Sacha Baron Cohen threatened with gun during Bruno filming Sacha Baron Cohen was threatened with a gun during filming for his new film, Bruno. by Ben Leach
Baron Cohen and his producers were forced to leave the film set to escape
after they failed to persuade the Americans to put down their weapons Photo: GETTY The comedian, who plays the gay Austrian fashion designer Bruno, was on location in the Deep South in the US with three Americans.
Unaware they were being set up, they started to get angry with the comedian's camp behaviour. And when Bruno danced around the campsite naked, they realised he was gay and grabbed their gunsBaron Cohen and his producers were forced to leave the film set to escape after they failed to persuade the Americans to put down their weapons.
It is just one of a number of controversial incidents that occurred during the filming of Baron Cohen's new film. In one scene Bruno sparks a riot at a cage fighting contest when the competitors start kissing.
In another scene Bruno appears on an American chat show, telling the studio audience that he adopted his baby in Africa by swapping him for an iPod. He then talked about using his new baby, who he names OJ and who appears in a midriff-baring t-shirt emblazoned with the word "Gayby", in a controversial "arts project" involving a fashion shoot with the baby posing as Jesus on a crucifix.
In another scene which is likely to shock viewers, Baron Cohen exposes Hollywoods ambitious "career moms" who will stop at nothing to land their aspiring child stars in the limelight.
Auditioning for a children's fashion shoot in Los Angeles, Bruno asks a group of showbusiness mothers a series of questions about what they would allow their child to do for the shoot.
"How would your daughter handle being dropped four-storeys?" he asks one, to which she replies: "I think she'd be a little scared at first, but she can do it."
Bruno then reveals that the fashion shoot will involve one child dressed up as a Nazi officer pushing a wheelbarrow holding another young girl dressed as a Jew into a furnace.
One of the mothers auditioning her child says: "It sounds theatrical... as long as she gets the gig."
The film is also likely to raise objections from many religious groups, with one of its central characters a black model called "Jesus" who wears a loincloth and a crown of thorns.
