Sacha Baron Cohen reprises his hip-hop character in Ali G: Who Iz I?, a surprise mockumentary feature slated for an October 23 global theatrical release by Amazon MGM Studios following a secret production and unexpected summer sightings.
Ali G Returns to the Big Screen in Surprise Amazon MGM Project
Twenty years after he seemingly retired the character, Sacha Baron Cohen is bringing back his West Staines rudeboy. The first trailer for Ali G: Who Iz I? was unveiled by Amazon MGM Studios, confirming a global theatrical release date of October 23 for the secret comedy project.
News of the film first surfaced through a leak in July, which was quickly followed by unannounced public appearances, including Cohen spotted in character attending Wimbledon. The feature marks Cohen’s directorial debut, with the actor also writing and producing under his Four by Two Films banner alongside executive producers Petr Jákl and Emily Kob. Outside of his own films, Cohen recently played the villainous Mephisto on the Marvel Disney+ series Ironheart.
Sporting new dreadlocks alongside the signature wardrobe favored by young white Britons copying US hip-hop and Black streetwear fashions in the 00s, the character returns with a characteristically absurd premise. The official synopsis reveals that after two decades spent chillin’, tokin’ and bonin’, Ali G discovers that his long-term girlfriend, Julie—played by British comedian Morgana Robinson—is eight months pregnant.
“After twenty years spent ‘chillin’, tokin’ and bonin’,’ Ali G is shocked to discover that his long-term girlfriend, Julie, is 8 months pregnant. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he gets off his batty and heads to America to reclaim his former glory… but soon encounters adversaries who will ultimately threaten his and his child’s very existence.”
Amazon MGM Studios, official film synopsis
The Evolution of a Provocative Mockumentary Persona
Cohen first introduced Ali G on Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show in 1998. Two years later, Cohen got his own series, and the character subsequently headlined three series of Da Ali G Show in the early 00s, airing its first season on Channel 4 before making its way to HBO for two further installments. The show trapped unsuspecting politicians, academics, public figures, and celebrities in deadpan interviews. During those early segments, Ali G notably asked Buzz Aldrin if man will ever walk on the sun (perhaps during winter when it’s cold) and pitched a business idea for ice-cream gloves
to Donald Trump. He also famously interviewed Noam Chomsky, Andy Rooney, and Newt Gingrich. The original television run also birthed Cohen’s other best-known characters, including the Kazakh TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev and Brüno, an obtuse Austrian fashionista.
While the 2002 scripted feature Ali G Indahouse—a Universal Pictures comedy co-written by and starring Cohen and helmed by Succession director Mark Mylod—received a mixed critical reception, it was a domestic success earning more than £17m at the UK box office without any mockumentary elements or pranks. By contrast, Who Iz I? returns to the hidden-camera format that defined Cohen’s global hits. Cohen filmed Who Iz I? in secret, just like he did with Borat, Brüno, and his TV series Who Is America?. The trailer gives glimpses of pranks played on retired US army general Stewart Rodeheaver and someone who may be the Canadian DJ and producer Deadmau5 at a music festival.
“I’ve been gone for 20 years, chilling. And in that time, the world went to crap. There’s been Wars. Covid. And Ed Sheeran. I’m going to get back on top with a brand new thing called a ‘documentary.’ For the first time ever, this is with real people not actors. For more than a year we let the cameras follow me everywhere. Nothing was off limits.”
Sacha Baron Cohen as Ali G
Box Office Precedent and Modern Comedy Questions
The project reunites Cohen with Amazon MGM on the heels of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the Borat sequel released on Prime Video during Covid, which earned a pair of Oscar nominations. The three-time Oscar nominee unveiled the project in a video posted to his Instagram in July where he captioned the post in character, “Dey haz finally made a documentary about me. The footage includes Cohen taking classes, walking the streets, and going on various shows as Ali G, featuring action, drama, heartbreak, plot twists, and the very latest TikTok trends alongside the latest firearms technology. Whether modern audiences embrace the return of the suburban wannabe rapper will be answered when Ali G: Who Iz I? arrives globally in theaters on October 23.”
