Brüno

[MacGuffin]

Report: Bruno Infiltrates Downtown L.A. Trade Convention
Source: Defamer

From virtually the moment Universal threw $42 million at Sacha Baron Cohen for Bruno, his Borat follow-up, questions about whether a far more recognizable troublemaker would be able to hide behind a bleached fauxhawk and mesh shirt and goad homophobic Americans into hilariously intolerant reactions to his subtle, Austrian-accented invitations to sodomy. So how is the Bruno team tackling the problem of Baron Cohen's fame? According to an operative, by waving his bedazzled microphone right under our noses here in L.A.. His report on the star's new faux-documentary shenanigans follows:

"I was at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles today for a luncheon hosted by the Foreign Trade Association, and lo and behold, Sacha is there as our favorite gay Austrian Bruno!!! His get up is a little different than it was on the Ali G show. No mohawk with blond highlights, no tight t-shirt. He's dressed in leather pants, black vest and a black t-shirt. The hair is kinduva flock of seagulls/sad boy from the cure look - rusty brown hair mopped over to one side and the tips are a frosty blonde."

"Obviously you had no idea what was going beforehand...There were several signs warning you that a documentary is taking place. I actually signed the release sheet to be interviewed. I was first told that it was about "world trade" and then when I asked again, I was told it was about American culture and world trade. I didn't really care cause they gave me 20 bucks and I thought it was going to be something about trade. Clearly, 99 percent of the people had no idea who he was. I could only wish I could hear what he was saying in the interviews. Sacha had about 10 people with him. Three people running around with releases to sign, 4 camera people, a blonde haired producer watching the whole thing and a frazzled old dude with string salt and pepper hair checking the sound at the other end of the ballroom. At one point he started freaking out and telling the producer "I don't have any fucking sound! Get that guy back for another interview! I don't hear shit!" They were obviously trained to deal with someone catching on, because as soon as I realized who he was (and I wasn't very good at hiding my surprise) his staff were on me like lindsay lohan to a line of coke. I tried a couple times to take a picture with my cell phone and they kept blocking me and telling me please don't take a picture. At one point they had someone following me making sure I couldn't get off a picture. The guy told me "Dude give it up, you've trying all day. It's not gonna happen." If I was really gung ho, I'm sure I could have taken one, but he's hilarious and I didn't want to make a scene and screw up his gig."

Sadly, our spy couldn't get us that cameraphone shot (we're just glad his attempts didn't end in an ugly stun-gunning by Bruno's handlers), but if the production continues to go guerilla at the downtown World Trade Week events, maybe someone will capture Baron Cohen's new look before security shuts him down.

[Pubrick]

They were obviously trained to deal with someone catching on, because as soon as I realized who he was (and I wasn't very good at hiding my surprise) his staff were on me like lindsay lohan to a line of coke.

dumbass. obviously that was going to happen. the only way to deal with a real life bruno encounter is to play along, and NOT be a fucking douche bag trying to get his autograph/picture. playing along and getting into the film is a bigger achievement than whatever this douche had in mind. and then maybe secretly sneaking a pic without making a scene wouldn't be that hard.

[MacGuffin]

Baron Cohen buries Borat, resurrects Bruno
But can the successful British comedian make us laugh at the gay Austrian fashionista? Universal hopes so.
By Aaron Lee, Los Angeles Times

On Dec. 21, in an interview with the UK's Daily Telegraph, actor Sacha Baron Cohen announced the retirement of his two most popular alter egos -- hip-hop wannabe Ali G and Kazakh journalist Borat. Not everyone was heartbroken by the news. To begin with, there's the multitude of people pranked by his feature film, 2006's "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"; Baron Cohen has jokingly estimated the number of resulting lawsuits as "about 3,000."

But even his harshest critics would probably admit that no one in the comedy game can match Baron Cohen's chutzpah (who else could have unleashed the "Borat" movie months after Mel Gibson's DUI arrest, making it safe for Americans to laugh at brainless anti-Semites again?). And if "Borat's" $128-million box-office take is any indication, his reckless style of humor has more admirers than detractors these days. One fan is Steven Spielberg, who has reportedly signed Baron Cohen to portray 1960s political trickster Abbie Hoffman in the upcoming "Trial of the Chicago Seven," scripted by Aaron Sorkin.
 
