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The Wimbledon lawn tennis championships are not generally a hotbed of crime. Yet this year, unprecedented infringements ocurred. Eleven players were fined a total of £34,000 for “audible obscenities” and “racquet abuse”. Meanwhile, a spectator at the men’s singles final called a heckler a “bumbaclat” before inviting them to fight, badgered Prince William to repay a drugs debt of £1,400 allegedly owed to him by Prince Harry from his days at Eton, and attempted to sell illegal substances to those seated near him – and beyond. “If u iz at dis borin wimbledore final lookin 2 get grand slammed,” he posted on Instagram, touting for business, “I iz here wif de hookup.”
The culprit was Ali G, real name Alistair Leslie Graham, AKA the malapropism-dropping home counties wide boy played by Sacha Baron Cohen, kitted out for the occasion in trademark skullcap and gold chain, plus custom Wimbledon jacket, traditional crossed rackets replaced with cannabis leaves. Security released him without penalty, but the reprimand was captured on scores of smartphones – including one held by Cohen himself.
Such footage is likely to find its way into a movie that will be released worldwide on 23 October and whose existence was only revealed four days before the Wimbledon incident. This week, a title was announced – Ali G: Who Iz I? – as well as the fact the film is to be the directorial debut of its star: a new development in the career of one of the UK’s most audacious, ambitious – and powerful – comedy actors, apparently taking greater agency over his projects as his own political engagement intensifies. (The appalled reaction to his recent Netflix comedy Ladies First, which he neither wrote nor directed, suggests this is a sage move.)
It also makes sense logistically: Ali G is a character who would energetically embrace selfie-mode shooting, which presumably streamlines a film crew considerably. Meanwhile the absence of a US theatrical release for the first Ali G film, 2002’s Indahouse, means targets in America would be easier to hoodwink.
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Cohen first rose to fame as the tracksuit-wearing naïf and committed cultural appropriator in 1998, when Ali G was introduced as the “voice of the yoof” on Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show. His own show followed in the early 2000s, constructed around interviews with unsuspecting subjects including Buzz Aldrin (whom he called Buzz Lightyear and asked if he was “ever jealous of Louis Armstrong”), Naomi Wolf (whom he complimented by telling her she’s attractive enough to be a sex worker) and Tony Benn. The late MP was outraged by the character’s dismissal of striking workers in 1984 as lazy skivers; Cohen later told Benn he was the only interviewee who had “dealt seriously with his loud, sexist, materialist image of youth”. (Benn’s letter of reply ended with the words: “You’re my main man.”)
Although Cohen declared both Ali G and Borat – his Kazakh TV presenter and the star of a 2006 film that was a commercial and critical hit – retired in 2007, both have since returned. Borat was resurrected in 2020, for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, intended by Baron Cohen as an intervention in the impending US presidential election. As with his 2018 series Who is America?, it secured a number of high-profile and highly-embarrassing scalps – most notably Rudy Giuliani, who was caught with his hand down his trousers in a hotel room with an actor pretending to be Borat’s 15-year-old daughter.
Before his recent reappearance, Ali G was last seen presenting an award at the 2016 Oscars: a surprise even to the show’s producers, who understood Cohen would appear as himself. The ruse involved the star feigning food poisoning then locking himself and then-wife Isla Fisher in a disabled loo for 40 minutes to change into his costume.
While Ali G Indahouse was a scripted comedy concerning the character’s inadvertent role in the downfall of the government, indications are that its sequel will be closer to the more politically intentional Borat followup, returning Ali G to his origins as an interviewer whose dubious views prompt his subjects to reveal their own.
The film was shot in secret – as was 2009’s Brüno, in which Baron Cohen skewered the fashion industry – but some of the leaked locations in the UK and US give early clues as to whom Cohen may have had in his crosshairs.
Last summer, there were sightings of the character in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire - home to the likes of David Cameron, Rebekah Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres and Jeremy Clarkson. The town was also, during the dates Ali G was spotted, playing host to US vice president JD Vance and his family, there to enjoy a Cotswolds holiday.
Vance travelled with a considerable security detail, so it remains uncertain how close Cohen would have been able to get, had he been in pursuit. The Sun ran a photograph of the character sporting a Rastafarian beret while filming at a nearby wildlife park in Burford. A source told the paper: “He was with a whole film crew and was in full character. He seemed very comfortable in the role. I was amazed, I thought to myself, ‘that’s Ali G’.”
A crew member on the film to whom the Guardian spoke said an NDA prevented them from comment, but added: “I CAN tell you that it’s gonna be big. And packed full of laughs.”
Representatives for Kellie Bright, Charles Dance and Martin Freeman, all of who had roles in the original film, did not respond to enquiries, but the actor Adam Deacon confirmed he was not returning, “even though I would have loved to be a part of it”. He added that he could also do a “perfect” Borat accent so would be happy to be kept in mind for further films featuring that character too. “I’m a massive fan of what Sacha creates and I hope the new movie is a success.”
In the first film, Deacon played a member of the East Staines Massiv, the rivals of Ali G’s less-than-intimidating gang from the other end of town. The Surrey commuter town was sceptical about the fame bestowed on it by the Ali G connection, and in 2010, a group spearheaded by the Spelthorne business forum lobbied the borough council to change the town’s name to Staines-upon-Thames in an attempt to add distance. The area, said Alex Tribick, chair of the forum at the time, “is really rather nice and it has some fantastic natural beauty around it”.
He added: “Staines has had some adverse press further to that with it being portrayed as an urban wasteland off the end of the M25. The purpose of the exercise is to improve the image of Staines, rebrand it, and denote its greatest natural resource.”
The then MP for Spelthorne, Kwasi Kwarteng, supported the move – which was duly voted through by the local council in 2011 – saying “if anyone knows anything about Staines, then one would know that Ali G is a million miles from it. It’s a very charming place actually.”
Yet in his Thursday video announcing the title and release date, Ali G announces himself as “representing the westside of Staines-upon-Thames” – suggesting the area is unlikely to shake off the association any time soon.
Happily, the sitting Spelthorne MP, Lincoln Jopp, said he welcomed news of the return of the town’s prodigal son. “I can’t believe Ali G is coming back!” he said. “I loved Ali G Indahouse; it’s hilarious. Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius.”
Jopp, who specified to the Guardian that his constituency includes the “West Staines Massiv”, added that the town was “a great place. We can take a bit of mickey-taking, trust me. Booyakasha!”
Posts on local Facebook forums suggest resurgent grassroots support for the character putting the town on the map. “Oh happy days, loved the film,” wrote Blossom Welch, while longtime Staines resident Joanna Barlow added: “Loved Ali G not ashamed saw the show being filmed thought it was hilarious.”
However one user, Bettafisheye, demurred, venturing that Ali G is “like a bad smell that never leaves. I just say I’m from Laleham now. If u say Staines it’s like being around a constipated dog talking through there arse.”
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