Sacha Baron Cohen Upsets People Of Grimsby With New Movie

Sacha Baron Cohen won’t be given the freedom of the town of Grimsby any time soon, by the sounds of it.

The ‘Borat’ star is currently filming his new comedy movie named after the Lincolnshire port, but some are angry that he’s painting the town in a negative light.

[Read more: Sacha Baron Cohen shows off his latest look for new movie Grimsby]

Cohen is filming scenes for the film not in Grimsby itself, but in Tilbury, Essex, parts of which have been transformed into a rundown version of Grimsby.

Litter has been strewn in gardens and streets, with graffiti painted on walls for filming, while during other scenes residents are seen urinating out of windows and children being offered beer.

19-year-old Bethany Casey told the Thurrock Gazette that the transformation in Tilbury, with some shops now boasting new Grimsby-based signage, confused her.

“I’d been away for two weeks and came back last night so confused because all the shops had changed and said Grimsby on them – I thought I was drunk,” she said.

[Read more: Steven Spielberg ‘Jurassic Park Hunter’ meme fools Facebook users]

“I tried to get to the off-licence and thought ‘what’s going on here?’ so I went to the other one further down and noticed a run-down park had sprung up – but I didn’t think anything of it because, if they did put a new park in Tilbury, it would get wrecked straight away.”

The plot of the movie finds Marc Strong’s black ops secret agent having to go on the run with his estranged football hooligan brother, played by Cohen.

But North East Lincolnshire Councillor Matthew Brown told the Mail Online he is worried about the impact the film may have on the town.

“It is using the town’s name in potentially a poor light,” he said.

“What also worries me is that there is no benefit to the local economy which is carrying the town’s name.

“Anything that you associate with football hooliganism is going to be negative, but I hope people will be open-minded when they watch the film.”

Cohen is, of course, no stranger to offending the residents of the locales he has used in his movies.

'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' was initially denounced in Kazakhstan, the homeland of his buffoonish TV presenter, and banned from being shown.

However, some years later, Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov praised the film for attracting tourists to the region, after a massive uplift in visa applications.

The residents of the gypsy village of Glod, in Romania, which stood in for Kazakhstan in some scenes in ‘Borat’, were less charitable, however.

They said they had been lied to by the filmmakers, who they claim had led them to believe the film was a documentary about the poverty in the area.

Instead, they were angered to be portrayed as incestuous and ignorant, and attempted to sue the producers of the movie for £22 million.

One resident of the town said: “If I see Borat, I will kill him with my own hands.”

The case was eventually thrown out of an LA court.

Meanwhile, it’s recently been announced that Penelope Cruz has joined the cast of ‘Grimsby’, playing ‘a philanthropic corporate leader’ with hidden secrets.

She joins Ian McShane, David Harewood, Johnny Vegas and Baron Cohen’s wife Isla Fisher in the movie.

It’s due out on July 31, 2015.

Read more on Yahoo Movies:

Movie Studio Logos: What Do They Mean?

Rik Mayall’s Harry Potter Role That No-One Ever Saw

22 Disney And Pixar In-jokes That Will Blow Your Mind

How Long Was Bill Murray Stuck In Groundhog Day?

The Most Pointless Uses Of CGI Effects In Movie History

Image credits: WENN