Did you find yourself pondering the level of co-incidence in Borat? Obviously the kidnapping Pamela Anderson thing was scripted -and that’s fine - but how did Sacha Baron Cohen know there’d be a Baywatch Annual at that woman’s yard sale? Is the whole thing scripted?

Well things are a little clearer after the three writers behind Borat - Peter Baynham (of I’m Alan Partridge and Fist of Fun fame) Dan Mazer and Ant Hines - sat down to talk with Written By (the official magazine of the Writers Guild of America, West) and spilled some Kazakhstani beans.

The basic idea is “scripted reality”, meaning that what you saw on screen wasn’t scripted line for line, though the situation has been pre-meditated.

Going back to the Baywatch Annual example, here’s a brief excerpt from the interview:

Sacha Baron Cohen: … it was crucial that the Baywatch Annual had almost the significance of the ring in Lord of the Rings. They have that scene where Borat’s alone in his room, and he wraps up the Baywatch Annual in a velvet cloth as if it’s the most precious thing in the world. And that gives the naked wrestling a lot more weight because Azamat is then desecrating this sacred object.

Ant Hines: There just happens to be a Baywatch Annual there at the yard sale. That woman genuinely thought it was her Baywatch. So after we came up with this Baywatch talisman, someone anonymous from our crew went in there and slipped the Baywatch Annual amongst her items she’s selling—

Peter Baynham: People thought it was staged. It’s not; it’s just this crafted story.

Dan Mazer: If we’d have written every part in it, then people wouldn’t buy it, execs would say, “Hold on, this is ridiculous, this could never happen.” But it did happen, and it’s real. If we’d literally transcribed the things that other people said, then it would have been a completely incredible story and incredible comedy to any studio executive who’d pick up that script.

Peter Baynham: Also, sometimes when you’re watching the tape you get the sense that a person clicked halfway through but played along with the gag.

Dan Mazer: You throw that stuff out because if they’re playing along, you think, This is cheesy, it’s horrible, and I don’t believe it.

Click here for the complete Written By interview, which is about 5,000 words long and contains some great info.

via Cinematical and Movie City Indie

Popularity: 1% [?]