Ayman Abu Aita appears in Sacha Baron Cohen’s newest movie Bruno – see clip above – as a terrorist group leader.  And Aita is really mad about that depiction.  “[Baron Cohen] said this was a film going to help the Palestinian cause.  When I heard (four days ago) what this film was about I really didn’t believe it.”

Last week Cohen went on Late Show With David Letterman and explained how he tracked down a terrorist and met him at an undisclosed location to interview for his movie.  Aita called SBC a “big liar” after hearing Cohen’s account and is preparing a lawsuit against the actor who “make me big damages.”  Clip of Cohen on Letterman is after the jump.

I saw Bruno last night in New York City. Since it’s an 88-minute movie, it was showing about every 45 minutes in damn near every theater in Manhattan. We had hoped to go to the 9:05 showing, but that was sold out, in addition to the 9:45 and the 10:05. We managed to get tickets for the 10:25, in a theater the size of a small basketball stadium. Which was packed. The audience was screaming with laughter the entire time. Throughout the movie, I just kept turning to my friends and saying “Oh my God.” Those were the only words I had. That and “Oh no.”

So it’s no surprise that the film topped the box office this weekend, although I’m a little surprised to hear it only brought in $30.4M, with only $9M of that on Saturday (a 37% drop from Friday’s numbers). I was expecting larger numbers, but I guess I forgot that the whole world isn’t exactly as open-minded as the Lower East Side. I’m sure once word got out about some of the more, uh, explicit moments in the film (I won’t give away details), people in other parts of the country decided to give the film a pass.

Still, it’s exceeding studio predictions, and it’s on track to do better than Borat. Congrats, Sacha.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Sacha Baron Cohen not dressed up as Bruno, but he made a rare exception to do the David Letterman show last night, telling a laugh-out-loud hilarious story about … well … interviewing a real terrorist. This one’s a must-watch.

I cannot WAIT to see this movie. I will be the first in line.

Sacha Baron Cohen AKA Bruno attending the Australian premier of Bruno.  I’m starting to get to the point where I forget that this dude’s name is Sacha.  Kind of like when Garth Brooks was doing that Chris Gaines alter ego thing …

Pictures from today’s Bruno photocall in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.

What scares me more than Sacha’s thong is the fact that the other two models don’t have one on.

As a side note, posing as a pig with a knit penis is pretty much the only time it’s acceptable to wear pink Ugg boots.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno doesn’t open in the US until July, but it premiered yesterday in London. Despite all the buzz about whether or not the film fairly represented the gay community (uhhhh, I’m gonna go with “no,” because it’s a satire, guys), the early reviews are, I imagine, exactly what Sacha was hoping they’d be.

There’s this, from the BBC:

“Sometimes you question whether he has finally crossed the line into offensive bad taste – and, latterly, whether you were right to laugh at it – but the audience all seemed to guffaw and groan in the right places. They even gasped in horror when they were supposed to.”

And this, from The Sun:

“And here lies a warning — the pygmy sex scene is one of the most horrific incidents ever committed to celluloid. I’m talking fire extinguishers, champagne bottles and mechanically adapted fitness equipment. Teenage boys should under no circumstances watch this with their parents.”

Ooooh, you guys!!! I am SEEING THIS ON OPENING NIGHT. That is, if I can’t talk someone into getting me into a critic’s screening even earlier than that.

I just think it looks hilarious. This movie is going to promote itself just fine via word-of-mouth, but Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t taking any chances. Bruno opens July 10, and he’s going to spend every last minute up until then promoting the hell out of this thing — like with this brilliant GQ photo shoot. I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud at a photo shoot. Oh, wait, yes I can: It was when Lindsay Lohan did the Fornarina shoot.

Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed against Universal Studios and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen by California resident Richelle Olson. Olson claims that while Baron was shooting for his new film Bruno at a charity bingo event in 2007, she was pushed by the hirsuit comedian, “fell and was surrounded by cameramen who attacked her. Later, she says she fainted, hit her head causing bleeding to her brain, and must now use a wheelchair.”

But I suspect her brain damage may have occurred before she ever came into contact with Austria’s favorite fictional gay son. Unfortunately for Olsen, because Cohen was obviously filming a movie, there is substantial footage of her full encounter with Cohen that “clearly shows that Ms. Olson was never touched or in any way assaulted by Sacha Baron Cohen or any member of the production and suffered no injury.”

Universal called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “baseless” and has said they expect to be fully vinidicated.

If the fallout from Borat is any indication, I’m guessing this is only the first of many frivolous lawsuits from humorless people who weren’t really hurt by Cohen, but are just pissed off because he made them look foolish and caught it all on tape.

It’s been officially confirmedby Scott Aukerman, the head writer for the MTV Movie Awards:  The Bruno and Eminem bit was totally staged.  He wrote on his blog, “Yes, the Bruno/Eminem incident was staged. That’s all anyone wants to talk about, so let’s get it out of the way.  They rehearsed it at dress and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show then.  Okay, you can stop reading this blog now!”

I’ve witnessed so much debate and commentary on this over the past couple days since the broadcast.  A lot of people thought Em’s tantrum was the real deal.  People, Eminem has been subjected to far morerepulsive and offensive things than Sacha Baron Cohen’s testicles without storming out of the room;  he did date Mariah Carey, after all.

Reports have recently surfaced that while filming for his latest picture, Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen was hospitalized after suffering a  serious allergic reaction during a botched body hair bleaching session.

A source revealed: “Sacha is committed to as much realism as he can muster in his films. He’d heard that all-over hairlessness is a popular trend in the gay community, so he thought he’d bleach all his hair so it looked invisible.

“But it quickly turned into a disaster. Shortly after having the procedure done he felt a burning sensation and it grew steadily worse.

“He had a bad allergic reaction to hydrogen peroxide, which is a strong bleaching agent. It was so severe around a certain part of his anatomy that he couldn’t sit down for three days.”

Doctors prescribed a soothing cream and antihistamines, but Sacha took days to fully recover, delaying filming for nearly a week.

I question the validity of this report, if for no other reason than than bleaching will not make ridiculous amounts of body hair disappear, it will only turn it yellow. There’s no way you could expect that bleaching Sacha Baron Cohen would make his body hair invisible while filming. Have you seen how much hair is on that body? It’s like a Wookie mated with a Brillo pad.

Perhaps waxing would have been a better option, but he just wasn’t willing to go that far. I don’t blame him. The thought of having the hair ripped out of my hoohah by the roots makes me vomit in my mouth a little bit. I’ll stick to razors, thanks.

When he was invited to do an interview about Austrian economics by Sacha’s character Bruno, former presidential candidate Ron Paul got more than he expected when he ended up in a “bedroom” with a pantsless Sacha Baron Cohen.

PAUL: We were in a studio situation. I wasn’t invited to a hotel room. A studio situation where they had a lot of lights burn and blaze and all kinds of commotion. They said — better get in this back room here. And all of a sudden, I was in this room, which they had it all fixed up as a bedroom. So, getting me there was sort of dishonesty. Getting me into the interview.

I was expecting an interview on Austrian economics. So, that didn’t turn out that way. But, by the time he started pulling his pants down, I, What is going on here? I ran out of the room. This interview has ended.

The footage will most likely be included in the new Bruno movie, due out later this year. When the movie is released, Paul plans to apologize to his supporters, even though that will probably just give the film free publicity… like we’re doing right now. I give him credit for not threatening legal action, though he knows the footage will probably make him look ridiculous, and could damage his credibility in the minds of some humorless constituents.