UN Tells ICP It Let Sacha Baron Cohen Film "Exteriors" for The Dictator, Not Inside

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 -- Under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UN has said it's getting more Hollywood friendly, allowing for example the filming of a Transformers movie in the General Assembly Hall. (Click here for Inner City Press' story on that).

  But Sacha Baron Cohen has said, of The Dictator, "we asked to shoot inside the United Nations, they actually refused. We said 'this is a pro-democracy movie'. They said 'that's the problem - we represent a lot of dictators, and they are going to be very angry by this portrayal of them so you can't shoot in there.'"

  Inner City Press on Friday asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if in fact an application for interior filming in the UN was made for the Dictator, if it was denied and if so, why. All Nesirky said was that Sacha Baron Cohen is funny.

  Inner City Press reiterated the question in writing, then got this in return:

Subject: Your question on The Dictator
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Fri, May 18, 2012 at 4:35 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

The United Nations reviews every request on its merits and determines case by case whether access to the complex can be granted. With respect to The Dictator, the Organization did collaborate with Paramount Pictures and facilitated the filming of exterior scenes at UN Headquarters last summer.

  The question remains, why did Ban Ki-moon's UN let "Transformers" inside the GA Hall, and confine the Dictator to exterior scenes? Watch this site - and the film.

At UN, Transformers 3 Is Filmed, Truth Transformed, Is Ban a Decepticon?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 13 -- Transformers 3 is filming in the UN today. The middle section of the General Assembly hall was full of extras, in suits and native dress, while a camera on a mechanical arm panned the crowd and then the three faux speakers on the rostrum. From the photo booth on the GA's third floor, Inner City Press heard stage directions, saw the vote tally board lit up.

After learning indirectly of the project, Inner City Press on November 9 asked the head of the UN's Department of Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka why nothing had been publicly said about the movie filming. Mr. Akasaka told Inner City Press he did not know about the filming.

There has been less and less transparency about how UN decisions are taken, during Ban Ki-moon's now four years as Secretary General. As Inner City Press has exclusively reported, an event in the Dag Hammarskjold Library auditorium was sponsored by the Trump Group.

Once exposed, the printed programs for the event were taken away and Inner City Press was told to “ask Kazakhstan” about the event.

When musician Taylor Swift bragged that she was launching her new album “at the UN” on October 25, Inner City Press asked who had approved it. “Ask Aramark,” the cafeteria contractor, Inner City Press was told.

Ultimately the event was canceled -- not because the UN had any standards, but because VH-1 didn't like the venue. A Central Park concert was held instead.

So who approved the Transformers use of the UN, and why not only was it not announced, but did Ban Ki-moon's head of Public Information claim not to know about it?

At UN on Nov 13, Transformers 3 filming, UN Decepticons not shown. (c) MRLee

When Ban's spokespeople have been asked to whom in the Chinese government Ban ostensibly raised human rights, and maybe even the name of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, the answer has been that some things are better left unsaid.

But why say you weren't aware of something you were? As one source asked, has Ban Ki-moon become a Decepticon?