Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
- The original script for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was written over a decade before production finally began in 2006.
- Larry Charles originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- During the filming of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is a 2006 British-American mockumentary comedy directed by Larry Charles, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev, a fictitious Kazakh journalist who travels across America with his producer Azamat, played by Ken Davitian, ostensibly making a documentary about American culture but actually attempting to track down and propose to Pamela Anderson after seeing her on Baywatch. Borat was a cultural earthquake โ Sacha Baron Cohen stayed in character throughout production, conducting real interviews with unsuspecting Americans whose reactions to Borat's outrageous racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism revealed uncomfortable truths about American prejudice and politeness. The film generated diplomatic protests from Kazakhstan, multiple lawsuits from participants who claimed they were deceived, and a cultural conversation about the boundaries of comedy.
The naked hotel fight between Borat and Azamat, an extended sequence of graphic, deliberately revolting physical comedy, was one of the most shocking scenes in mainstream comedy history. Borat earned $262 million worldwide on a $18 million budget and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
