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T<\/span>he Wimbledon lawn tennis championships are not generally a hotbed of crime. Yet this year, unprecedented infringements ocurred. Eleven players were fined a total of \u00a334,000 for \u201caudible obscenities\u201d and \u201cracquet abuse\u201d. Meanwhile, a spectator at the men\u2019s singles final called a heckler a \u201cbumbaclat\u201d before inviting them to fight, badgered<\/a> Prince William to repay a drugs debt of \u00a31,400 allegedly owed to him by Prince Harry from his days at Eton, and attempted to sell illegal substances to those seated near him \u2013 and beyond. \u201cIf u iz at dis borin wimbledore final lookin 2 get grand slammed,\u201d he posted on Instagram, touting for business, \u201cI iz here wif de hookup.\u201d<\/p>\n The culprit was Ali G, real name Alistair Leslie Graham, AKA the malapropism-dropping home counties wide boy played by Sacha Baron Cohen, kitted out for the occasion in trademark skullcap and gold chain, plus custom Wimbledon jacket, traditional crossed rackets replaced with cannabis leaves. Security released him without penalty, but the reprimand<\/a> was captured on scores of smartphones \u2013 including one held by Cohen himself.<\/p>\n <\/span>Ali G at the tournament. <\/span> Photograph: Karwai Tang\/WireImage<\/p>\n Such footage is likely to find its way into a movie that will be released worldwide on 23 October and whose existence was only revealed four days before the Wimbledon incident<\/a>. This week, a title was announced \u2013 Ali G: Who Iz I? \u2013 as well as the fact the film is to be the directorial debut of its star: a new development in the career of one of the UK\u2019s most audacious, ambitious \u2013 and powerful \u2013 comedy actors, apparently taking greater agency over his projects as his own political engagement intensifies<\/a>. (The appalled reaction to his recent Netflix comedy Ladies First, which he neither wrote nor directed, suggests this is a sage move.)<\/p>\n It also makes sense logistically: Ali G is a character who would energetically embrace selfie-mode shooting, which presumably streamlines a film crew considerably. Meanwhile the absence of a US theatrical release for the first Ali G film, 2002\u2019s Indahouse, means targets in America would be easier to hoodwink.<\/p>\n Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cohen first rose to fame as the tracksuit-wearing na\u00eff and committed cultural appropriator in 1998, when Ali G was introduced as the \u201cvoice of the yoof\u201d on Channel 4\u2019s The 11 O\u2019Clock Show. His own show followed in the early 2000s, constructed around interviews with unsuspecting subjects including Buzz Aldrin (whom he called Buzz Lightyear and asked if he was \u201cever jealous of Louis Armstrong\u201d), Naomi Wolf (whom he complimented by telling her she\u2019s attractive enough to be a sex worker) and Tony Benn. The late MP was outraged by the character\u2019s dismissal of striking workers in 1984 as lazy skivers; Cohen later told Benn he was the only interviewee who had \u201cdealt seriously with his loud, sexist, materialist image of youth\u201d. (Benn\u2019s letter of reply ended with the words: \u201cYou\u2019re my main man.\u201d)<\/p>\n Although Cohen declared both Ali G and Borat<\/a> \u2013 his Kazakh TV presenter and the star of a 2006 film that was a commercial and critical hit \u2013 retired in 2007, both have since returned. Borat was resurrected in 2020, for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm<\/a>, intended by Baron Cohen as an intervention in the impending US presidential election. As with his 2018 series Who is America?<\/a>, it secured a number of high-profile and highly-embarrassing scalps \u2013 most notably Rudy Giuliani, who was caught with his hand down his trousers in a hotel room with an actor pretending to be Borat\u2019s 15-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n Before his recent reappearance, Ali G was last seen presenting an award at the 2016 Oscars: a surprise even to the show\u2019s producers, who understood Cohen would appear as himself. The ruse involved the star feigning food poisoning then locking himself and then-wife Isla Fisher in a disabled loo for 40 minutes to change into his costume.<\/p>\n <\/span>Critical approval \u2026 Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020). <\/span> Photograph: Courtesy of Amazon Studios<\/p>\n While Ali G Indahouse was a scripted comedy concerning the character\u2019s inadvertent role in the downfall of the government, indications are that its sequel will be closer to the more politically intentional Borat<\/a> followup, returning Ali G to his origins as an interviewer whose dubious views prompt his subjects to reveal their own.<\/p>\n The film was shot in secret \u2013 as was 2009\u2019s Br\u00fcno, in which Baron Cohen skewered the fashion industry \u2013 but some of the leaked locations in the UK and US give early clues as to whom Cohen may have had in his crosshairs.<\/p>\n Last summer, there were sightings of the character in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire – home to the likes of David Cameron, Rebekah Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres and Jeremy Clarkson. The town was also, during the dates Ali G was spotted, playing host to US vice president JD Vance and his family, there to enjoy a Cotswolds holiday.<\/p>\n Vance travelled with a considerable security detail, so it remains uncertain how close Cohen would have been able to get, had he been in pursuit. The Sun ran a photograph of the character<\/a> sporting a Rastafarian beret while filming at a nearby wildlife park in Burford. A source told the paper: \u201cHe was with a whole film crew and was in full character. He seemed very comfortable in the role. I was amazed, I thought to myself, \u2018that\u2019s Ali G\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n A crew member on the film to whom the Guardian spoke said an NDA prevented them from comment, but added: \u201cI CAN tell you that it\u2019s gonna be big. And packed full of laughs.\u201d<\/p>\n