Murdoch says Sacha Baron Cohen signs for 'Borat 2'

NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has signed a deal to make ''Borat 2,'' a sequel to the hit film about an intrepid Kazakh journalist's road trip across America, News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said.

''He's signed up to do a sequel for us,'' Murdoch told reporters yesterday.

Cohen's mock documentary, ''Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,'' has grossed 248 million dollar at the box office worldwide and earned an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay.

Cohen also won a Golden Globe for his performance in the movie, distributed by News Corp.-owned film studio 20th Century Fox.

Based on a character he created for his TV show, the film stars Cohen as a cluelessly offensive Central Asian TV journalist named Borat Sagdiyev who has a thick mustache, wild-eyed grin and boisterous catch phrases like ''sexy time!'' Chronicling Borat's exploits on a cross-country US road trip, the movie is driven by Cohen's improvised, unrehearsed encounters with ordinary people who become his unsuspecting comic foils.

Asked whether he had seen the movie, Murdoch said, ''Sure, about three times. ... We laughed like hell. We went out to dinner and laughed all over again.'' REUTERS AKJ PM0909