Video: Sacha Baron Cohen talks fame, inspirations and retiring ‘Borat’

The multifarious career of Sacha Baron Cohen has taken another twist this year, with his first Oscar nomination for acting via his role as activist Abbie Hoffman in Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7.

It is one of two nominations for Baron Cohen at the 93^rd Academy Awards; he is also up for best adapted screenplay as one of the writers of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, having previously been nominated in the category for the first film in 2007.

The acclaim of the past year has marked a change for a performer whose characters’ fame previously far oustripped his own.

In the video above, Screen spoke with Baron Cohen about becoming a celebrity in his own right; fighting for democracy in an age of misinformation; finding his co-star (and fellow Oscar nominee) Maria Bakalova; and why this is the end for Borat.

A version of this interview which ran in Screen’s print magazine is available here.

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