HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has announced the June 2 release of his latest film: “Women’s (sub)Ordination.” Cohen returns as eccentric Kazakh television personality Borat Sagdiyev, this time featuring interviews with Adventist leaders on the topic of female ordination.
“With my Jewish heritage I have always been intrigued by some of the Jewish tendencies in the Seventh-day Adventist subculture,” explained Cohen. “So I decided to explore the faith by looking at various Adventist opinions on what is clearly their hot button topic: female ordination.”
Cohen set out to interview Adventist leaders in all the world divisions as well as at the General Conference. “I always say that it’s really nice to meet them and give them a super enthusiastic Borat high-five,” said Cohen about his interview style with leaders. He said that he then leads with one standard question: “Why did your founder give himself a female name?” Cohen said that the question typically catches leaders off-guard and gets them talking.
“After a few preliminary interviews with me playing Borat, it was obvious that Adventist leaders had no grasp whatsoever of popular culture,” said Cohen. “I didn’t have to change anything about the Borat character because none of the Adventist execs had seen my movies.”
“I am not going to spoil my own film by telling you what these leaders told me. Besides, we’d be here all day, they are all over the map,” said Cohen. “I will say that this summer’s Adventist vote on women’s ordination is set to be more drama than all of my movies combined.”
