01 / Characters · 03 of 06
Bruno
An Austrian fashion reporter with no filter, no shame and a talent for making a room squirm.
2000 to 2009
02 / Character file
Funkyzeit
- Full name
- Brüno Gehard
- Nationality
- Austrian
- Occupation
- Fashion reporter and fashion journalist
- Partner
- Lutz Schulze
- Ethnicity
- White Austrian
- This issue
- Vassup
- Children
- OJ (adopted son)
03 / The character
Bruno is a gay Austrian fashion presenter who wants, more than anything, to be famous. He is vain, tactless and completely sincere, and he takes those qualities to fashion weeks, talk shows, pastors, politicians and a cage-fighting crowd, where the reactions do the rest.
The target
Homophobia, and the vanity and cruelty of the fashion and celebrity industries, by putting both in front of people who cannot hide their reactions.
04 / History
Bruno is the most confrontational of the characters. Where Ali G relies on politeness and Borat on complicity, Bruno relies on discomfort. Fashion editors, pastors, talk-show audiences and state legislators are confronted with a man who refuses to be anything other than what he is, and their responses do the rest.
The 2009 film pushed the method to its limit. Afterwards, with the face too well known for hidden-camera work, Sacha Baron Cohen moved to fully scripted comedy.
At home there is Lutz Schulze, his devoted assistant and partner, and OJ, the son he adopts in the film.
05 / Key works
- 2000Da Ali G ShowChannel 4 and HBO. Bruno's fashion-week segments.
- 2009BrünoUniversal Pictures. Directed by Larry Charles.
- 2009MTV Movie AwardsDescended from the ceiling as Bruno.
06 / The reel
Watch Bruno
Trailer, 2009, Universal Pictures
Bruno theatrical trailer
Universal's official trailer for the July 10, 2009 release.
Awards, 2009, MTV
Bruno lands on Eminem, MTV Movie Awards 2009
Bruno descends from the ceiling in angel wings and lands on Eminem; the show's writers later confirmed the bit was staged with Eminem's consent.
Official clips play here. Others open in a new tab.