The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
March 9, 2007 Friday
Final Edition
Actor finds fame as the butt of a joke: After Borat, actor Ken
Davitian wonders if his best work is behind him
by Katherine Monk, CanWest News Service
When movie stars hit the big screen in the sky, news outlets
generally pull a memorable eight-by-10 production still from a
signature role, and offer a 30-second eulogy in voiceover.
Actor Ken Davitian doesn’t mind the obituary tradition. It’s the
choice of picture that has him reflecting on his place, and claim to
fame, in the larger film universe.
"When they look for an eight-by-10 that represents my body of work
upon my passing, it’s going to be a picture of my naked butt," says
Davitian.
The California-born actor isn’t being facetious. As the man beside
faux newsman Borat Sagdiyev — a.k.a Sacha Baron Cohen — Davitian is
now better known as faux Kazakhstani producer Azamat Bagatov, the
other on-camera personality in Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America
for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which finally hits
DVD this week.
Some actors may have an ego problem with a bare derriere defining
their career, but Davitian says he remains grateful to Baron Cohen
for the opportunity to explore the backroads of America, and make his
backside famous in the process.
"I feel like I’ve arrived," says Davitian. "My life before Borat was
about going crazy in a terrible way. Now my life is going crazy in a
good way."
A working actor for the better part of his 53 years, Davitian has a
long list of credits to his name, but most of them add up to little
more than a few seconds of screen time and a credit as the "fat man,"
or "fat bartender" or plain old "pawnshop owner."
"I was going out for auditions all the time, hoping I’d get the job.
That was my life — that and my sandwich shop, The Dip, where I work
all day long. I’d get to auditions smelling like roast beef."
While Davitian doesn’t know if it was the roast beef smell that
landed him the part of Azamat, he says the Borat audition was
relatively mysterious.
"Usually it will say who the producers of the film are, but Larry
Charles was nowhere on the sheet. I was told it was a really
low-budget movie by two guys — and my audition was on the last day
of callbacks. All I knew is they were looking for an Eastern European
look, and I went in character — as a dumpy guy who spoke in broken
English," says Davitian. "The only reason I even went to the audition
was because I liked the [script] breakdown."
Once Davitian got the news he had the part, more information emerged
— such as the names Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles. He was
excited at the prospect of working with a Seinfeld producer and the
Brit comic behind Da Ali G Show, but he still had no idea Borat would
be the year’s biggest comic and cultural sensation.
"It was my son who thought it could be a big deal," says Davitian.
"Once we started shooting, it didn’t take long before I realized what
it could be. We’d be in character the whole time, because in
character, we could get away with just about anything."
For the most part, Davitian was simply told the day’s objectives and
general scenarios, and the rest was left to film fate. Because they
never broke character outside the privacy of their own hotel rooms,
and were shooting with a skeletal crew of five people, most observers
assumed they were a visiting news team with a crazy host.
Now famous for his haunting, bare veritas in the part of Azamat, the
only challenge Davitian faces at auditions is clarifying his status
as a born and bred American. What you see onscreen is all
performance, and while Davitian credits his extended Armenian family
for certain inspirations of character, Azamat is all his creation.
"I can’t tell you how lucky I feel, considering I was told that I
wouldn’t even be in the film. Not only am I getting offers, and
getting work . . . but my butt is legend."
Indeed, the story of Davitian’s derriere — and the now-infamous
naked wrestling sequence — is the stuff Hollywood dreams are made
of. It’s also the source of a fleshy bond between the two performers.
"I think Sacha and I will be friends for life. We don’t have to call
each other or see each other. It’s more like having a brother. And
let’s face it, when you wrestle naked with another man, you can’t
help but form a special bond."
Davitian says there’s plenty more off-colour hijinks on the DVD, and
those seeking even more time in the presence of Davitian and his
message of hope — and hair — can check out his personal appearance
schedule, which has him giving motivational lectures to college kids
across North America.