Being married to Sacha Baron Cohen sounds pretty eventful, at least on the level of wondering what he’s doing next as Borat or one of his other characters.
Isla Fisher has been with the actor since 2010, making Borat 2, or Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the first time she had to experience him in real-time as the Kazakh reporter. And while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Fisher explained how it works while her husband is preparing for his over the top sequences, saying:
“Luckily he doesn’t really tell me when he’s going to do super dangerous stuff until he’s done it. It’s not a normal question of ‘Did you pick up the dry cleaning?’ or ‘What did you shoot today?’ It’s like he’ll say ‘Yeah, we went to a gun rally,’ or ‘I was almost arrested.’ I don’t really have to worry about it, but I do like to be involved. I watch all the cuts of the movie.”
It does seem, then, that it’s agreed between the couple that knowing less about the details of what Baron Cohen is doing is probably best when he’s shooting as Borat. Given some of the scenes in the sequel, many of which could easily spill over into danger for the performer, Fisher has arguably chosen the less stressful option compared to being closely involved in filming them.
However, the Australian actress did take part in the editing process for Borat 2, including a joke for the debutante ball scene that didn’t end up making the final version of the movie. From her comments, though, it does seem that Fisher is used to dealing with Baron Cohen’s unique roles and the situations that they put him in. Not to mention that she’s also an accomplished performer herself with comic chops.
If you haven’t yet seen it, Borat 2 is definitely worth a watch over the holiday season, from putting Rudy Giuliani in a (rare) unflattering light, to the breakout performance of Maria Bakalova. Indeed, it was one of the most successful digital premieres of 2020, despite drawing similar controversy to its 2006 predecessor. Whether Baron Cohen will return to the character again is another question, but at least Isla Fisher seems to be prepared for anything that he might come up with as he tests reactions across America.
