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Sacha Baron Cohen may be the star of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, but it was Maria Bakalova who emerged from it.
In this raucous farce comedy, now airing on Amazon, Bakalova plays Tutar Sagdiyev, the oppressed 15-year-old daughter of the incumbent Kazakh journalist portrayed by Baron Cohen. Raised in a barn and poorly educated by his unconscious father, Tutar finds a way to accompany Borat on his final trip to the United States, becoming both the bait and the co-conspirator in his father’s plans to deliver her. to Vice President Mike Pence.
Through many awkward encounters with unsuspecting brands – including a now infamous interview with Rudolph W. Giuliani – Tutar discovers his personal worth while drawing attention to the calm (and sometimes not so silent) misogyny that lies within him. surrounded.
This is a groundbreaking performance for Bakalova, a 24-year-old Bulgarian actress whose previous work in film and television (including the Italian crime drama “Gomorrah”) had yet to bring her the kind of acclaim. that we win to play a naive teenager who does not know that women can read, drive or masturbate.
As Bakalova explained in a Zoom conversation on Tuesday, she sees the sequel to “Borat” as fundamentally the story of Tutar’s education and liberation. “It’s a movie about how a girl can grow up and should grow up,” she said, speaking of Los Angeles, where she currently lives. “How can people treat you as not equal because you are a woman and what options you have.
For Bakalova, playing a leading role in a great American film is also a satisfying opportunity to honor her homeland.
“Things like that don’t happen to people like us Bulgarians,” she said. “Most of the time, there is finally a little, little extra part in a movie, two or three lines like a prostitute or a mobster. I will be really grateful to Sacha for giving this platform to an East European, to play a strong and complicated character who is not just a thing.
Bakalova spoke further about directing “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, her work with Baron Cohen, and her highly scrutinized scene with Giuliani. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
How was your education in Bulgaria? How did you start to play?
I started singing when I was 5 or 6 years old, then I started flute lessons. But at one point, I wanted to explore more. I wanted to escape reality. Because by taking action you can become anyone. You can do anything. You can live on Mars. I was truly obsessed with Scandinavian cinema and the Dogma 95 movement, and inspired by actresses like Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman – how strong they can be and the important stories they can tell.
Have you ever been a practical joker or prankster?
Actually no. I was a super disciplined kid. I read too many books. I was obsessed with Dostoyevsky when I was 15 or 16. When the first “Borat” movie came out [in 2006]I was 10 years old, so I never even watched it before they gave me the part. But even if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have understood it.
How did you come to be chosen in the sequel?
I heard from a friend that there was an open call for the lead role in a Hollywood movie. And I was like, it’s not possible. We are Bulgarian. No one can actually see us in the lead roles. I sent autotapes, then they called me for a screen test in London. But the project was so confidential, I was like, is this really a project? I was sure it would be a human trafficking situation. I had no idea I was going to meet Sacha – it was a surprise.
How did you prepare with him in London?
There were three days of screen testing. The first, we had a little rehearsal; the second, we started to work with real people. They had to believe that were real people, that we’re not actors, to make it work for the film. We had to stay undercover.
So it is you and Sacha who play Tutar and Borat together. Who were you playing opposite and how did you choose them?
It was in a house and there was a very nice old couple from England. And we attacked them madly. I’m not sure how they did it. At the same time, let’s not break the idea of how magic happens. Sacha is the person who knows how this whole machine works.
When you started making the film, how did Sacha describe the character of Tutar to you?
Sacha explained that Tutar should be as crazy as Borat, maybe even crazier. She should be completely disoriented – what’s right, what’s wrong – and through this journey she should learn to be a normal human. It’s a satirical movie, it’s overkill, but it made me think to myself what it would be like to live this life, even if it’s not. It would be like, would you be happy if people treated you that way – if your whole life purpose was to get married and live in a cage?
And how would her perspective be distorted by a sexist textbook that misinforms her about her own body?
The manual is a metaphor for how society and patriarchy ask us to behave and what people expect. Should I be ashamed of having my period? Should I be ashamed of having body hair? Should I be ashamed of being a woman? This is what Tutar believed from the start, and Sacha wanted to show that 2020 is a time when people should start treating each other equally.
