HOLLYWOOD – Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” may have grossed more than $100 million at the box office, but can the British comedian pull off another “mockumentary,” this time in the guise of a gay Austrian fashionista?
Universal Pictures has bet $42.5 million that he can.
Before “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” became a box-office sensation, Universal agreed to pay the hefty premium for the actor’s next film, “Bruno,” which it will market and distribute. 20th Century Fox, the studio behind “Borat,” turned down the project, deeming it too expensive.
Universal may already be feeling buyer’s remorse. The studio is not scheduled to release “Bruno” until 2008, but a flurry of lawsuits filed against Fox and the “Borat” filmmakers have led to predictions by some legal experts that Universal could become a target, too. Some everyday people featured in “Borat” claim they were duped into believing they were participating in a documentary about American life rather than a spoof that they claim made them look foolish.
And the legal issue may not be the only challenge Universal faces with “Bruno.” Given all the publicity surrounding “Borat,” Cohen may now be too well known, some say, to fool enough people into taking “Bruno” as seriously as is required to make the film work.
“He is going to have a real tough time making “Bruno” and so is Universal,” predicted Donald C. Fagan, a New York attorney representing two Romanians who are suing Cohen, 20th Century Fox and several others connected with “Borat” for alleged civil-rights violations.
“The cat’s out of the bag,” Fagen said.
Universal declined to comment but studio officials have indicated they plan to move forward with “Bruno.”
“Borat” was successful in part because of Cohen’s believability as a Kazakh “journalist” and the participant’s belief that the interviews he conducted for the film were legitimate. For “Borat,” Cohen and a crew posing as his Kazakh news team roved the country interviewing such figures as the head of a Southern rodeo, New York feminists, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr and conservative pundit Alan Keyes. Fox agreed to let the filmmakers create several phony production companies to convince unsuspecting interview subjects that they were taking part in a real documentary.
Like Borat, “Bruno” is a recurring character in Cohen’s “Da Ali G Show” a series that has its origins in Britain and was popularized in the United States when HBO did its own version of the program. In the show, Bruno is an aggressively gay interviewer prone to wearing see-through clothing and tight-fitting pants. In one interview on “Da Ali G Show,” Bruno asks an Arkansas pastor who claims he converts gays into heterosexuals, “Have you ever taken a walk on the brown side?” and “Why is being gay so out this season?” Clips of Bruno have been widely circulated on such Internet sites as Google Inc.’s YouTube.
Under the deal, Universal will buy “Bruno” for $25 million and pay Cohen and producer Jay Roach an additional $17.5 million, according to people familiar with the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the financial terms are confidential. Cohen’s agents negotiated the type of deal that few stars receive nowadays. Cohen, who owns the rights to the “Bruno” character and movie, also will receive 15 percent of the box-office gross before the studio recoups its expenses, these people said. Cohen also has complete creative control, including final cut and the ability to pick the director.
The “Borat” lawsuits have added another layer of complexity for Universal.
“Once you have a high-profile situation and you have lawyers circling around, your risk factor is higher,” said prominent entertainment litigator George Hedges, a partner in Los Angeles at the firm Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart, Oliver &Hedges.
Fox is facing off against several well-known attorneys such as Fagan and Los Angeles celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred. Fox maintains that the lawsuits have no merit and that the release form signed by the participants noted the film would be in “documentary style” for worldwide release.
While the spotlight on “Borat” seems to have brought Cohen fame, some pundits say the exposure has not been wide enough to ruin the punch line for his next spoof. And that is what Universal is counting on.
“We tend to think that everybody in the culture is plugged into Borat, but they are not,” said pop-culture critic and historian Neal Gabler. “Even though he seems to be omnipresent, there are many people who do not know the culture of Sacha Baron Cohen and everything he represents.”
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