Giving Birth to Rondo: By What Means Drew Barnhardt Acquired the Style and Title of Writer/Director
Rondo succeeds in combining the suspense of a thriller with comic elements - how did you work to achieve this delicate balance in the script and the finished film?
I wanted Rondo to be a fun, twisted movie that folks talk about after they see it. And I wanted it to be aggressively cinema-literate.
For better and for worse, Rondo is definitely "me." (my bad). It was also shot on location in my hometown of Denver, Colorado.
Rondo is a product of a few elements: My own frustration with the struggles to get other movies made. My personal shame at compromising myself in that process. And my desire to implement all my crazy disparate filmic influences into something that was all my own.
I consider this my four quadrant flick: 1) Bunuel 2) De Palma 3) Peckinpah 4) Pornhub. And then Kubrick, Verhoeven and Hitchcock snuck in there as well.
We all hate to get up early. So, for me, to get up at the crack of dawn to take on a task as difficult as making a movie, I feel that task better mean something to me and better be something that I care about.
Rondo... I got up early to make this movie. And I think it's the folks who stay up late that are going to like watching it.
Can you explain the significance of the title for Rondo?
Number one... As you see in the movie, "Rondo" is used as the password that gains our protagonist admittance into the messed up situation that lands him in this dangerous/kinky underworld scenario that informs everything to come.
Number two... As you can tell by watching the flick, Hitchcock is a major inspiration and influence of mine and, yes, that extends to titles. I love the mysterious simplicity of his one word titles, whether it be Vertigo, Psycho, Frenzy, Notorious, Spellbound, Topaz, Suspicion, Rope and so on. I thought that Rondo had that mysterious Hitchcock ring to it.
Number three... Max Ophuls' La Ronde. I like Max Ophuls.
Number four... The musical term 'Rondo.' Ryan (composer) and I had plenty of talks about this form, but rather than butchering his words, I'll go straight to wikipedia: in rondo form, a principal theme alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes", but also occasionally referred to as "digressions" or "couplets". This seemed to apply at the writing stage to the structure of this movie.
Number five... I'm a basketball fan and I enjoy Rajon Rondo. Seemed like a good password for our criminals.
Number Six... Fidelio was taken.
Last, but not least, Number seven... "Rondo" is a fun word to say.
I wanted Rondo to be a fun, twisted movie that folks talk about after they see it. And I wanted it to be aggressively cinema-literate.
For better and for worse, Rondo is definitely "me." (my bad). It was also shot on location in my hometown of Denver, Colorado.
Rondo is a product of a few elements: My own frustration with the struggles to get other movies made. My personal shame at compromising myself in that process. And my desire to implement all my crazy disparate filmic influences into something that was all my own.
I consider this my four quadrant flick: 1) Bunuel 2) De Palma 3) Peckinpah 4) Pornhub. And then Kubrick, Verhoeven and Hitchcock snuck in there as well.
We all hate to get up early. So, for me, to get up at the crack of dawn to take on a task as difficult as making a movie, I feel that task better mean something to me and better be something that I care about.
Rondo... I got up early to make this movie. And I think it's the folks who stay up late that are going to like watching it.
Can you explain the significance of the title for Rondo?
Number one... As you see in the movie, "Rondo" is used as the password that gains our protagonist admittance into the messed up situation that lands him in this dangerous/kinky underworld scenario that informs everything to come.
Number two... As you can tell by watching the flick, Hitchcock is a major inspiration and influence of mine and, yes, that extends to titles. I love the mysterious simplicity of his one word titles, whether it be Vertigo, Psycho, Frenzy, Notorious, Spellbound, Topaz, Suspicion, Rope and so on. I thought that Rondo had that mysterious Hitchcock ring to it.
Number three... Max Ophuls' La Ronde. I like Max Ophuls.
Number four... The musical term 'Rondo.' Ryan (composer) and I had plenty of talks about this form, but rather than butchering his words, I'll go straight to wikipedia: in rondo form, a principal theme alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes", but also occasionally referred to as "digressions" or "couplets". This seemed to apply at the writing stage to the structure of this movie.
Number five... I'm a basketball fan and I enjoy Rajon Rondo. Seemed like a good password for our criminals.
Number Six... Fidelio was taken.
Last, but not least, Number seven... "Rondo" is a fun word to say.