Now that Brüno is finished and in theaters, what is Sacha Baron Cohen to do next? Surely he can continue appearing in movies not his own, such as he did with Talladega Nights and Sweeney Todd, but will there ever be another shock-mockumentary in the style of Borat and Brüno? Even if he develops some new characters, people don’t believe he could make another one of these kinds of films stealthily enough to make it work.

Well, let’s hope that isn’t true, because we would love to see at least one more. And we think he’s enough of a chameleon that his increasing fame won’t get in the way. As Metromix recently pointed out, there are just so many people (live and dead) who still need to be interviewed and/or pranked by Baron Cohen. Also, there are so many more marginalized people out there who could use a Brüno of their own to challenge the stereotypes and expose the continuing prejudices of our country.

To help Baron Cohen come up with a new character and issue, we’ve selected five already existing scenarios — which should help garner funding since Hollywood is so into remakes — to inspire him.
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Tragedies often affect films with untimely footage and/or marketing. Usually it’s something like 9/11, a space shuttle disaster or a sniper on the loose that causes Hollywood to show its sensitivity by delaying film releases and pulling trailers from theaters. I can’t recall a situation when the death of an individual influenced an upcoming movie’s ads or content. Last night, though, out of respect to Michael Jackson, the makers of Bruno cut a scene featuring MJ’s sister, LaToya Jackson.

I haven’t seen the film so I can’t say how the scene played out, but it is odd how PC the filmmakers are being considering the intentionally offensive tone and focus of their mockumentary. Does it even have that much connection to MJ to be viewed as being in poor taste? And anyway, won’t most of the audience for this film be over MJ’s death enough in two weeks, when the movie opens in theaters?

Check out what the film blogs are saying about the cut after the jump:

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Apparently the new Sacha Baron Cohen satire Bruno has offended members of the Hollywood gay community enough to warrant reshoots. While this sounds about as legitimate as the G.I. Joe firing (which ended up being “untrue”), it’s still the hot story of the day and brings up the interesting topic of “queerface.” In an email tipped to both The Wrap and Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Baron Cohen’s caricature is likened to blackface and argues that subversive intentions don’t excuse the grotesque level of mocking.

In a way I can see why the film might be unfair and even offensive to gays. Bruno could be the homosexual equivalent of Soul Man, albeit more direct and documentary-like, rather than the homosexual Tropic Thunder. Would it have been better received if Baron Cohen was gay? Probably. Will reshoots help? Who knows. Again, this may not even be a true story, so we’ll just have to see what happens when the movie hits theaters next month.

Find out what the rest of the film blogosphere is saying about this story after the jump:

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I refuse to believe that Sacha Baron Cohen’s stunt at last night’s MTV Movie Awards — in which he, as Bruno from the upcoming Bruno, flew through the air in an assless winged costume and landed with his legs wrapped around Eminem’s neck, was in any way unscripted — Completely lacking in genuine (and genuinely dangerous) spontaneity — and completely ripped off from a Howard Stern gag from 17 years ago — the incident feels of a piece with the carefully managed anarchy on display in the Bruno clips shown in March at SXSW. See it for yourself after the jump. I’ll look forward to your comments telling me to “lighten up.”

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So, this week almost had an ABAB pattern as far as Bloggery topics go. Two posts devoted to Bruno and now two devoted to Wolverine. If only we had six of these a week I could make it all paired up with an additional Bloggery post focused on how Regal cinemas allegedly won’t show Ice Age 3 in 3D if Fox indeed pushes the entire cost of 3D glasses onto theatre owners. I guess it’s not that big a deal to film bloggers, though, anyway. They’re much too excited about the non-trade-confirmed casting news of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddie Krueger for the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot (all I can think of is Freddie cutting off penises — even his own — with his glove). As one of the few horror franchises I liked growing up, Elm Street is too sacred for me, as is Robert Englund as Krueger, to bother skimming the posts celebrating the remake, and Haley in it. So, instead, I’m going back to the other clawed character making headlines this week, because the X-Men Origins: Wolverine piracy story is just too big* to have been covered in one post:

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While not as popular today as the Sarah Palin bikini video, the new red-band trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno is making its way around the blogosphere this afternoon to the delight of many a film writer. I was surprised by the video for two reasons:

1. Universal didn’t really need to release this thing so soon, because the NC-17 rating story brought plenty of buzz to the film for one month, let alone one week. As Steven Zeitchik wrote at Risky Biz Blog, word of the MPAA’s initial decision was already “like a really inexpensive trailer.”

