Mr. Rudolpho's Jubilee

I wanted to make a genre-bending film which blended comedy, music, suspense and drama, and, with this in mind, in 2009 I began jotting down story ideas and plot points that would become Mr. Rudolpho’s Jubilee. Some themes I wanted to visit: the misconception of wealth & fame as a cure-all, the hard-to-fathom depression of the successful, what gentrification does to cities and the older inhabitants of the newly hip neighborhoods, the isolating effect of technology and the option of unplugging and going off-the-grid. I wanted to touch on these themes but disguise them as that most-subversive of art-forms: Comedy. Fortunately, Robyn and I have a decent reputation as indie artists and we were able to gather together a collective of nearly 300 fellow-artists (from 36 countries) to bring the vision to life. With a modest budget, plus the determination and drive of hundreds of artists, we made Rudolpho real and brought home what I hope is an unusual and entertaining story.

I’ve been in conversation for years with the Italian actor, Francesco Mazzini, about playing Mr. Rudolpho. We’ve worked together on three feature films and I’ve been pitching him on the Rudolpho story since about 2010. Francesco has a gift for both comedy and drama, which I felt was essential to the Rudolpho character. As luck would have it, when Robyn and I were location scouting in Milan, Francesco happened to be there. We met, compared schedules, and to our great surprise, everything aligned and he agreed to play Rudolpho.

For the Italian casting, our Costume Designer, Beatrice Paola Ruffini, pulled out her little black book. She seems to know every actor, reporter, photographer, or artist in Italy, and she led us to Enzo Giraldo. Enzo is a popular theatre actor, often the heavy, because he plays a great bad guy. He played the role of the Rudolpho Inc. CEO with an understated wit and a subtle gleam in his eye.

The script has several strong female characters in it and we met with veteran actress, Valeria Ferrario, while we were in Milan. The role was for an assassin. Valeria has a power in her eyes and a steely edge to her personality. The moment she began to read the scene I knew we had the perfect killer.

Around this time the German movie star, Christiane Paul, had read the script and told us she wanted to play the part of Anja. Robyn and I got to know Christiane a few years before when we were all in China together, presenting our films at the Beijing International Film Festival. Christiane is well-known and respected in Germany and, after working with her, I can see why.
For the Berlin Boheems - a group of off-the-grid artists - we needed actors who could play instruments, dance, sing, and also had basic art skills. I had Stig Eldred in mind to play Barry, the head Boheem. We’ve worked with Stig many times in Los Angeles. He’s a veteran actor and also a great piano player and singer. For the other Boheems, we tapped some actors from our previous film, “Go with Le Flo”. They’re multi-talented and some are Berliner Ensemble alumni (Bertolt Brecht’s theatre). I felt that, to make Rudolpho work as a picture, we needed multi-layered, nuanced performances that only strong actors could deliver.

Mr. Rudolpho’s Jubilee is my 6th feature film as writer/director. Every film is an adventure - and if you’ve ever made a low-budget feature, you know that calling it an “adventure” is no exaggeration. But with such a lively cast and a willing crew, Rudolpho turned out to be an adventure extraordinaire. --- Michael Glover