Yahoo Movies Borat 2 almost featured a woman pranked in first movie's yard sale scene
Borat 2 – officially titled Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – saw Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy creation Borat Sagdiyev return to the big screen 14 years after he first shocked the world with 2006's original Borat.
Despite the fact that so much time had passed between the two Borat movies, the sequel actually almost ended up featuring a real person who was pranked in the first movie once again, completely by chance.
Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova, who played Borat's teenage daughter Tutar, spoke about the unlikely encounter to The Hollywood Reporter, with Bakalova revealing that the discovery actually caused a change in filming plans in order to keep their cover.
Speaking about the scene which she felt most anxious about filming, Bakalova said that she really felt the nerves during a scene in which she spoke at the conservative women's centre.
Related: Sacha Baron Cohen was 'scared' Borat 2's Rudy Giuliani scene would get worse
"I was alone in a group of women," she explained. "Originally – Sacha, please correct me if I'm wrong – he was to be with me."
Baron Cohen went on to explain that the change had to be made because one of the people at the centre was actually the very same woman who had featured in the yard sale scene in the first movie.
As his encounter with her was memorable to say the least, the actor had to stay away from the centre to avoid being recognised by her.
"Just before shooting, a producer recognized one of the women from Borat – it was the woman at the yard sale. I mean, the likelihood of that is unbelievably small," he said. "And I had to tell Maria, 'Slight change of plan: You're doing the scene alone.'"
Related: Borat 2's most shocking moments - did they really happen?
Bakalova admitted that although filming without her co-star was nerve-wracking, she took his advice to "use that energy, the fear and the adrenaline" in her performance.
"That was one of the first weeks of shooting," the actress said. "I was like, 'What should I do?' They did my makeup, I cried, they fixed my makeup, I cried. I called Sacha on FaceTime, and that was the first time he told me: 'Use that fear.' And I listened to him because he is genius."
Considering how bizarre her first encounter with Borat was, the yard sale lady will probably be relieved to hear that she avoided facing him again.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is available to watch now on Amazon Prime Video.
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