Before that, Baron Cohen will unleash another feature film starring a character from his now-defunct HBO pro- gram "Da Ali G Show" -- this time, it's Bruno, his gay-fashionista-from-Austria creation. "Bruno's" deal is already the stuff of Hollywood legend: Universal paid a hefty $42.5 million for the project.

To think it all started with a pair of sly idiots, Ali G and Borat.

Ali G first gained a following in the 1990s by duping interviewees on Britain's "11 O' Clock Show," a late-night program that also launched the career of "The Office's" Ricky Gervais. Gervais, Steve Coogan and Baron Cohen's other contemporaries followed in the British comedy tradition of intelligent men doing stupid things.

Ali G, however, had more in common with American humor of the day -- when stupidity is so all-encompassing that it takes on sublime logic. (Think Homer Simpson; every Will Ferrell role; and perhaps Eminem, whose misogyny, homophobia and general cartoonishness made him dangerously close to a real-life Ali G.)

Borat Sagdiyev was an even earlier creation. His primal incarnation was a prankish audition tape that caught the eye of UK television's Channel 4 and landed the young Baron Cohen his first high-profile gigs. At that point, the character was an Albanian reporter named Kristo. Compared with the twisted depths he would eventually plumb, early Borat wasn't that far removed from Andy Kaufman's sweet-natured "Foreign Man."

It wasn't until Baron Cohen revived Borat for the original British version of "Da Ali G Show" that the man from Kazakhstan showed his true colors. He was now a genial bigot with a raging libido (one of several aspects that some claim Baron Cohen appropriated from Mahir Cagri, an early Internet cult star). Borat was able to express horrible sentiments with childlike earnestness -- best summed up by his Barney the Dinosaur-like refrain, "I like you. Do you like me?" The juxtaposition made him supremely quotable; not even four seasons of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" produced so many inescapable catchphrases.

Although Bruno remains a very funny, well-crafted creation, it's hard to imagine him finding the same success as "Borat." In his eulogy for Ali G and Borat, Baron Cohen admitted that international stardom has made it difficult to fool people. And Bruno may be a hair too smart to have the same blunted impact as his schizoid brethren, who were aggressive, unsubtle and great in short bursts -- ideal comedy for the Internet era. To memorialize these dimwit icons, here are 10 great moments that made viewers shout "Booyakasha" and "Jagshemash" . . . or call their attorneys. Respect.

10. Andy Rooney Interview ("Da Ali G Show," Season 2). Someone finally has the guts to toss Ali G out the door. Who else would it be other than "60 Minutes' " elderly curmudgeon? You can almost hear Rooney's blood pressure spike when Ali G asks, "Is it because I's black?"

Very Nice Quote: "Has journalists ever put out tomorrow's news by mistake?"

9. Borat's Sister ("Da Ali G Show," Season 1). Borat attends a wine-tasting with a pair of older gentlemen. After one too many, he produces a stack of Polaroids of his "beauty queen" sister ("She wants to move to U, S and A"). The jaw-dropping payoff is unforgettable.

Very Nice Quote: "We make a joke! We pretend to be husband and wife!"

8. United Nations ("Da Ali G Show," Season 1). Ali G tours "the United Nations of Benetton," with representatives from "the three corners of the world." The highlight is a chat with former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who seems genuinely amused by such questions as, "Is Disneyland a member of the U.N.?"

Very Nice Quote: "Big-up yaself, Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Respect."

7. Kazakhstan vs. Borat. Borat's greatest piece of living theater took place off-camera. Representatives of the actual Kazakhstan battled him in the media (Borat responded with a press release of randomly-arranged Cyrillic letters); on the Internet (the suspension of his website, www.borat.kzi) and even at the White House (Borat arrived at the gates one day before an official visit by Kazakh President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev).

Very Nice Quote: "[Kazakh] women can now travel on inside of bus."

6. Noam Chomsky Interview ("Da Ali G Show," Season 2). Baron Cohen clearly loves playing with the English language. To see Ali G share a mangled discussion with the famed linguistics professor and political activist is surreal, hilarious -- and so Chomsky-esque.

