He (Rudy Guiliani) claimed we were trying to extort him at the time, which we didn’t ask for anything. He called all of his New York City cops and said extortion, which was a federal crime. Very smart to bring that up.
Monica Levinson, Producer.
Releasing Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, fourteen years after its predecessor Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (or simply Borat), was faced with a lot of controversies. Former New York mayor, Rudy Guiliani attempted to have the film’s crew arrested after his infamous scene in the movie with newcomer Maria Bakalova who plays Borat’s daughter Tutar.
Tutar pretends to be a reporter interviewing Guilani and retreats him to the bedroom where he reaches down his pants. Just then he is interrupted by Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen). This scene raised criticism for Guiliani nominating him for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor.
According to Deadline, producer Levinson claimed at a Producers Guild of America panel on Saturday that the crew had been locked out of the hotel suite in which the scene was shot. Yet, they managed to sneak the footage out.
“That’s always out first,” Levinson said. “We would hide tapes in our pants. There are always ways to make sure we got out the data.”
Levinson also added how during the filming of the first film, she had spent 19 hours in jail and wished to spare her crew members from a similar fate.
“We ended up confabbing with our lawyers,” Levinson stated. “I called the production team and said, ‘Let’s get everyone to New Jersey tonight.’ It was 11 o’clock at night. I didn’t want a repeat of what happened to me in the first movie happening to the entire crew.”
Bakalova, the actress who played a 15-year-old at the age of 23, has also been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Read also: The complete list of nominations for the Oscar 2021