How Sacha Baron Cohen Played Abbie Hoffman as ‘Clown and

Sacha Baron Cohen, who earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” mentioned the duality of his efficiency as Vietnam War protester and left-wing provocateur Abbie Hoffman in a brand new featurette obtainable solely on TheWrap.

“In a way, there’s two Abbies,” Cohen stated. “There’s the public persona of Abbie where he’s trying to inspire people and then there’s the private Abbie. So there’s a balance between the clown and the intellect.”

Cohen’s co-stars in writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s movie in contrast famous the similarities between Hoffman and Cohen himself — and the British star’s work as a satirist, most notably within the two “Borat” movies (the second of which earned Cohen a screenplay Oscar nomination this yr).

“Sacha has demonstrated a lot of courageousness in terms of standing up to power,” stated Jeremy Strong, who performs Jerry Rubin within the movie. “So that’s a wonderful sort of confluence between an actor and a character.”

“In Shakespearean times, the Fool was the guy who appeared to be the comic but somehow exposed people to themselves,” added Eddie Redmayne, who performs Hoffman’s fellow defendant and ideological rival Tom Hayden. “And I feel like what Sacha has done his whole career is made people fall on their own swords.”

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” is obtainable to stream on Netflix now. Watch the featurette within the clip above.