Very Nice Quote: "Me know loads of words: Parachute, photograph, spaghetti . . . "

5. Dropping Science ("Da Ali G Show," Season 1). This panel segment of "Da Ali G Show" brings together doctors, a futurologist and a creationist to discuss "techmology" ("Is it good, or is it wack?"). It all ends with the creationist struggling to defend his bathroom habits. A perfect example of the way Baron Cohen mocks the dumbing down of our culture -- by dumbing down our culture.

Very Nice Quote: "So you's saying we ain't come down from monkeys. Has you ever eaten a banana?"

4. Naked Wrestling Match ("Borat: Cultural Learnings . . .") Borat and his "producer," Azamat (Ken Davitian), engage in a full-frontal brawl over their mutual love of a Pamela Anderson bikini photo. Later, Borat will claim he can still taste Azamat on his mustache. P.S. "Borat's" screenplay got an Oscar nomination.

Very Nice Quote: "How dare you make hand-party over Pamela!"

3. Pat Buchanan Interview ("Da Ali G Show," Season 2). No other exchange better displays Baron Cohen's gift for leading his victims into Abbott and Costello-style lunacy. Ali G wants to know if Saddam Hussein does indeed possess weapons of mass destruction, " . . . or, as they is called, BLTs." It's hard to tell if Buchanan's just playing along, or if he truly is concerned about what Ali G calls "a war over sandwiches" -- with or without mustard gas.

Very Nice Quote: "So how long was you president for?"

2. In My Country, There is Problem ("Da Ali G Show," Season 2). In front of an audience of Tucson locals, Borat and His Cowboy Astoni-Band perform an original composition. The lyrics are viciously anti- Semitic. But what comes off more offensive is the crowd's enthusiastic response, singing along with glee. A dark, amoral bit that's as disturbing as it is funny.

Very Nice Quote: Too hurtful to be repeated here.

1. The Star-Spangled Banner ("Borat: Cultural Learnings . . ."). Borat hogties a sacred cow. In January 2005, Baron Cohen made headlines when he attended a rodeo in Salem, Va., and butchered the "Banner." The result was the tuneless debut of Kazakhstan's national anthem ("All other countries are run by little girls"), and the "Borat" movie's definitive set piece.

Very Nice Quote: "May you destroy their country so that for the next thousand years, not even a single lizard will survive in their desert!"

[MacGuffin]

Universal bumps 'Bruno' to July
Comedy to go up against 'Beth Cooper'
Source: Variety

Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" is going to be fashionably late.

The Universal film will now open July 10 instead of May 15.

July slot became unexpectedly available last week when Sony announced it was pushing back the release of Roland Emmerich's actioner "2012" to Nov. 13.

"Bruno" won't have the runway to itself in its new date. Cohen's pic will go up against 20th Century Fox comedy "I Love You, Beth Cooper," directed by Chris Columbus.

On the flip side, the May box office is jampacked with tentpoles, while July is somewhat quieter. Wherever it plays, however, "Bruno" will look to serve as counterprogramming.

[MacGuffin]

Sacha Baron Cohen's Outrageous 'Bruno' Makes 'Borat' Look Tame
By Rodrigo Perez; MTV

Must ... resist ... urge ... to ... wax ... hyperbolically. ... Failure ... appears ... imminent. A jaw-on-the-floor wow. Sacha Baron Cohen has done it again, delivering another WMD slam dunk of hysterically subversive mocku-comedy.

Universal Pictures screened 22 minutes of "Brüno" during the SXSW Fantastic Fest. In the movie, Cohen assumes the character of the flamboyantly gay Austrian TV reporter from his famed "Da Ali G Show," and from what we could tell from those glorious and deliciously wrong-yet-oh-so-right clips, Cohen has pushed the button to push all buttons. The stakes are higher, and Cohen seems to be flirting with a more dangerous powder keg of humor, the likes of which we've never seen before.

