The “voice of da yoof” is back. According to The InSneider, Sacha Baron Cohen has completed work on a new Ali G movie. It’s unclear where the project will land, and Cohen’s spokesperson declined to comment, but we should be keeping an eye out for this one. Given the film’s surprise nature, it was shot in secret, but Cohen was reportedly spotted filming scenes in character last year in and around Oxfordshire, England.
The character first appeared nearly thirty years ago (seriously??) on Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show. He was later featured in Da Ali G Show alongside the comedian’s other two famous creations: Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev and gay Austrian fashion enthusiast Brüno Gehard. The show ran for four seasons from 2000 to 2004. This also isn’t the character’s first movie, as he also starred in Ali G Indahouse, which was released in 2002.
The basic premise of the character is that he’s a faux-streetwise poseur who frequently bewilders his guests—who have ranged from celebrities and political figures to other well-known people—with ridiculous questions.
Some of the people Ali G has interviewed include Buzz Aldrin, Gore Vidal, David Beckham, and even Donald Trump.
I would imagine that this new Ali G movie will likely receive a more positive reception from fans than Cohen’s last movie. Ladies First found him playing a male chauvinist who finds himself in an alternate world where the social power dynamics between men and women are reversed. The film was released on Netflix in May and was largely trashed by critics, including our own Alex Maidy.
“Ladies First feels like a prime example of why we cannot have nice things,” he wrote. “Studios and filmmakers pass on comedy movies more and more, and it is mediocre excuses for originality like this that we can blame. Ladies First wastes a phenomenal cast on a concept that could have been engaging and humorous, but instead opts for surface-level gags and a redemption arc that never rings true. Sacha Baron Cohen had more insightful things to say as Borat than anything in this movie. Ladies First is not only a waste of time but also undermines the actually important conversations about gender disparity that it could have done something to advance.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.