When we first meet Tutar, she is in extremely poor condition. How did you approach these scenes?
It’s something like hypnosis. You just go there. We actually decided that I would grow my real body hair. LA is hot almost all the time. Anytime I had to wear a dress or a top you could see my armpit hair and my leg hair. It was pretty disgusting. My facial hair never grows. I did my best. But my eyebrows never grow. The facial part is due to my makeup artist, Katy Fray, but everything else is completely natural. It was so interesting when I finally shaved – I could feel the wind on my arms and legs.
Were there times when it was difficult for you to stay in character?
When Sacha starts doing his thing and you’re right next to him, he has that super serious face. I have to act like it’s the most normal thing ever. But he’s so funny. There were times when the scene was extremely funny and you just couldn’t stop laughing. This is bad, because people may have realized it was a joke. He taught me something to cross my fingers, to put pressure on my fingers, to stop laughing.
Were there any brands you sympathized with? Jeanise Jones, the woman hired as Tutar’s babysitter, was extremely nice to you – did you feel like you were cheating on her?
We spent maybe five, six hours with Jeanise and she’s the person you see on the screen. She is simply amazing. She’s not an actress – she just wanted to help Tutar and for Tutar to appreciate herself, to follow her dreams and to educate herself. We need people like Jeanise. She is an angel.
Have you ever felt that you were in physical danger?
Sacha, this is my non-biological father and he will be like this forever. So I trusted him from the start and knew he would never put me in a dangerous situation. At the same time, we had a security team that was able to save us in an instant. Maybe the scene where we were at the hotel and Rudy Giuliani called the police, I was a little afraid that something was going on. But luckily we escaped.
Did you know who Giuliani was before recording your interview with him?
I knew who he was because 9/11 is something everyone should know. It is one of the most difficult times in recent history. But I am not American, I am not getting into American politics. I don’t think I’m so informed about the situation in America and its political system. Sacha has lived here for a long time. I trust him.
How did you and Sacha prepare to shoot this scene?
We had talked a lot about different scenarios. How should I act, this way or that way? What should I do? What is smarter? But in all the scenarios, I was convinced that Ash would save me and that he would save the stage, so it’s not going to be a disaster. He’s my guardian angel.
Were you still nervous about filming it?
Yeah. I was nervous. My heart was pounding. But Sacha was like, you should be nervous in this situation. So use your nerves. Convert them and accept them and they will help you with everything.
Giuliani said that he was never inappropriate to you and brought his shirt back, but other viewers think he was doing something illegal. What happened in this scene?
[Laughs] I saw everything you saw. If you’ve seen the movie, this is our message. We want everyone to see the movie and judge for themselves.
But did you yourself come to a conclusion about what he was doing?
I think it’s my back [to the camera] there you can see what he’s doing in the mirror.
What do you think was going on? You are the only other person who was in the room. Did you have any other indication of what he was doing?
[Long pause] what you think he was doing?
I can see how either interpretation could be correct. But I was not there and you were. Do you have an opinion anyway?
Sacha jumped into the room quickly, because he was worried about me. So if he was late, I don’t know how things were going to go. But he came just in time.
Did Giuliani think Tutar was 15 when he agreed to do the interview?
I’m not the one booking these people, so when we get to the scene, I just do the scene, without introducing myself. I’m not sure what he knows or doesn’t know.
Giuliani has been widely mocked and criticized for being duped by you and the “Borat” filmmakers. Do you feel bad at all about it?
Movies like this show the true colors of people. It’ll show Jeanise’s true colors. It’ll show the true character of [Judith Dim Evans], the lady of the synagogue. This will show Rudy’s true character. You are responsible for your own decisions. So no, I don’t feel bad.
What have you since learned about the Americans living among them after the film’s release?
I was extremely happy to see how happy people were this weekend [following the presidential election]. Because in my country there have been years and years, through different systems, where people have not had the right to vote. Now that people are voting, and all over the streets, people were celebrating, crying, dancing and singing. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life. It was truly inspiring to see that there is, for the first time in history, a woman as Vice President. Like in the movie, women can do it all. And sometimes we can do better.
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