Through a spokesman, Sacha Baron Cohen is disputing characterizations by actress Rebel Wilson that he behaved like a “massive a**hole” while shooting the Louis Leterrier-directed hard R-rated comedy The Brothers Grimsby. She played the wife of his character Nobby, a soccer hooligan who is enlisted by his secret agent brother (Mark Strong) to thwart a plan to set off two bombs during a football match. The film is full of outrageous comic scenes, and Wilson claimed Baron Cohen pressured her to appear nude and do other unsavory things.

“While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby.” 

There will be more to come on this as Baron Cohen presses his case. While Wilson will describe in her memoir, Rebel Rising — published April 2 by Simon & Schuster — that Baron Cohen pressured her to engage in scenes that made her uncomfortable, Baron Cohen will maintain that all intimate scenes adhered to guidelines and contractual requirements, and that these alleged asks were recorded by the cameraman on a film set for the movie, and followed a script that had been approved by all the actors.

Stay tuned.