"Brüno" somehow makes "Borat" look like child's play, upping the ante on Cohen's aggressively offensive, squirm-worthy hilarity. With a recorded introduction by Cohen himself, the transgressive, outrageous and, at times, stunning footage was broken up into three sections: baby interviews, a fake Jerry Springer-like Texas-based talk show and the Ultimate Fighting Championship face-off (more on these in a sec). In describing each scene, the comedian revealed much of the film's plot. He also noted that all the gut-busting scenes were being shown in a longer form than they would be in the final theatrical version (i.e. with more painfully prolonged exposure to uncomfortably uproarious funniness than doctors would normally recommend).

From what we can recall — our minds being blown and all — Cohen's Brüno character is fired from his job for blowing an Italian fashion-show segment. Distraught, he goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming the "most famous Austrian star since Adolf Hitler." As already rumored, in an attempt to fit in with Tinseltown celebrities, Brüno and his boyfriend/assistant David adopt a baby from Africa, which Brüno carries around to appear chic and trendy (a move that seems intended to dis the Madonnas of the world). At some point in the film, Brüno and David split up and he loses custody of the child. Depressed, he tries to reinvent himself as the most aggressively heterosexual man in America to regain custody.

1. The baby interviews: Brüno wants to create an elaborate photo shoot for his newly adopted baby and auditions mothers interested in having their babies appear in the shoot. Interviewing a host of parents, he asks if the babies would be comfortable working with animals ranging from bees to Komodo dragons to snakes. So desperate are the parents to have their children cast, they agree to all of his ludicrous suggestions. Would the babies be OK with being "thrown from a building"? Would they be at ease around "amateur science"? Would the child be comfortable speeding around in an automobile without a car seat? Could they just "wing it"? The mothers consistently reply that each task would be fine. Brüno even suggests to one mother that her 30-pound baby should lose 10 pounds within seven days, and she replies that this is doable. She even suggests that she would consider lipsocution if the baby should fail to lose the weight. Brüno then congratulates the winning mother and tells her that the baby will be dressed up as a Nazi pushing a Jewish baby into an oven. And you thought Borat pushed buttons? "Brüno" obliterates the button with wicked aplomb.

2. The Texas-based talk show "Today With Richard Bay": Brüno appears on a Jerry Springer-like talk show to flaunt his new baby to a mostly African-American audience. He baits the females in the audience, telling them he can get any black man he wants and can easily steal their men. The comedy and anger seem to rise in tandem. After taunting the audience with voguing, posing and boasts of homosexual prowess, Brüno eventually brings on his baby, O.J. (as in Simpson), dressed in little cut-leather chaps and a black T-shirt that has "Gayby" written on it. The audience is aghast when he claims that the baby is a "real dick magnet" and was traded in Africa for an iPod, but a special, pimped-out version — "not just any old iPod," he assures them. The coup de grace is a clearly Photoshopped (thank heavens) photo session of gay hot-tub antics with the baby in tow. The segment ends with the State Child's Service Department coming in and taking the "illegally" adopted child into protective custody. The Austrian has to fight off security in a hysterical rage.

3. The Ultimate Fighting Championship face-off: At this point in the film, Cohen's once ostentatiously homosexual reporter has turned militaristically heterosexual and has created a UFC-like show called "Dave's MAX Out," giving us our first peek at Straight Dave, the newly invented Brüno. Mustachioed, hirsute and decked out in camouflage gear and an outback hat, Straight Dave parades around the ring to AC/DC's "Back in Black," while male spectators cheer him on. This is the gay-loathing party to end all gay-loathing parties. Of course, Straight Dave's uüber-machismo does a 180 right into homoerotic overtones, but this goes over every audience member's head as SD rips female stagehands' clothing to reveal skimpy bikinis.

Then the footage takes a spectacular turn for the worse (better). Think of the scene in "Borat" in which Cohen sings the National Anthem at a Virginia rodeo to an audience that is with him initially and calling for his blood by the end. Brüno is suddenly called out during his show as a "f—-t," and an appalled Straight Dave challenges the person who yelled that to step into the ring and fight him. We're not really meant to know who his challenger is, but clearly, it's his ex-boyfriend. They violently fight, pummeling each other bloody, but eventually the former couple, as you can probably guess, patches things up, passionately making out and groping each other to the sounds of Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." It is a sensational moment in cinema not to be forgotten soon. Of course, the outraged audience freaks out, and one glorious slow-motion shot captures an overzealous red-faced fan crying.

