just Do Nothing. He's exceptionally talented and funny. And he does it with such finesse; it's hilarious to be around him because he seems dead serious.Pico was an incredible, extraordinary actor as well. The combination of the two of them makes me feel like I'm the third wheel here— as Sarah, not as Maria. I see them as my brothers, so it's been amazing. It's been a dream, and I'm really hoping that we're gonna get to work together again. If not on something similar, then [at least] with the same people. Because it's precious when you find people that are not only great artists, but also great beings. And those two are spectacularly good.
You mentioned Sacha Baron Cohen, and I loved your work in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. That film opened doors for you in the US in terms of comedy, while Bodies Bodies Bodies showcased some of your dramatic chops. Which direction are you trending toward in the near future?
Maria Bakalova: I'm coming from stage acting in the theater; that's my background mostly. By the age of 14, I fell in love completely with Danish and Scandinavian cinema like Dogme 95, and very dark dramas or deep psychological thrillers.Then Sacha came into my life with Borat, and I fell in love with the power of comedy. You can say so many things through the power of comedy, and I was extremely excited to explore more of that. I hope I get to work in the comedy world more, since I personally never thought that I could. I've never given been given a chance to do it before Sacha, so I'm looking forward for more [projects] like Borat. Hopefully some of them will be with Sacha as well because he's probably going to be my idol for the rest of my life. But also it's been interesting to work on horror films, especially with people like A24, who are exceptional. They're so intelligent and contemporary in everything that they're doing, and you can always recognize their signature on the things that they're putting together.Right now, I'm working on an action thriller; a war movie, so it's something completely different. It's very much about physicality, and I've never done that before. I'm training like a mad person at the gym and with some people in the army. It's very different, but I appreciate it as well. I'm in a position where I'm going to think about the movies I want to do in the future, not by the genre that they fall into, but the people that are involved. And hopefully, the scripts are going to be incredible. But even if it's not the best script, having great people who are going to be guiding the whole team means you can do great things.
And you are joining a whole host of excellent people in the MCU. We already got a hint of you as Cosmo in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, but is there anything you can say about GOTG Vol. 3 or your experience on it at this time?
Maria Bakalova: We tend to forget what happens in a child's consciousness and in their imagination, but somehow the power of believing in things that James Gunn has reminded me why I wanted to follow acting. It's this idea of escaping and being someone else and seeing things that usually you cannot really see in reality. So, Guardians of the Galaxy has been one of my favorite experiences, to be honest. I'm supposed to be voicing a character, but I couldn't separate myself from being around all of these people. I've just been lucky to be around good people, and it's been just wonderful to work with them.Guardians of the Galaxy was the movie that made me get excited about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and seeing all of these comics externalized. It's been spectacular, and I'm very happy and pleased that James did something important. He transformed the character of Cosmo into the original prototype of Laika, which was the first dog that was sent to the cosmos of space. It's been interesting, and I think she's going to be one of the beloved characters in the universe.
You're a producer on The Honeymoon, and based on the way you've spoken about it, it seems like you are very invested in the work that goes on behind the scenes.
Maria Bakalova: Maybe I'm just lucky and have a great team of people that are guiding me in the right direction. But I got to work with producers like Andrea Borella, Guglielmo Marchetti, Mario Mazzarotto, Daniele Mazzocca, Stefano Spadoni, and Piers Tempest, who have paved the way for me to be able to learn. As an actor, it has been always important to know what happens before you actually have the privilege to step on set. There's so much more work that we don't really know about behind the scenes, and we have to collaborate with all of these people to build a puzzle. Every single department has a different piece of the puzzle, and if you are managing to put the best pieces together, you're getting the best results.It's important to get the right DP, to get the right sound designer, the right sound mixer, and the right editor—one might save the movie or destroy the movie. It's pre-production, production, post-production, and so many things all at once. If you know how to build it properly, you can have a safe environment for people to create; not just perform or follow orders. Cameras have such sensitive eyes that, if you're having a good time, you can always read that on the screen. If you're not having such a good time, you can probably read that too. That's why it's important to work in a good place.I'm definitely excited about getting to work behind the scenes, and it's also important to have a creative voice. We all have seen and heard stories about people that have been hired to do something, and then things happen in a different way. They don't have the voice to defend themselves or have an opinion, so I hope that in the future, more and more women get behind the camera and help everybody. Not only help [other women], but everybody to feel safer and more appreciated. The more you appreciate people, the better they're going to do; that's something that I'm really passionate and excited to build.And then when you build it, when you finish, what do you do with it? How do you sell it? Who is the right audience? Was is the target; is it a teenage movie, or a festival movie, or a mixture between something commercial and critically acclaimed? It's very interesting.
About The Honeymoon
In this raunchy romantic comedy, Adam whisks his new bride Sarah (Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) to Venice for a honeymoon. But when Adam brings best friend Bav along for the ride, Bav causes one gross-out disaster after another. When charming gangster Giorgio falls for Sarah, he gets rid of Adam and Bav by sending them across the border on a drug-dealing mission. Can they outrun the Slovenian cops, dodge bullets from the baddies, and get back before Sarah gets a rich new mobster boyfriend? From the writer of Death at a Funeral and Love Wedding Repeat.
The Honeymoon is now available on digital and On Demand through Lionsgate.