Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat sequel to hit Amazon Prime Video before US presidential election in November

A sequel to the comedy Borat has been purchased by Amazon Prime and is expected to hit the streaming platform before November's US election, a source familiar with the deal told AFP on Tuesday.

The movie will see British comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen reprise his cult favourite role as a bumbling and politically incorrect reporter from Kazakhstan, after nearly 15 years.

The project is reportedly titled: Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan.”

The 2006 original, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, grossed more than $260 million, winning over critics and spawning endless catchphrases among devoted fans. It even earned an Oscar screenplay nomination.

According to Deadline, the follow-up movie was shot covertly with a minimal crew as soon as coronavirus restrictions eased this summer in the US and overseas.

The original saw Cohen's fictional and homophobic journalist blundering across the US in search of cultural enlightenment— with the joke at the expense of Americans, who nevertheless lapped it up at the box office.

The sequel will again see Cohen "going undercover to get people to reveal their true selves and their often unflattering biases, with only the slightest provocation," the Deadline report said.

The controversial satirist's anarchic, gonzo-style comedy has spawned multiple celebrated TV and movie characters such as wannabe rapper Ali G and gay Austrian TV presenter Bruno.

Cohen — who also made the 2012 movie The Dictator starring himself as a Moamer Kadhafi-style despot — was recently seen pranking public figures in the TV series Who is America?

In one memorable scene from the show, Cohen hoodwinked Republican politicians into endorsing a made-up plan to train preschoolers in how to fire a gun, although the show drew mixed reviews.

Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential nominee and ex-Alaska governor, slammed the comedian's "evil, exploitive, sick 'humour.'"

Cohen plays a leading role in Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-tipped drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, streaming on Netflix next month.

by Agence France-Presse