Sacha Baron Cohen says the FBI “started compiling a file” about him during Borat.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s character Borat had a knack for creating hilarious reactions from strangers thanks to his outrageous behavior, but Cohen didn’t expect the FBi to start following him.
While appearing on WTF with Marc Maron, Cohen went into the history of making both Borat and Bruno, including a surprising amount of legal trouble he ran into while making Borat.
Cohen specifically recalled filming Borat and riding around in the character’s ice cream truck with the movie’s producer Azamat (Ken Davitian).
“[The FBI] got so many complaints there was a terrorist traveling in an ice cream van,” Cohen explained. “So the FBI got so many complaints that they started compiling a little file on us and eventually they came to visit us at the hotel. I obviously went missing when I heard because they were like ‘FBI’s downstairs. Sacha, disappear.’”
But that was not the only time Cohen had run ins with the law. Cohen explained several other incidents, which often resulted in him, his crew, and his family, having to flee whatever state they were in. And the actor didn’t always make it out safely.
“We hire a guy and his job is, he’s a bit like [The Brothers Grimsby’s] Nobby, actually… his job is to prevent me from being arrested,” he explained after saying Kansas police had already warned the Bruno movie crew that he would be arrested should anything happen. Of course, during filming, the cops were called, and this bodyguard directed Cohen to jump out a window to avoid them, causing him to break his heel and temporarily shut down production on the film.
Listen to the full episode to hear more from Cohen about the many legal issues he’s faced during his many films, including even former Prime Minister Tony Blair having to call the actor because of how the movie affected England’s relationship with Kazakhstan.
Cohen can next be seen in The Brothers Grimsby, which hits theaters on March 11.