The footage ended with Cohen addressing the audience one last time, asking if we liked what we'd seen. If so, "buy a f—ing ticket." The film's take-no-prisoners approach was breathlessly funny, but no doubt some will ask: Has Sacha Baron Cohen gone too far? "Brüno" hits theaters July 10.

[MacGuffin]

Baron Cohen's 'Bruno' Slapped with NC-17 Rating
Source: Cinematical

We've heard a lot about the unbelievably ridiculousness of Sacha Baron Cohen's new mock-gotcha flick Brüno (which is sorta like a sequel to Borat, but with another one of Baron Cohen's over-the-top characters), and so the news that it's received an NC-17 rating upon its first run through the MPAA shouldn't be all that shocking. According to The Wrap, that's exactly what happened -- and it was due to scenes where Baron Cohen (as Brüno ,the gay Austrian fashion reporter) "appears to have anal sex with a man on camera." Another "problem scene", according to The Wrap, comes when Cohen "goes on a hunting trip and sneaks naked into the tent of one of the fellow hunters, an unsuspecting non-actor."

Universal confirmed the NC-17 rating by noting: "On its first submission the film did not receive an R but it is far too early to say that there is any struggle to get there as the process is only at its inception." Since Universal won't release a film that's rated NC-17 -- especially because they know this sucker will make a ton of money for them assuming it gets its R rating -- you can bet Baron Cohen will be forced to cut or trim the scenes the MPAA deems not appropriate and leave them for an unrated DVD. So fear not, friends, this will find its way to theaters -- it'll just take a little more time to hash out the ratings snafu. That said, Brüno should still make its July 10 release date.

[RegularKarate]

TRAAIIIIIIILER!

I don't know how to find the original link because I'm at worked and blocked from everything, but I got this through Johah Ray's blog:

http://jonahray.tumblr.com/post/92329686/the-bruno-trailer-comedy-hangover-here-i

[modage]

i'm still really excited for this, but the trailer did nothing for me.  i'm not into the music or editing at all.  even the titles bug me a bit. 

[Stefen]

It looks fucking stupid. Why did he change the Bruno look? He was perfect in the show because he looked just like a normal dude who would be doing something like that, here he looks like a caricature of himself. I guess he had to or people would know him, but still.

[SiliasRuby]

I guess he had to or people would know him...

Thats the exact reason

[picolas]

i'm pretty sure it's just a poorly edited trailer. they were clearly trying to force as many situations into it as possible without spending much time in any of them. the sex and the city bit is the funniest and it's also the only bit that isn't cut up for time.

[Gold Trumpet]

I thought the trailer was funny. The OJ line is still making me laugh. Considering they only used like 3 or 4 scenes from the entire film, you can tell it's a very premature trailer. Even could be considered a teaser.

[©brad]

i'm pretty sure it's just a poorly edited trailer. they were clearly trying to force as many situations into it as possible without spending much time in any of them. the sex and the city bit is the funniest and it's also the only bit that isn't cut up for time.

The "that's such a Samantha thing to say" line made me liz in my pants.

[Kal]

Yeah that trailer it's not as funny but this movie will be great. I'm actually happy the trailer was crappy and I will try not to watch more trailers or footage. I remember that by the time I went to see Borat on opening day I had probably seen half the jokes, and most of the funny ones already.

[MacGuffin]

'Bruno' will be rated R
Sacha Baron Cohen film dodges NC-17 bullet
Source: Hollywood Reporter

"Bruno," the new collaboration between director Larry Charles and Sacha Baron Cohen, which Universal will release July 10, has been rated R by the MPAA's rating board.

The movie, in which Baron Cohen plays a gay Austrian fashionista who confronts Americans of various stripes during a cross-country trip, follows in the wake of the R-rated "Borat," which was released in 2006.

There was a brief flurry of media speculation last month that the movie could earn an even more restrictive NC-17 rating. But in reviewing the movie's final cut, the rating board opted for an R-rating, which means that anyone under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

In explaining the R-rating, the board cited the movie's "pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language."