Litigious Rudy Giuliani — Filmed With His Hand in his Pants — Tried to Get 'Borat' Crew Arrested
Rudy Giuliani didn't like being punked by Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova. He told the police he was being extorted by the film crew of "Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm" in the film's now-infamous hotel room scene.
The Daily Mail reports producer Monica Levinson "opened up" about the Golden Globe-winning film crew's interactions with Giuliani while speaking on a Producers Guild of America panel on Saturday.
In the film, Bakalova plays Borat's 15-year old daughter, then impersonates a foreign press reporter who interviews Giuliani in a Manhattan hotel room. "As Bakalova helped him take off his microphone, Giuliani reclined on a bed and appeared to put his hands down his pants before he was interrupted by Sacha Baron Cohen's titular character, who screamed: 'She's 15. She's too old for you,'" writes the DM.
Bakalova and Cohen left the room when Giuliani called the police. Explaining why he had undone his pants while on the bed, he claimed he was merely tucking in his shirt, not doing anything untoward.
On the PGA panel, Levinson explained, "He claimed we were trying to extort him at the time, which we didn't ask for anything. He called all of his New York City cops and said extortion, which was a federal crime. Very smart to bring that up."
The hotel subsequently locked the film crew out of the room, but before they had secured the footage, writes Deadline. To film additional scenes that day, the crew had to rent more equipment that remained sequestered in the hotel room.
"Levinson recalled spending 19 hours in jail during the filming of the original 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan,'" adds Deadline. "She wanted to spare any of her crew members the same experience should Giuliani succeed."
"We ended up confabbing with our lawyers," Levinson said. "I called the production team and said, 'Let's get everyone to New Jersey tonight.' It was 11 o'clock at night. I didn't want a repeat of what happened to me on the first movie happening to the entire crew."