Sacha Baron Cohen recently approached Elton John througha representative. Could he use 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight', John's hit song from
The Lion King, for apivotal scene in his forthcoming movie?
Bruno, an incendiary comedy set for wide release byUniversal Pictures this week, stars Baron Cohen as a flamboyantlygay fashion journalist from Austria. The filmmakers wanted to playthe song during a scene in which the title character, participatingin a cage-fighting match, pulls down his opponent's pants andkisses him on the mouth, prompting a horrified crowd to throwgarbage at him.
The answer was "no". John, along with Walt Disney, which ownsthe copyright to the song but seeks his approval in such matters,learned of the scene's particulars and blanched, according to oneof John's advisers.
But then John changed his mind — kind of. While he didn'twant his Disney song to be associated with the provocative scene,he agreed to perform part of another song that functions as a codato the film.
So it goes for Bruno, a movie that, in mercilesslyexploiting the discomfort created when straight men are ambushed byaggressive gayness, happens to (surprise!) expose homophobia. Gaygroups in the US are reacting with deeply mixed emotions,heightened by the recent triumphs (in Iowa) and losses (inCalifornia) in efforts to legalise gay marriage. Is the film thenvulgar, inappropriate and harmful? Or bold, timely and necessary?Or all of the above?
Ultimately, the tension surrounding Bruno boils down tothe worry that certain viewers won't understand that the joke is onthem and will leave the multiplex with their homophobiavalidated.
"Some people in our community may like this movie, but many arenot going to be OK with it," said Rashad Robinson, senior directorof media programs for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance AgainstDefamation. "Sacha Baron Cohen's well-meaning attempt at satire isproblematic in many places and outright offensive in others."
Holding the opposite view are people like Aaron Hickland, theeditor of Out magazine, who said he plans to put Baron Cohenon the August cover. "The movie does something hugely important,which is showing that people's attitudes can turn on a dime whenthey realise you're gay," Hickland said. "The multiplex crowdwouldn't normally sit down for a two-hour lecture on homophobia,but that's exactly what's going to happen. I'm excited aboutthat."
Bruno is not a lecture, at least not overtly. LikeBorat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit GloriousNation of Kazakhstan, the 2006 smash that starred Baron Cohenas an anti-Semitic Kazakh journalist, Bruno is first andforemost a raunchy comedy featuring a not-so-bright guy whoembraces sexism, racism and stereotypes as he happily goes abouthis business. Borat and Bruno are both familiar to fans of DaAli G Show, Baron Cohen's satirical TV show, which first ran inBritain in 2000 and began appearing on the ABC in Australia in2001.
Yet Bruno is also intended as a statement about what itis like to be a member of a minority in America in 2009. BaronCohen's malaprop-loaded antics are fictional, but the hate they canelicit from the people he encounters is ostensibly real.
The same was true of Borat, which some human rightsgroups also greeted with hostility. The Anti-Defamation League saidat the time that audiences "may not always be sophisticated enoughto get the joke".
Bloggers have given Bruno an unofficial subtitle:"Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of MakingHeterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a GayForeigner in a Mesh T-Shirt."
Universal won't discuss the filmmaking process, but the studioinsists that the vast majority of the people who appear with BaronCohen had no idea they were being filmed. Ads for Brunotrumpet, "real people, real situations".
That was at least true of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, theformer Republican presidential candidate. In a scene filmed inearly 2008, Paul sits for an interview with the Baron Cohencharacter. (Paul has said he was told the topic would be Austrianeconomics.) When lighting trouble delays the interview, Baron Cohenstrips to his underwear. Paul storms out, muttering "this guy is aqueer".
In a subsequent radio interview Paul said: "I don't like theidea that he lies his way into an interview. To me it's a realshame that people are going to reward him with millions andmillions of dollars for being so crass."
Judging from the way certain subjects in Borat reactedafter that film was released, Universal's lawyers will be busy. Atleast six lawsuits were filed against the comic and 20th CenturyFox, the Borat distributor. So far no plaintiffs have won,but some cases are on appeal. Universal, which won a bidding warwith 20th Century Fox for the distribution rights to Bruno,paying $US42.5 million ($A53 million), seems happy to take therisk. Borat cost $US18 million and brought in $US262 millionworldwide.
Bruno was served with its first lawsuit on May 22.According to a complaint filed by a California woman, Baron Cohen— as Bruno — infiltrated a charity bingo tournament andoffended the elderly audience with vulgarities while calling agame. The plaintiff, Richelle Olson, contends that she was severelyinjured when she tried to grab the microphone away from him.
