Borat Backlash Begins—High Five?

If you thought it was uncomfortable just sitting through Borat, think what it must have been like appearing in it.

While America's high-fivin', sexy time-lovin' masses seem to be gaining in numbers—Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan topped the weekend box office for a second consecutive week, bringing its gross to $67.1 million—so too do the film's increasingly litigious and unwitting costars.

The latest group of disenfranchised civilians to take issue with their sudden movie stardom are residents of the Romanian village of Glod, a group of impoverished Gypsies who book-ended the film as stand-ins for Kazakhs and who are now threatening to sue both Sacha Baron Cohen and 20th Century Fox over their portrayal.

The remote mountain villagers claim they were misled into signing release forms and appearing in the spoof documentary, having been told by the film's producers that an actual documentary was being filmed that would bring attention to their poverty and isolation.

To be fair, attention has been paid to their poverty and isolation—only in a mocking way.

Baron Cohen brought his Borat shtick to Glod last summer, when he and his crew infiltrated the village and paid residents roughly $6 apiece to participate in the filming.

And while the filmmakers had no need to "dress" the town—the villagers do travel via horse-drawn cart (though not horse-drawn car), use ground holes as toilets and own (though don't cohabitate with) donkeys—they allegedly took some artistic license with the Romanians themselves.

Nicu Tudorache, a religious man who lost his arm in an unspecified accident, told Britain's Daily Mail that he volunteered to appear in the film after learning producers wanted someone with a missing limb. In one scene, he was shown with a rubber sex toy shaped like a fist attached to his arm, though he claims he was never told what the apparatus was.

"I said yes, but I never imagined the whole country, or even the whole world, will see me in the cinemas ridiculed in this way," he told the paper. "This is disgusting."

Another man, Gheorge Luca, allowed his home to be used as Borat's residence in the film and was paid roughly $60 for four full days of filming—during most of which time a cow was housed in the abode.

"It was very uncomfortable at the end, and there was animal manure all over our home," he told the Mail. "We endured it because we are poor and badly needed the money, but now we realize we were cheated and taken advantage of in the worst way. They said we drink horse urine and sleep with our own kin. You say it's comedy, but how can someone laugh at that?"

For those wondering how exactly some of the poorest people in Romania happen to be so offended by a film most could not afford to see, let alone by a film that has not yet been released in their country, look no further than the humanitarian efforts of the Daily Mail. The tabloid was good enough to screen the four-minute trailer for the villagers, footage in which they are featured for less than a minute.

Still, the Glod residents aren't the only costars to flex their legal muscle.

Last week, two frat boys from the University of South Carolina, who are shown drunkenly spewing misogynistic and bigoted views after picking up a hitchhiking Borat in the film, filed suit against the 35-year-old British comedian and 20th Century Fox, claiming they were plied with alcohol by the film's producers and encouraged to behave in ways "that they otherwise would not have engaged in."

The graduates, who filed the suit as John Does 1 and 2, say they were told the film would never show in the U.S. and claim to have suffered humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and mental distress due to their sudden infamy.

The legal route to restitution may work fine for Romanians and frat boys, but for one New Yorker, vigilante justice seemed to have done the trick.

According to the British Sun, Baron Cohen, who appeared in character on the Hugh Laurie-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live two weeks ago, tried his shtick out on a passerby after the show.

The comedian approached a man, saying, "I like your clothings. Are nice! Please may I buying? I want to have sex with it."

At this, the man reportedly punched Baron Cohen in the face and stormed off when Laurie appeared.

If true, it proves that there are still corners of this country which may not immediately recognize the mustachioed Kazakh for the spoof act he is—which is great news for the film's producers, who told MTV News this week that talks of a sequel to the hit comedy are already in the works.

Before Borat reappears in theaters, however, another one of Baron Cohen's creations will have a turn in the spotlight.

Last month, Universal Pictures paid more than $42 million for the worldwide distribution rights to Bruno, in which Baron Cohen will reprise his titular alter ego, an Austrian Gay TV fashion reporter.

Production on the sure-to-be blockbuster kicks off this summer, with Universal's lawyers no doubt standing by.