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BoratOnline Interview - October
2006
I gave these answers to a journalist from a
French magazine...
1. What is the purpose of your site and when
did you start it?
It's just a fan site I did for the Borat character.
I started it back in March 2000. I was just getting
into the Internet and was mad keen on doing websites
for things I liked. I also wanted a professional
looking website for my CV.
2. Why did you choose Borat and not the other two
characters?
At the time Ali G was huge in the UK and there were
loads of Ali G fan sites, everyone was wearing Ali G
hats and doing Ali G impressions. Even the Queen
Mother and Prince Harry and William were reportedly
into Ali G. I sat and watched the first Borat
episode and I remember thinking that I thought Borat
was a little bit more special.
In terms of Bruno, I think he's absolutely brilliant
(or should I say fabulous?) but by then I had the
Borat site.
3. Do you think the audience can really take
offense of what this guy is doing? I noticed that
you actually feel the need to defend his method in
the FAQ section of the Website. Why?
Some people do actually take offence and there has
been some well documented criticism recently. What I
would say though is that most intelligent comment
from the right and left wing press has completely
"got" the satirical nature of the Borat character.
Recent articles in both The Telegraph and The
Guardian have praised Sacha Baron Cohen.
I guess the reason I feel the need to defend Borat
in the FAQ section of my site is to pre-empt some of
the critical emails that I would receive.
4. To your knowledge, does Sacha Baron Cohen
often appear as himself to answer questions about
his work and methods?
His appearances out of character are quite rare. I
can think of a few though, he appeared on US shows
by Robert Siegal, John Stewart and Howard Stern.
Saying that, most of his appearances have been in
character as Ali G or Borat.
5. My feeling is that what he does is becoming more
and more risky, even dangerous, 1/ because he really
can infuriate people & 2/ because he is so often 'in
character' that he may take this whole thing too far
and lose perspective. What is your opinion on that?
I don't think so. I think that some members of the
Kazakhstan embassy are even starting to see the
funny side and are quite pleased at the amount of
awareness that is being generated about Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh ambassador to Britain said "People in
Kazakhstan laugh at the same things as people laugh
at everywhere in the world". He went on to say that
the film could actually be good for Kazakhstan "I
believe that all publicity is good for business, so
indirectly people are encouraged to explore the
country for themselves".
The Kazakh press secretary Roman Vasilenko actually
made a joke about Borat, "He is not a Kazakh. What
he represents is a country of Boratastan, a country
of one".
Even the president's daughter defended the Borat
humour -
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/04/21/borat-kazakhstan-defence.html
6. Do you know what language Borat actually uses?
A mixture of Polish and Hebrew I believe with some
Russian words thrown in for good measures!
7. When you did the interview with Dan Mazer, was
he reluctant to talk about the real Sacha Baron
Cohen?
Not at all, he was more than pleased to talk about
the "behind the scenes stuff". For example, how
Sacha gets a little nervous before an interview but
then gets "in the zone" when it starts. Dan said
that the bigger the occasion, the more brilliant he
is. Sacha actually believes he is Borat through
those moments. It's an interview that really is open
and honest and gives a great insight into what goes
on behind the scenes.
8. Do you think SBC can carry on doing these
impersonations or do you think he needs to reinvent
himself completely?
I asked that very question to Dan. At the time he
mentioned they were taking a break from Ali G and
were going to focus on Borat. He also mentioned that
there are other characters on the horizon. From my
point of view, I definitely think there is another
film in Borat - maybe a trip around Western Europe
following the success of his trip around America.
I'm not sure what Borat would make of countries that
eat frogs' legs and snails though!
9. Would you rather meet Borat or SBC?
Once the movie is out I'd like to maybe get an
interview with Borat on the site if possible. Maybe
a few months later I'll try and get one from Sacha.
If the Borat character eventually does die off, then
it would be nice to have a couple of good interviews
with the main man on the site.
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