Sacha Baron Cohen and Johnny Depp challenged each other to an improvisation battle on the set of their new movie ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’.
The duo play Time and the Mad Hatter respectively in Disney’s fantasy sequel and Cohen, 44, has nothing but praise for his 52-year-old co-star’s ability to go off script during shooting.
Speaking at the European premiere of the film in London on Tuesday night (10.05.16), Sacha said: "Johnny is actually a fantastic improviser, when we filmed one take it was about 30 minutes long. At one point most of the crew had left and it was just me and him talking nonsense on set."
He added with a grin: "But it’s all in there, there’s a 30 minute scene in the movie."
Cohen also joked that the film took longer than usual to wrap because his 52-year-old co-star was busy "dog smuggling".
The British funnyman was referring to Depp’s legal run-in with the Australian government when his wife Amber Heard was prosecuted for illegally bringing their pet pooches into the country on her private jet when he was Down Under filming the latest ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie.
Cohen quipped: "Making this film actually took twice as long because half the time Johnny was doing the dog smuggling, and it made us all feel awkward, we knew it was illegal. Literally I don’t know if you’ve stepped inside his private jet, there are hundreds of animals in there; I mean he’s whacking them to and from selling then to oligarchs and Chinese restaurants."
The comedy king also couldn’t resist taking a humorous swipe at his ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ co-star Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the Red Queen.
He said: "We tried to out makeup each other, so we’d be in makeup for 11 hours a day. For me, doing this role was a chance to wear the most crazy costumes ever. For Helena, it was a chance to dress down."
Cohen was joined on the special blue carpet by his wife Isla Fisher and co-stars Depp, Mia Wasikowska – who plays Alice – Andrew Scott and Ed Speleers.
Sacha Baron Cohen praises Depp’s improvisation skills
