Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, aside from being exhilaratingly stacked with revealing moments of laugh-out-loud preposterousness, is also notable for introducing the world to the talents of Maria Bakalova.
On Monday, the 24-year-old Bulgarian creative—who brilliantly brings to life the character of Borat's daughter Tutar in the Amazon Prime sequel—marked her first late night appearance with an interview on James Corden's Late Late Show. While Bakalova has previously appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, that appearance (alongside Sacha Baron Cohen) was in character as Tutar.
"I like to live here right now but I'm at the same time looking at—it's not a good thing—but [COVID-19] actually saved me because you're wearing masks so I haven't experienced the thing where people recognize me," Bakalova told Corden when asked how her life has changed since the movie landed. "So I'm kind of worried [for when] COVID-19 doesn't exist and people don't wear masks. They will be probably recognizing me." Women, she joked, might greet her in a Tutar-esque manner.
All told, roughly 600 other actors auditioned for the part of Tutar before Bakalova was selected. Speaking on the audition process, Bakalova revealed she initially thought the entire set-up was fake.
"A friend of mine showed it for, like, a joke because I was extremely scared that this was something sketchy," she said. "It's not a real audition. They're going to try to, like, do human trafficking on me." For her first tape, Bakalova says she improvised a bit about praising one's father for being the "best dad" due to his habit of providing his daughter with cigarettes and alcohol.
When her family was finally able to watch the Borat sequel, Bakalova said, the immediate reaction to the character of Tutar was tears.
"My mom FaceTimed me after she watched the movie and she was so sad," Bakalova said. "Her eyes were, like, full of tears. She was crying for maybe two hours and because she's kind of masochist, obviously, she watched it twice and she was even more sad."
Bakalova also briefly discussed the "nerve-racking" experience of shooting the film's notorious Rudy Giuliani interview. Catch the full thing up top.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is out now on Amazon Prime.
