A Georgia newspaper publisher has revealed how he and his daughter thought they were starring in a new movie about cotillion only to be duped into being part of Borat 2.
Will Davis, the publisher of the Monroe County Reporter, said he was contacted in February to be part of a movie scene about a girl from Eastern Europe attending her first cotillion.
Davis’ two teenage children took cotillion classes where they learned etiquette and how to waltz and fox trot and friends asked them to take part in the movie scene.
Davis and his 18-year-old daughter Abby thought it seemed like a good idea as all they would have to do is dress up, dance, enjoy free food and they’d get paid $50 each.
When the big filming day finally came they were shocked to find a father and daughter duo from Eastern Europe acting ‘wildly’, flashing the crowd and accosting the guests, before they realized they were being conned.
Monroe County Reporter publisher Will Davis revealed he and his 18-year-old daughter were duped into being filmed in Borat 2. They were asked to dress up and dance in a scene about a cotillion, only to be humiliated by Sacha Baron Cohen and the Borat 2 cast
In the build up for the film, the movie company asked Davis and his daughter to take a short online quiz that tested their knowledge on pop culture and asked if they were familiar with figures like Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen and Mike Huckabee. Davis said he could only identify Huckabee.
Then came the in-person interview with several representatives from the film studio who asked them about their jobs and families and asked them to sign a waiver.
On filming day the father-daughter duo headed to the Hay House in Macon.
‘On the big night, I sucked in my gut, strapped into my tuxedo and off we went,’ Davis wrote in a piece for the Monroe County Reporter, which he owns.
Davis said they were asked to turn into their cell phones which gave them ‘cold sweats’ and he noticed a slew of armed security guards around the building.
Borat 2 follows Kazakhstani character Borat Sagdiyev’s journey to the US where he presents his daughter at a cotillion ceremony in the South
Davis said he believed the storyline of the movie was about an Eastern European girl trying to make her debut in Southern society at the cotillion ceremony. Sacha Baron Cohen and Irina Nowak pictured above in the trailer for the movie entering the cotillion
‘The father was tall, had a long nose and was acting wildly all night prancing around in a long coat. He accosted me as we waited in the presentation line and yanked out a Georgian-English dictionary and was pointing at words wildly trying to tell me something,’ Davis said
The father-daughters duos were split into two teams, A and B.
Davis said he was on team B and they were asked to wait while Team A filmed in the ballroom and greeted special guests including two girls and their father from the Eastern European country Georgia.
‘Word spread around the Hay House that the storyline [of the movie] was that a young girl from the country of Georgia had dreamed of making her debut in the American South. She and her father had arrived and would be filmed interacting with local dads and daughters,’ Davis said.
Davis said he felt something was strange when he tried to step outside the venue and was stopped by an armed guard.
‘What do you need?!’ the guard demanded.
Davis replied ‘Uhhh, just getting some fresh air’ and eerily began to feel like ‘a hostage’.
Finally Team B was called to the ballroom for the cameras where Davis and the rest of the dancers finally got to meet the foreign guests.
Cotillion attendees reacted with shock upon seeing the special guests’ ‘wild’ behavior as they ‘pranced’ around
To wrap up the night the producers announced the Georgian guests wanted to perform an Eastern European folk dance. ‘Suddenly the “daughter” lifted her hoop skirt, gyrating and revealing no underwear,’ Davis said
The guests reacted with shock when the actors performed their dance and the “daughter” lifted her skirt
‘The father was tall, had a long nose and was acting wildly all night prancing around in a long coat,’ Davis wrote.
‘He accosted me as we waited in the presentation line and yanked out a Georgian-English dictionary and was pointing at words wildly trying to tell me something,’ Davis said.
He noted the strange man continued to act bizarrely with other fathers and daughters as the cameras rolled.
‘There were reports that he was trying to ask some of the fathers a “price” for their daughters,’ Davis said.
To wrap up the night the producers announced the Georgian guests wanted to perform an Eastern European folk dance and began dancing side by side in sync before the daughter shocked the dance floor.
‘Suddenly the “daughter” lifted her hoop skirt, gyrating and revealing no underwear,’ Davis recalled.
Shocked audience members marched to the checkout desk and demanded their phones to leave.
‘My precious daughter and I walked out into the cool Macon night with mouths agape wondering what had just happened,’ Davis said.
‘Of course our cotillion friends, having been hoo-dooed into hosting the charade, were humiliated and apologetic,’ Davis said (pictured with one of his daughters). He said while he wasn’t mad about being pranked into being part of the film, ‘I will laugh a lot harder if we get the last laugh on November 3’
Later that night a friend called Davis and said the crazy Georgian guest at the ball was actually comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, the actor behind the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
The friend discovered that everyone on Team B was asked in the online quiz if they could not identify Cohen.
‘Cohen’s modus operandi seems to be trying to embarrass and shock southern conservative audiences on film,’ Davis wrote.
‘Of course our cotillion friends, having been hoo-dooed into hosting the charade, were humiliated and apologetic,’ Davis added.
The sequel Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan will release on October 23 on Amazon Prime
In September Davis learned that Borat 2 had reportedly finished filming and it was said to be a mockumentary where Baron Cohen went incognito to interview and shock unsuspecting Americans.
Davis was then mortified to see the Borat 2 Trailer released earlier this month and to see himself and his friends being duped on camera.
‘The trailer was released and there we were clapping like trained seals for Cohen and his “daughter,”‘ Davis said.
‘I have no real problem with Borat getting a laugh at our expense. I find some of his stuff pretty funny,’ Davis said.
‘I will laugh a lot harder if we get the last laugh on November 3,’ he added.
Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan will release on October 23 on Amazon Prime.