Maria Bakalova's Borat 2 character was meant to be pro-LGBTQ activist

Maria Bakalova's 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' character was meant to become more of a feminist.

The 24-year-old actress - who played Borat's daughter Tutar opposite Sacha Baron in the outrageous sequel - has opened up on how her character was originally meant to develop before the pandemic altered plans.

She told Collider: "Actually, this is a funny story that I haven't mentioned yet. Tutar at some point was about to become [an] extremely pro-LGBTQ activist/feminist.

"That was the reason why I cut my hair. But COVID happened, they were thinking even more, the script was evolving every single day."

Bakalova explained how the feminist messaging was always meant to be included in the movie, and she felt a lot of support from the film's cast and crew.

She explained: "I think that has been from the beginning of the moment when they've been creating the script, because the whole team that we've been working on, I can call every single one of them by their names and I can stand behind my words that I feel they're like family and they're all people that are inspiring, that are there to stand up against misogyny and stand up against women being subjugated by the patriarchy.

"Because unfortunately, it's crazy, but we are living in 2021 and there are still places around the world, there are still people that are believing that women are somehow not equal, which is crazy.

"So I believe that that has been one of the messages in the movie. Sacha probably has a better answer, but from the first script that I read, it was there."