Rebel Wilson hated working with Sacha Baron Cohen so much that she instituted a new policy
Wilson also revealed that Cohen tried to block her memoir, Rebel Rising
Last week, Rebel Wilson revealed that she has a “no assholes” policy when taking jobs which seems… pretty damn reasonable to us. “When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, ‘Yeah, I have a no assholes policy, it means I don’t work with assholes,’” she said in an Instagram video. “But then it really sunk in what they were meaning by that… because I worked with a massive asshole, and, yeah, now I definitely have a no assholes policy.”
“The chapter on said asshole is chapter 23,” the actor continued, holding a copy of her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising (out April 2). “That guy was a massive asshole.”
Now, perhaps against the interest of that great marketing tease (or maybe in service of it—remember there’s a whole chapter of dirt on the guy), Wilson has revealed that the asshole in question is Sacha Baron Cohen, who she starred with in 2016 flop, The Brothers Grimsby.
But it sounds like Cohen wasn’t only the premiere asshole in Wilson’s world during filming for the ‘10s-era spy flick—he’s doing it again now. In an Instagram story posted today, Wilson revealed that her one-time co-star tried to block the release of her memoir over whatever allegations it contains. “I will not be silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers,” the story reads. “The ‘asshole’ that I’m talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.”
While we’ll have to wait until the book is out in the world for the specifics of what caused Wilson to institute her policy, she did have some pretty frustrating things to say about her c0-star when the film was in production back in 2014. “Every day he’s like, ‘Just go naked, it will be funny. Remember in Borat when I did that naked scene? It was hilarious,’” she said on an episode of Australia’s The Kyle and Jackie O radio show (via The Guardian), revealing that he eventually hired a body double for the scene, but not before she threatened to call their shared agent “and tell her how much you are harassing me.”
She also said at the time that Cohen encouraged her to put her finger up his butt in the film’s final scene because “it’ll be a really funny bit” even though there was nothing of the sort in the script. “You don’t wanna be a diva so I… said I’ll slap you once on the butt and that’s it,” Wilson explained.
In a statement to The A.V. Club, Cohen’s representation pushed back against Wilson’s claims. They wrote in an email: “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby.”
This story has been updated to include comments from Sacha Baron Cohen’s team.