2. Following the hype of the SXSW footage and the “objectionable” material referenced by the MPAA, this trailer actually seems a bit tame compared to what I was expecting, especially from a red-band trailer. It’s a perfectly funny ad and doesn’t do anything to my high expectations for the film, but considering all the excitement this week, I couldn’t help but find it disappointing.

Of course, as usual, few others agree with my disappointment. I know, I’m a cynical curmudgeon who is called a “goon” and a “muckracker” by his friends, but I’m just being honest. Anyway, I’m certain that I’ll be laughing my ass off when I see Bruno in its entirety, so my immediate — and slight — disappointment with the marketing isn’t affecting my anticipation whatsoever. Plus, the following bloggery ballyhooing is going to make more noise than anything I have to say, right?

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It’s certainly no accident that The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman found out about and reported on Bruno initially receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. After all, what raunchy docu-comedy wouldn’t want additional buzz focused on how “objectionable” some scenes were? Universal and Sacha Baron Cohen obviously pushed the envelope in order to both see how much they could get away with and to draw attention to themselves with a desired NC-17. Hasn’t anyone been following Hollywood the past 10 years? Here are a few benefits to both garnering the unacceptable rating and having news of that “unfortunate” rating leaked to all the fanboy bloggers:

• Typical outrage over the MPAA’s dealings guarantee postings (including this one), which continue to give attention to the film.
• Excitement over how hard the ultimate R-rating will likely be continues the interest from moviegoers interested in raunchy content. And if they’re upset that it won’t be as dirty as the original NC-17 version they can always…
• …look forward to the Unrated DVD release, which will most definitely include the censored “objectionable” scenes either in the movie or as supplement material.

Of course, news of the ratings controversy does draw potentially unfair complaints regarding the MPAA’s reputation for typically having problems with homosexual themes. For once, though, the gay community can leave the ratings board alone on this one, since the studio and filmmakers most certainly wanted all of this. Of course, if you do decide to protest, make sure you mention the film title often. That will help the marketing, too.

And now some of the unnecessary complaints from my fellow internerds helping with the film’s buzz:
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“We think you’re the most special people in the entire world…so don’t even think about taking out your cellphone, because I’ve been working out, and I will fucking rack your brains into the back of your head. I’m gonna anally rape you. I’m not even joking.”

That was the inimitable Tim League, founder of the beery palace of world cinema nerdery in central Texas, the Alamo Drafthouse theater chain, introducing the SXSW/Fantastic Fest presentation of three segments from Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming follow-up to his surprisingly beloved Borat. It was an apt threat to procede a glimpse of a film that critiques the very American habits of posturing, stereotyping, and irrationally vilifying, but only via engaging in them. That’s Cohen’s schtick, of course: he sells ugly Americans their ugliness back to them, provoking shame and anger from his unsuspecting subjects and, from well-educated audiences of better-thans, horror that easily, almost unthinkingly, manifests itself in laughs.

But the 20-something minutes we were shown of the film (which is currently listed on IMDB without a credited director) indicate that Cohen has hardly been up to business as usual since Borat. That film, in turning its namesake Kazakhstanian “reporter” into a household name, made enough of Cohen’s potential marks wise enough to the star/social satirist’s working methods (and his litany of faux-foreign naifs that front them) to spark debate throughout the production as to how Cohen would, er, keep it real. The footage we saw suggests that “realness” wasn’t necessarily as strict a part of the agenda this time around.

