In an NPR interview with Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Ali G, etc) he said that while filming Borat he was stopped and interviewed by law enforcement about 40 times. While being interviewed he said he stayed in character.
Is that legal (pretending to be someone you aren’t to law enforcement)? Even if the intent isn’t malicious? I know not talking to the police isn’t illegal, but wouldn’t giving them false information about your identity and motives be a crime?
If so how did he do it 40+ times?
He probably gave them correct information while staying in character.
They didn’t want to show up in his film as idiots so they left him alone? Arrest Aladeen = more publicity. Plus, if you are acting, and are not obstructing investigation of a real crime, where’s the charge? It’s not worth the effort to charge someone, let alone convict them.
Do you suppose the film crew and cameras might have clued in the police that he was acting?
Well, it would have clued them in that he was recording video, but not necessarily that he was making a work of fiction, or that he was still in character. I mean, Cohen is excellent at this - I can absolutely believe that he could “tone down” the Borat persona while interacting with the cops while keeping the accent, mannerisms, naivete and so on that are characteristic of Borat. You’d have Borat doing his level best to be polite and respectful to strange American police and their practices. 
This was for Borat, not his new movie.
Lying to the police is a crime, wouldn’t pretending to be someone you aren’t who has different motives than your true motives be considered a crime?
lying to police isn’t necessarily a crime. What were they asking and why were they asking? If they said, “what’s going on here?” and he said “I’m a foreigner visiting the USA and making a film about it” I don’t see that a crime was committed. If they asked him his name and he lied about it, that could be a crime.
Whether something like that is to be considered a crime depends on the agenda of law enforcement, and later, prosecutors. If they think you did something else (some other crime), and you launch into some act which evades their questions, then yes, of course they’ll consider it a crime. However, if they’re just asking you to move your car or something, and you tell them you’re the King of Prussia, obviously they’re not going to consider it a crime, as long as you move your car.
Believe it or not, police are capable of exercising common sense.
Exactly. Add to this the presence of a film crew, and the cause of his odd voice & behavior are going to be pretty obvious. His questionings by the police were undoubtedly all of the ‘What’s going on here?’ variety and because Borat was a pseudo-documentary him explaining things ‘in character’ wouldn’t really be a problem. IOW him saying to the police, “We to be making glorious video-film for benefit of beautiful Kazakhstan!” is more or less the truth even if he says it in character.
If something serious had happened, like a car accident with injuries or something, and he kept up the “Me Borat!” nonsense when asked who he was I’m sure the police would eventually tell him, “Look, I’m gonna ask you once more and if you don’t stop with the act you’re going to be arrested”. Who knows, if the situation wasn’t too serious Baron Cohen might have just let himself be arrested as Borat. Would have made for more comedy.
However, Cohen has shown himself to be an incredibly smart not to mention decent guy, so I doubt he would have ever continued any shenanigans in any serious, morally or legally inappropriate situation. When he was making *Bruno *he said that for the finale in the wrestling cage in front of all the rednecks it didn’t matter too much what he said, but, they told him do not deliberately provoke the audience to violence with direct, verbal challenges as he could be arrested for inciting a riot. Of course, when he started his gay make-out session with the other wrestler (who was in on the joke) this didn’t exactly go over well, but didn’t make him responsible for anything the audience did.
Define “in character”. If Sacha Baron Cohen presented law enforcement personnel with a forged Kazakh Passport with the name “Borat Sagdiyev” on it then no, it wouldn’t be legal. But if all Cohen did was speak with a different accent, and display different mannerisms and a different demeanor than he would in private, then how could that be illegal? For example, by speaking with a foreign accent you are not declaring to immigration and law enforcement officials, under penalty of perjury, that you are a foreigner. It’s a rule of thumb that these officials utilize at their own discretion, and if it leads to the wrong conclusion it’s their fault, not yours.
Cite?
