Monica Levinson, producer of Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, said Rudy Giuliani’s infamous scene was even more distressing for filmmakers after the former mayor left the hotel room.
The film features a scene in which Giuliani goes to the hotel room with Maria Bakalova after an interview, seeming to expect sexual intercourse. Giuliani denied that it was what he was doing.
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“He claimed that we were trying to extort him at the time, which we didn’t ask for,” Levinson said on a panel at the Producers Guild of America on Saturday. “He called all of his New York cops and said extortion, which was a federal crime. Too smart to bring that up. “
Levinson said the hotel locked the Borat crew out of the suite where they filmed the Giuliani scene. Fortunately, they had already moved the footage out of the room.
“It always comes out first,” said Levinson. “We would hide the tapes in our pants. There are always ways to ensure that data is collected. “
However, the crew was unable to remove the equipment from the hotel room. They had more scenes to shoot the day after Giuliani.
“We actually had to rent new equipment,” said Levinson. “It was a very stressful period that night because the hotel wouldn’t let us take anything out of the rooms.”
Levinson said he spent 19 hours in prison while filming the original Borat: America’s Cultural Learning to Benefit the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. She wanted to spare any of the crew members the same experience, if Giuliani was successful.
“We ended up talking to our lawyers,” said Levinson. “I called the production team and said, ‘We’re going to take everyone to New Jersey tonight.’ It was 11 o’clock at night. I didn’t want what happened to me in the first film to happen to the whole team ”.
Bakalova was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Borat’s daughter (Sacha Baron Cohen). Bakalova was 23 when he filmed the interview with Giuliani, but his character was only 15.
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