On Wednesday night’s “The Late Show,” Maria Bakalova said she had a lawyer’s phone number written on her leg before infiltrating the White House for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”
“I was freaking out. I was shaking, I was scared,” she told Stephen Colbert. “I had a number of a lawyer written on my leg.”
“Why written on your leg?” he asked.
“Because I was without my phone, without anything,” she said. “If I make it [out of here] I’m going to be so grateful to the universe and to Sacha [Baron Cohen] and the whole team.”
“You’re literally going there alone,” she continued. “It was extremely scary. But I made it with my passport and my name.”
Bakalova, who played the title character’s daughter Tutar Sagdiyev, did not specify whether she used her real name and passport or fakes to enter the White House.
From the movie’s deleted scene, in which Bakalova meets Donald Trump Jr. and appears to be in the same room as then-President Donald Trump, it is unclear if the Bulgarian actress is technically in character or not. At certain points, Bakalova is wearing a long, brunette wig. At others, she is sporting short blonde hair. Both looks are depicted in the movie.
Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as Borat, said in both voiceover and written form that Bakalova did not have to take a COVID-19 test to enter the White House.
“Not everyone was wearing masks,” she recalled to Colbert.
According to the video released by Baron Cohen, Bakalova went to — and inside — the White House on Sept. 20, 2020. So, yes, the coronavirus was very much here at the time.
Watch the Colbert video above and see the footage of Bakalova at the White House below.
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” for which Bakalova is nominated for an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, is available now on Amazon Prime Video.
Trump very careful who he let into his events and house. No Covid test necessary – High 5! pic.twitter.com/Kf5gGk3n2M
— Borat (@BoratSagdiyev) October 23, 2020
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