News about Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat movie over the past two weeks has mostly followed two tracks: it's making a lot of money, and everyone in it is filing a lawsuit or considering one. Among other things, Turkish web celebrity Mahir Cagri has claimed he's the "real" Borat inspiration and that he's entitled to a share in profits from the film. In an interview, he asked Wired magazine, "If possible you can help me too for stop this or find good lawyer?" In the New York Post, feminist sculptor Linda Stein complained that she was duped into appearing in the film, and said she wouldn't sue if Cohen attended her upcoming art opening. TV news producer Dharma Arthur says she "spiraled into depression" and lost her job when her boss lost confidence in her following Borat's appearance on her local news program, and she was fired as a result.
And recently, two of the drunken fratboys gushing sexist sentiments in the film filed a lawsuit claiming that the filmmakers deliberately got them intoxicated, staged the scene, and assured them their identities wouldn't be revealed and the film wouldn't be shown in America.
Now the latest: the Romanian village where Cohen filmed his "Kazakhstan" scenes is also suing him, claiming he said he misled them into believing he was making a serious documentary, and paid them $4 each to perform acts that have led to worldwide ridicule. The IMDB's brief quotes a local resident as saying "We thought they came here to help us – not mock us… We are poor people, but we are still people."
Hopefully the next step is Cohen himself suing the makers of Borat for letting him humiliate himself by running around naked at length in the film.