'Borat' Filmmakers Win Legal Battle
The makers of Borat didn’t deceive a driving instructor and two etiquette teachers into appearing in the goofy comedy, a federal judge in New York has ruled.
Because the three signed a release agreeing to appear in a “documentary-style” film and accepted compensation, they have no cause for complaint about the way they were portrayed in the movie, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska held last week.
The movie featured British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen “playing an uncouth and anti-Semitic journalist” as he traveled around the U.S. in pursuit of Baywatch star Pamela Anderson and performed gag interviews along the way, recounts Sky News.
At one point, he is lectured by one of the etiquette instructors that it is impolite to discuss feces at the dinner table, notes the BBC.
The quirky film was a hit, and several of those who appeared in it apparently got more publicity than they felt they had bargained for.
Other unsuccessful suits also were filed by two South Carolina college students, who claimed they were plied with alcohol before they signed the releases and told the movie would not be shown in the U.S., and two Romanian residents who claimed they and their neighbors were falsely depicted as criminals, according to the news agencies.
