By George Rush and Joanna Rush Molloy
Tribune Media Services
Sacha Baron Cohen got his biggest laughs in "Borat" when he ambushed everyday people. But Cohen isn’t above hiring actors when reality just isn’t funny enough. And that includes porn actors.
Cohen turned to a couple of pros for a sex scene in his forthcoming "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Male," in which he plays a flamboyant Austrian fashion journalist.
Looking for actors who were willing to do full-frontal nudity, Cohen and director Dan Mazer called on David Forest, the go-to guy for gay adult stars.
"We auditioned about 10 actors," says Forest. They finally settled on triple-X stars Paul Barba (usually billed as "Tony Capucci") and John Martel (known to fans as "Tyler Saint"). Cohen summoned Barba and Martel to the Aramano Hotel in Burbank.
"There’s a scene where Bruno comes to the hotel with some guys," Forest tells us. "They’re all trying to get Bruno to come upstairs for an orgy. Five guys are there. Two of them are my guys. Bruno apparently doesn’t want to join the party, but he watches through the window. I’m told it’s hilarious."
This isn’t the first time Cohen has turned to Forest, who provided Borat with his "son" – a porn star known as Stonie, who’s seen naked in photos with his "dad."
Forest, who used to run one of the top Hollywood escort services, now gets so many calls from mainstream movie productions that his new agency, Forest Casting, is focusing on providing talent for scenes that less-liberated actors won’t do.
"No more triple-X for me," says Forest. "We’ve got our eye on the mainstream."
SIDE DISH
Beyonce is (finally) explaining the title of her upcoming album, "I Am … Sasha Fierce." "It’s a way for me to differentiate what I do onstage from who I really am," she tells the new V magazine, which boasts a fab photo spread with the singer, courtesy of Bruce Weber. "(I) tell myself, ‘You are fierce!’ And the second I take that first step (onstage) and hear that crowd, I kind of transform. . . . It’s like I’m ready for war." . . .
Condoleezza Rice tells us she won’t be seeing Oliver Stone’s biopic "W.," in which Thandie Newton portrays our secretary of state. "I’m more looking forward to having Tyra Banks play me," Rice joked at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, where she and Banks were honored. Honoree Hillary Clinton poked fun at herself after a surprise performance by her "American Idol" favorite, David Cook. She noted, "(David) managed to get more votes than I did." . .
Congrats to CBS News’ Lara Logan. We hear the "Baghdad Bombshell" has quietly wed defense contractor Joe Burkett, whose child she’s expecting in January.
A friend of the couple confirms, "They got married a few weeks ago in a friend’s apartment in New York City." Last year, two years after splitting with husband Jason Siemon, Logan, 37, started a war-zone romance with CNN correspondent Michael Ware. When they broke up, she started dating Burkett, whose marriage was on its last legs.
The newlyweds just bought a four-bedroom house in D.C. Meanwhile, we hear U.S. Customs won’t be investigating Logan for supposedly "looting" Iraq war antiquities, which turned out to be run-of-the-mill portraits of Saddam. . . .
Director Danny Boyle loved having the mostly Indian crowd see his Oscar-worthy "Slumdog Millionaire" at the MIAAC Film Festival in Manhattan. "Finally, I have an audience that will understand the swearing!" said Boyle. The "Trainspotting" filmmaker told us he’s had to abandon plans to adapt the novel "Solomon Grundy," about a man who ages a lifetime in a week. "It’s a bit like Brad Pitt’s ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’" he said. "Even if it is in reverse." . . .
Bruce Springsteen is determined to keep one bank from failing: the New Jersey Food Bank. The rocker is appealing for funds to help the
ailing charity (NJFoodBank.org), which serves more than 500,000 people in the Garden State. . . .
"Gossip Girl" Leighton Meester did tequila shots with her boyfriend, Sebastian Stan, at Diablo Royale. Said a spy: "Everyone around was trying to act casual, but they all had out their phones, texting, ‘OMG, Blair Waldorf is here!’" . . .
Busta Rhymes dragging birthday girl Sandy Denton (aka the spicier half of Salt-N-Pepa) into Tenjune’s deejay booth, where the rapper performed some of her old hits. UFC bad boy Chuck Liddell and "House" star Jennifer Morrison grooved from the crowd.
With Sean Evans and Shallon Lester. Edited by Lance D. Debler.
(Got a hot tip? Send confidential e-mail to rushmolloy@nydailynews.com)
(C) 2008 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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