Sacha Baron Cohen burst into a convention where former Vice President Mike Pence was speaking, dressed as Donald Trump, carrying a girl over his shoulder... Some say that his pranks go too far... Others think they are utter perfection.
As for this particular prank, which was featured in Borat 2, Sacha gave his fans an inside look at how he was able to pull it off in a fascinating discussion for Variety between him and Ben Affleck. Here's how Sacha was able to impersonate Trump, crash CPAC, and make movie magic...
He Had To Be Incredibly Prepared And Dedicated
As Ben Affleck said in the discussion, Sacha Baron Cohen's ability to act on the fly and remain in character without breaking is truly incredible.
While this skill is truly amazing, Sacha and his producing team also have the ability to find ways around the most secure of systems and the most inflexible of individuals. This includes the technical way that Sacha tried to get O.J. Simpson to confess to murder and how Sacha logistically was able to break into a political event where the vice president was speaking.
And he did this, no less, while wearing a controversial outfit. On that topic, Sacha said that none of the security seemed at all concerned that someone wearing a disturbing robe walked into the conservative conference.
"How did you do that? How did you pull that off?" Ben asked him.
"So, with CPAC, the vice president was speaking. So, that's the same level of secret service as the president," Sacha explained. "That day, I had to get in the makeup chair at 1 in the morning in a motel near CPAC. I have a prosthetics team that we’ve flown over from England to transform me into Donald Trump, you know, which is a six-hour process. Then you’re wearing a massive fat suit. Then I have to go through different layers of security, get a fake ID, go through TSA, wand me down."
In short, it was an excruciatingly long process for what ended up being a short scene in the movie. But it was imperative that Sacha pull off everything correctly as things could've gotten really hairy for him... That is if the TSA agents were all that good at their job...
"By the way, the TSA, when they wanded me down, and I’m wearing a 56-inch fat suit, which is what we felt would be most realistic as Donald Trump. The wand goes over me, from the TSA guy and goes over my stomach and it goes 'Beep'. Over my chest, it goes, 'Beep.' And the guy says, 'What is that?' And I go, 'It’s my pacemaker.'"
The agent bought this and carried on wanding him and it went down to his belly, where his mic was... and it 'beeped' again...
"And I'm really tense and I’ve got a field producer next to me who’s completely crapping himself. We’re going to get busted. We're not going to get into CPAC. They've caught me. The TSA have caught me. The moment they touch my belly, they’re going to know that I’m wearing a fat suit. And I thought about this situation. You cannot wear any metals..."
It was terrifying...
"And he goes, 'What is that?!' And I didn’t know what to say. I was completely stumped. He looks at me and goes, 'Oh, that’s the wire leading to your pacemaker, right?' I was like, 'Yeah, obviously.' He goes, 'All right, come through,'" Sacha explained.
Hiding In The Washroom, Crashing, And Then Talking His Way Out Of Trouble
After he was let in, he had to find somewhere to hide until he could successfully pull off his Trump/Pence prank.
"And I’m hiding in the toilets at CPAC for another five hours. Just hiding in a cubicle. I was left with a can of Coke, and I drew lines on it, because I knew I was going to be in there for five hours. I knew I could have a fifth of a can every hour. And then you get into CPAC, you do the scene, and I get escorted out by a bunch of Secret Service, about 11 guys. And my main aim was not to give over my ID, because I felt like the moment they knew it was me, Sacha, that will become a big news story. And that would destroy the rest of the movie."
So, of course, the question is how the heck did Sacha manage not to give over his ID to the TSA who were asking for it... as were the secret service, hotel security, event security, and the local cops who all surrounded him after he burst into CPAC during Mike Pence's speech.
"One of the cops goes, 'Give me your ID.' And I go, 'Ah...' I just... I knew I had to delay. I knew if I delayed long enough, maybe they’d forget to get my ID. So I said, 'I’m not giving my ID until you show proof that you are a law enforcement officer.' And the guy was wearing a massive badge [on his chest]. And he said, 'What about this!?' And I go, 'Well, how do I know that's real?'"
Sacha went on like this for as long as he could. Eventually, he said that his ID was in his shoe, which bought him even more time.
The acclaimed actor and comedian also had a doctor's note warning of the dangers of taking off his mask. This is because he was scared that security was going to rip off the Donald Trump mask... Because of the doctor's note, the security didn't require Sacha to take off the mask... But they did say that if he returned, he would be arrested...
The very next day, Sacha sent in a body-double to do the exact same scene (in order to get shots they didn't get for the movie). When the security confronted him, they saw it was a completely different person and therefore couldn't arrest either of them.
Smart planning...