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• While many cinephiles were watching indie films at Sundance and celebrating the nominations of little-seen Oscar-hopefuls, regular moviegoers were buying tickets to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which topped the box office for a second weekend in a row. With 10-day earnings at $65 million, the comedy has already outgrossed Best Picture shoo-in Slumdog Millionaire. Of course, nearly all major Oscar contenders did at least see a boost in box office following the announcement of nominees (Doubt being the exclusion).
• Was anyone else watching the SAG Awards last night and wishing it would turn into a death match, or at least a debate? Well, Variety has a multitude of backstage quotes from actors from both sides of the infighting union. And of course there’s the onstage taboo-breaking prophecy of Tina Fey.
• In an admitted attempt to battle piracy and boost the Hong Kong film industry, producer Stephen Shiu Jr. is making a 3D sequel to the 1991 erotic adventure movie Sex and Zen. Simply titled 3D Sex and Zen, it will apparently be the first 3D erotic film ever made. Perhaps this is just what digital 3D needs to get that much-needed rise in interest.
• Universal has moved Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno from mid-May to mid-July, reportedly to fill a gap left by 2012, which was pushed back to November. Of course, it also won’t hurt Cohen to avoid getting hammered by Angels & Demons.
• And for those of you who missed the additions to our Sundance deals chart, the films Spread, Moon and Art & Copy were all picked up for distribution over the weekend.

It looks like the pre-election battle over California’s Propositon 8 (which would render gay marriages illegal in the state) could provide the backdrop to a scene in Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming Borat follow-up. Cohen showed up at a Yes on 8 rally this weekend in character as Bruno, the gay Austrian fashion designer, and apparently initally blended into the crowd — camera crew and all — but was eventually recognized, at which point he fled the scene. The write-ups I’ve read don’t indicate that Bruno was doing/saying anything controversial or even contrary to the anti-gay marriage message of the rally, so one wonders what he was saying/doing. Can anyone make sense of that sign he’s holding above?

UPDATE: FilmDrunk says Baron was not dressed as Bruno at all, but as “his new character, Straight Dave.” The appearance at the rally suddenly makes more sense.

• Spike Lee has spent his own money to acquire Time Traveler, “a memoir by Ronald Mallett, one of the nation’s first African-Americans to earn a Ph.D in theoretical physics.” He’ll co-adapt and direct.
• David Gordon Green’s The Pineapple Express will screen at the Just For Laughs Film Festival on July 19, three weeks before Sony opens the stoner comedy wide.
• Passchendaele, a Canadian WWI drama about the famous muddy battle, will open the Toronto Film Festival.
  
• Universal will release the second Da Ali G Show theatrical spin-off, Bruno, on May 15, 2009, a date already occupied by the sequel to The Da Vinci Code.

Today’s the hump day between the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. We’ll be rolling out some final coverage of the former as the day progresses, before moving on to a burst of coverage of the latter tomorrow. First, here’s a look at some of the trade news from the past few days that we missed over the long weekend in Colorado:

• Variety’s Pamela McClintock says a super summer for the studios is bad news for smaller/artsier films. “[W]ith the debut of one successful studio pic after the next this summer, indie distribs and studio specialty arms had trouble drawing attention to their pics and keeping even the most successful ones in theaters. How much this pattern will affect future release strategies remains to be seen.” But she has a prescription: “the box office success of horror titles this summer reinforces the notion that studio specialty arms and indie production companies need to balance out their slates with more commercial genre titles.”
• In Telluride, people seemed to either love or hate Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, but Todd McCarthy offers the only lukewarm review I’ve seen. McCarthy says Cate Blanchett’s performance is “electrifying,” but the later section starring Richard Gere “is poorly conceived on every level, as it dramatizes and contributes nothing.” The critic’s assessment of the film’s cross-over appeal is pretty dismal: “In the end, it’s a specialists’ event.”
• A theatrical “spoof” of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps will hit Broadway this fall.
• Sacha Baron Cohen has finally confirmed a rumor that’s been going around for a year: he’s following up Borat with Bruno, based on the fashion correspondent character from The Ali G Show.
• It’s old news by now, but in light of the recent “horror is dead!” hand-wringing, it’s significant: Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake broke box office records over Labor Day weekend, earning $30.6 million over four days.
• The SXSW Film Festival is still 6+ months off, but Matt Dentler and his team have already announced conversations with two special guests: documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson, and composer/source cue generator/tea impresario Moby.
• Spike Lee will judge entries in the upcoming Babelgum Online Film Festival. The fest will award about $130,000 in prizes to six short filmmakers.