Development premiere of the first film in 2006. Baron Cohen was initially hesitant to make a sequel, killing off his character in 2007 and only resurrecting him in 2018 for voting ads.
Rupert Murdoch announced in early February 2007 that BaronCohen had signed on to do another Borat film with
20th Century Fox, distributor of the first film. BaronCohen later claimed that Borat was to be discontinued, as he was now too well known to avoid detection as he did in the film and on
Da Ali G Show. A spokesman for Fox later stated that it was too early to begin planning such a film, although they were open to the idea. In 2014, he brought back Borat for the
FXX series
AliG: Rezurection, a compilation of the sketches from
Da AliG Show with new footage. He also briefly appeared as Borat in December2015 on an episode of
Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote the film
Grimsby and again in November2018 to encourage Americans to vote in that year's
midterm elections. In the two years leading up to the release, the film's star became more concerned about being politically active, giving speeches and interviews in-person to combat racism; he insisted on releasing the film immediately before the
2020 presidential election to provoke alarm among Americans about a slide into
illiberal democracy. Like several of Sacha BaronCohen's films, the score is composed by his brother
Erran Baron Cohen, in addition to other original recordings by Romanian Balkan band
Fanfare Ciocărlia and their version of "
Just the Two of Us"; Canadian roots musician Adrian Raso performing "Urn St.Tavern".
Filming at the 2020
American Conservative Union CPAC, shortly before BaronCohen interrupted his speech. Filming did not begin until Tutar was cast; Bakalova was chosen for the role among 600 actresses who auditioned. She initially sent in a tape of her acting for an unnamed Hollywood movie she suspected may have been a
human trafficking scam, but she ended up going to London to rehearse with BaronCohen, convincing her that this was a real opportunity.
Ken Davitian, who portrayed
Azamat Bagatov in the first
Borat, was offered the opportunity to reprise his role, but did not sign on because the producers would not tell him that the film was a
Borat sequel. An early prank filmed in late 2019 involved a farcical interview with
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, followed by a trip to an
Arlington, Texas driving range; the scenes were cut from the film but appear in the trailer. In February2020, BaronCohen was spotted dressed up as
Donald Trump, interrupting the
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), although his true identity was not revealed at the time. That same month, BaronCohen traveled to
Macon, Georgia, to trick attendees of a fake
debutante ball, telling the organizers at the
Johnston–Felton–Hay House that he was filming a
coming-of-age story. He was briefly pulled over by a police officer for having Bakalova riding on the roof of his vehicle; body cam footage clearly shows he was identified as himself the comedian, as opposed to his character. The crew also attended
Marietta-based Temple Kol Emeth to film the scenes with Evans. The production made at least two visits to upstate South Carolina to film at a bakery, crisis pregnancy center, and Halloween supply store. On June 27, 2020, Cohen performed
pranks at a gun rally in
Olympia, Washington, leading attendees to sing along with racist lyrics to an original song, and interviewed members of the crowd. When demonstrators picketing the rally recognized BaronCohen and began laughing, the crowd and organizers realized they were being pranked and quickly turned violent, but were slowed from storming the stage as security had been hired by the
Borat team. Eventually, BaronCohen and his crew were forced to flee in a private ambulance, with BaronCohen having to physically hold the door shut as members of the crowd tried to break in. News media quickly learned about the prank but speculated it was for a new season of
Who Is America? The following month, he was spotted in Los Angeles dressed as Borat and filming, leading to speculation from the public that BaronCohen's next project was a
Borat sequel. During two days of filming, BaronCohen was required to wear a bulletproof vest due to the possible threats of the scene. In early September2020, rumors began to circulate claiming that the film was completely shot, assembled, and screened for
film industry executives; the title was originally leaked as
Borat2: Great Success and then
Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan, where the latter was used as one of the title cards. On September20, a prank involving Bakalova infiltrating the
White House and being interviewed by
Chanel Rion of
One America News Network was filmed but cut from the final release. The village sequences set in Kazakhstan were shot in
Romania (specifically the commune of Valea Albeștiului in
Albești,
Mureș County), but not the same village as the previous film after negative feedback from the villagers. Romanian actors were hired for a few parts. The film was shot on 72 different cameras, including both high-end
cinema cameras and
smartphones. The production utilized simple
codecs to mimic the look of the original movie. The
Arri Amira and
Alexa Mini were the
A, B, and C cameras, accompanied by lesser cameras for
hidden,
robotic, and low profile applications, including
iPhones.
Titmouse, Inc. produced animation services. ==Release==