SACHA BARON COHEN
It's Finally His Time
It’s been a great start to the new year for actor Sacha Baron Cohen. Last month the star showed up at the Golden Globes from the comfort of his home and accepted two wins, best actor and best picture – musical or comedy for his mockumentary Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. He also had a supporting actor nomination for The Trial of the Chicago 7, and the upcoming SAG Awards (April 4th) could give him another win. He has two nominations for portraying Abbie Hoffman in a supporting role and in the ensemble category for Chicago 7.
Baron Cohen wasn’t looking to reprise Borat but decided only his fictitious renowned Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev could lampoon Trump’s America and expose the depths of racism. Of course, he couldn’t resist taking a jab at Donald Trump during his acceptance speech for his refusal to accept the election results. “Hold on, Donald Trump is contesting the result, he’s claiming that a lot of dead people voted which is a very rude thing to say about the HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press).”
For a time, Baron Cohen was able to escape the trappings of fame by showing up at movie junkets and publicity events as Baron, Borat, Ali G, or one of his other characters. Did anyone know the real Sacha Baron Cohen? Probably not. During a comedy actors roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter Baron Cohen shared, “I was scared of becoming famous, but I managed to get away with it, I was lucky enough to have my characters to be famous, so for a few years no one actually knew what I looked like.”
It was 14-years ago The Trial of the Chicago 7 was in the planning stage with Steven Spielberg at the helm as the film’s director and Aaron Sorkin slated as the writer and the actors still unknown. “I knew about Abbie Hoffman from about the age of 20, said Baron Cohen during Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, “I kind of admired him and when I heard they were going to make Chicago 7, the director at the time was Steven Spielberg, and I called him up which is a slightly cheeky thing to do.” In the end, Aaron Sorkin took over as director, and Baron Cohen took on the role of political and social activist Abbie Hoffman. Aaron Sorkin told The New York Times that the day Sacha Baron Cohen shot his scene on the witness stand reminded him of Jack Nicholson’s courtroom scene in A Few Good Men, “Everyone wanted to watch, 120 extras didn’t care that the camera wasn’t on them, they stayed to watch.”
With two successful movies this year, Sacha Baron Cohen proves he’s just as potent in a dramatic role as he is playing his outlandish, larger-than-life characters.
