Maria Bakalova Talks Working with Pete Davidson, How Life Changed After Borat 2 Oscar Nod

Maria Bakalova skyrocketed to fame after starring in 2020's Borat sequel, in which her character interviews former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in a New York City hotel room. The breakout role earned her an Oscar nomination, but the Bulgarian actress, 26, feels like she's just getting started.

"I don't think I will ever get to a point that I'll say to myself, 'I've made it,' because I grew up in a way that I feel like I'll always need to prove to myself," Bakalova tell PEOPLE in this week's issue. "I will always want to learn more, try more, go further, jump higher. I'm just lucky to be able to have a job that is my hobby."

Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Elton John AIDS Foundation

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Bakalova enjoys the range of roles she's taken on so far, including her latest as shy Bee in comedic thriller Bodies Bodies Bodies.

"I'm usually not a fan of scary movies, because I get scared very easily from little things," she says. "But this one, it's relevant to my generation, it's relevant to social media and our addiction to it. We call people 'friend' just because they're on our contact list on Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, without knowing anything about them."

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In Bodies Bodies Bodies, a group of friends gather at one of their parents' houses to ride out a hurricane with plenty of booze and drugs. But when the electricity goes out, so does any loyalty between the social media-obsessed pals.

"As much as I would like to say that social media is the worst and we should all stay away from it, if it's used properly, it might be actually a good thing; [you can] use it for a greater cause," Bakalova says. "But comparing yourself to somebody is not going to get you further down the road. That's a problem with all of these characters, they're looking at all the images, videos, selected by people they have never met and trying to be these people."

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Despite all the tension on screen, Bakalova says "there was lots of fun and love and trauma bonding" between her costars Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott and Lee Pace.

"It's been beautiful to meet people that are dedicated, intelligent, talented and kind of workaholics," she continues.

Gwen Capistran/A24 Bodies Bodies Bodies

Davidson, 28, provided the comedic relief between the tense moments of filming. "He's incredibly funny and fearless," Bakalova gushes of the Saturday Night Live alum. "He was so freaking organized and disciplined and prepared to jump into this horrible character that he's playing, when he himself is one of the sweetest, nicest people on this planet."

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Bakalova attended San Diego Comic-Con last month with her Bodies costars, as well as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cast, as she'll play astronaut pup Cosmo the Spacedog in the upcoming installment of the Marvel franchise.

"Comic-Con was great. It was overwhelming, exciting — so many emotions," Bakalova recalls. "The Marvel Comic-Con, I was like, 'That's a whole new world.' There's so many people jumping out of everywhere and they're so welcoming and excited about what's to come for this beautiful franchise. That's at the end of the day, what we dream for; If they leave feeling something, you did your job."

Amazon Studios Maria Bakalova and Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

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Going forward, Bakalova wants to continue taking on parts that she feels differ from her own personality. "I never thought I'll do a comedy," she says, referring to Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. "I'm excited to see what is going to land to me. If the script is good, if the team is great, the genre should not really matter. It's about what you give to the people."

Bodies Bodies Bodies is in theaters now.