Sacha Baron Cohen reveals how Rudy Giuliani Borat scene was almost ruined by a phone

Actor opened up about the logistics of filming ‘Borat 2’'s most notorious scene

Sacha Baron Cohen has revealed how the infamous Rudy Giuliani scene in his Borat sequel nearly went wrong because of an oversight.

As has been widely reported, Baron Cohen’s comedy Borat Subsequent Moviefilm features a lengthy scene in which Giuliani – Donald Trump’s personal attorney and advisor– is filmed interacting with Borat’s daughter, Tutar (played by Maria Bakalova), in a way that many have deemed inappropriate.

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the comedian divulged how the sequence was filmed without Giuliani’s knowledge – and how it almost went awry.

For the entirety of the scene, Baron Cohen was concealed in a “hideaway in the wardrobe, which was about 6ft 5in and 3ft”.

He said: “My only means of communication… the idea was that I would jump out at the necessary point and I would communicate, I would know what he was doing via text messages with the director – because I had no eyes on anything.”

The 49-year-old went on to explain: “Rudy thought he was alone with her. He brought a cop with him – an ex-policeman – and the policeman does a sweep of the entire hotel suite.

“And I'm obviously running to get in there and jump in the hideaway. You know, pull this thing shut and I've got a little internal lock, and it's pitch black in there.”

He continued: “[The ex-policeman] does a sweep and leaves the room and the security guard sits outside the room ensuring that no one could come in and out  – which is actually even more scary when you think about it for her [Bakalova].”

Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, and Rudy Giuliani at a White House press conference in September (Amazon/Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

The actor previously said that he was “quite concerned” for his co-star as she filmed the scene in question.

“But the only thing was, so we'd built this hideaway, we're all fully prepared, I get in the hideaway, his security guard does the sweep, looks in the wardrobe, there's nothing untoward,” he said. “The interview starts and I switch on the phone and there's only three per cent battery!”

Baron Cohen expressed his disbelief at the situation: “I thought: Hold on, we've got Rudy Giuliani, we've got the president's lawyer, we've got this scene, this is the climax of the movie, and no one thought it might be worth charging the phone?”

Fortunately for the film, however, the phone’s battery managed to hold out.

The scene in question shows the former mayor of New York City being “interviewed” by Borat’s daughter Tutar, after which she invites him up to her hotel room for a “drink”.

In the room, which is rigged with hidden cameras, Giuliani is seen reclining on a bed as he fiddles with his shirt and reaches into his trousers, in the presence of Bakalova. 

Guiliani has addressed the controversy, claiming that the clip is “a complete fabrication”. In a tweet, he wrote: “I was tucking in my shirt after taking off the recording equipment."