Universal has described the lawsuit as baseless, noting thatfull footage of the encounter shows that Olson was nevertouched.
As roles go, there is no ambiguity about Bruno: he is alimp-wristed, sex-crazed queen. Universal's promotional materialsshow him dressed in hot pants, leopard bikini underwear and ridingnude on a unicorn.
The character has evolved in appearance since the televisionshow. This Bruno has plucked eyebrows and longish hair with blondehighlights. He wears mauve lipstick. Baron Cohen also appears tohave shed several pounds of arm, leg and torso hair through waxingor electrolysis.
In one scene, Bruno appears on a talk show holding a baby who iswearing a T-shirt reading "Gayby". The sequence flashes back toBruno having sex in a hot tub while the baby sits nearby. He thenboasts to the outraged talk-show audience that the baby is a manmagnet (only he uses unprintable language).
In another scene, Bruno, intent on becoming straight, goes to amartial arts instructor to learn how to protect himself from gaypeople. "If they get close to you, hit them," the teacher says. Howcan you spot a gay man? "Obviously, it's a person being extremelynice" is the answer. Gays can be tricky, the instructor warns:"Some of them don't even dress no different than myself oryou."
The movie also touches on the reckless pursuit of fame. Forinstance, under the pretext of conducting a "glamorous baby" photoshoot, Bruno interviews real mums and dads, many holding theirbabies on their laps. He asks one mother: "Is your baby comfortablewith bees, wasps and hornets?" She answers, "George is comfortablewith everything". Dead or dying animals? "Yes."
"Can Olivia lose 10 pounds in the next week?" Bruno asks anothermother, who doesn't bat an eyelash: "Yeah, I'd have to do whateverI could," she says.
Baron Cohen declined to be interviewed for this article, as didLarry Charles, who directed the film (as well as Borat).
Universal also declined to make a production executive availablefor an interview, providing the following statement instead:"Bruno uses provocative comedy to powerfully shed light onthe absurdity of many kinds of intolerance and ignorance, includinghomophobia. By placing himself in radical and risky situations,Sacha Baron Cohen forces both the people Bruno meets and theaudience itself to challenge their own stereotypes, preconceptionsand discomforts.
"While any work that dares to address relevant culturalsensitivities might be misinterpreted by some or offend others, webelieve the overwhelming majority of the audience will understandand appreciate the film's inarguably positive intentions."
The studio has twice shown unfinished versions of Brunoto the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and said thattest audiences have come away with a clear understanding of thefilm's positive social message. Universal also said that itscreened 20 minutes of unedited footage at a Texas film festivalthis year, and that blog coverage was overwhelmingly upbeat.
Marketing Bruno in the US, where it is rated R, posesunusual challenges for Universal, as some multiplex chains willonly run trailers to R-rated films before other R-rated movies. Anda stunt at the MTV Movie Awards on June 1 may have damaged themovie's credibility, film marketers say.
During the show, Baron Cohen, dressed as Bruno, dangled abovethe audience from wires wearing a jock strap and giant white wings.He landed face down in the lap of rapper Eminem, who stormed out ofthe theatre.
The problem: Eminem admitted to being in on the stunt — andthus faking his reaction — which may lead audiences to doubtthe studio's assertion that actors were not used in the film.
Meanwhile, the debate among gay rights advocates goes on. "Westrongly feel that Sacha Baron Cohen and Universal Pictures have aresponsibility to remind the viewing public right there in thetheatre that this is intended to expose homophobia," said BradLuna, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign.
Cathy Renna, who left the Gay and Lesbian Alliance after 14years to start her own similarly focused consulting firm, said shethinks gay audiences will greet the film warmly. "Of all minoritygroups, I think gay people are the most likely to be able to laughat themselves," she said.
Will the stereotypes Baron Cohen explores offer support toopponents of gay marriage?
"I don't think that any conservative group is going to useBruno to make a point about how awful gay people are," saidFrank Vocci, the founder of White Knot, a non-profit group focusedon gay rights. "If they try to go there, we can easily turn aroundand point out how horribly these people reacted to him beinggay."
Universal would be happy if more people took the position ofDustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for his screenplay ofMilk and has been an outspoken opponent of California'srecent ban on gay marriage.
Asked for his thoughts on Bruno, Black responded: "Sadly,I haven't seen the film yet!"
-Brooks Barnes