Actor Rushi Kota joins us on Close-Up Culture to talk about his role in the acclaimed film, Dumb Money. Directed by Craig Gillespie, the dramedy tells the story of the fortunes made and lost overnight in the David vs. Goliath GameStop short squeeze of January 2021.
Dumb Money is a fantastic movie. What excited you about the opportunity to work on this film?
Yes, it came out really well. I am very proud of it. First, it was about the whole Reddit movement and the Gamestop saga. I am quite into stocks and trading and investing so when this whole situation was going down in January 2021, I was right there in on the action. I lived it, breathed it. Second, I was super excited to work with Craig Gillespie. He’s a huge director who’s done amazing work, so I was really pumped to see what his vision for this project was like and what direction he would point me on set. And then I got to play a real person, never done that before. I was itching for an opportunity to do something completely different in my work and this role delivered. Dumb Money definitely makes it to the top of the list of one of the coolest projects I’ve ever worked on.
You have a memorable role as Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt. What was your approach to playing this infamous figure?
Thank you. My approach was to literally stalk this man on the internet and find out every single thing about him. I probably watched all of his interviews and read all the articles he was featured in. If he had any social media, I would’ve most definitely slid into his DM’s and been like “Yooooo, I’m playing you in a movie, can we hang?” haha… I absorbed the music he listened to, his physical gestures, and his relationship with Vlad. Then when I got to set, we worked on physically transforming me into Baiju, with the wig, facial hair, clothes, and his skull necklace. And after all of that creation, it was really fun to take these characters for a joy ride in the heightened circumstances of the movie and see how they would react.
Yourself and Sebastian Stan (who plays Robinhood co-founder Vladimir Tenev) bring a great energy to the film. What was it like teaming up with Sebastian?
It was like a wet dream come true. Any time I’m sad, I just pull up a video or BTS pics of Dumb Money and it instantly perks me up. I have been a huge fan of Sebastian Stan and I really love his work as an actor and never thought I would get a chance to share the screen with him and you know Sebastian Stan is Sebastian stan. He’s an amazing dude to work with and we had a lot of great chemistry on set. We were watching interviews of Vlad and Baiju and laughing at how crazy these fintech bros are. I hope SS and I get to work together again in the future. I would take someone out for another opportunity like that.
What will be your biggest takeaway from working on Dumb Money?
I would say the biggest thing that really stuck with me is letting go of all the creation I put into character and trusting the director to set the stage for me to play in. My first day on set I was acting with babies… like actual real tiny humans… who don’t know their face from their own face. In the scene Baiju and Vlad had a falling out and haven’t spoken in months, and now Baiju has a newborn to take care of while he is on the phone with Vlad. Asking him why he shut down the buy button on Gamestop, and how it affects the optics of Robinhood. Then it came time for us to do the thing and then when the mom handed me her baby, the baby started whaling… like full on blood curdling screams that would exercise a demon! I couldn’t hear anything, not Craig yelling action or cut, not the person reading Vlad’s lines, I couldn’t even hear my own voice or even my thoughts and that really stressed me the F out.
In all of my rehearsals, I had not factored in a screaming baby as being my biggest obstacle. I guess I thought my obstacle was figuring out why Vlad did what he did and oh boy was I wrong. Haha, I look back on it now and laugh because it was such a wonderful gift that I did not appreciate at the time. I was so set on trying to do the part well that I didn’t make room for anything to not go according to plan. It ended up working out really great because my character would be under that level of stress and not know what to do in that situation. Craig created an authentic environment for me to fully live in and that’s something I’ve taken with me to all jobs thereafter. Create and to let go.
Do you have any other upcoming projects to share with us?
I shot a project right before the strike started called ‘A Girl In The Pool’ with Freddie Prince Jr. directed by a young prolific individual named Dakota Gorman. It’s about a well-to-do family man who is forced to struggle through a surprise birthday party moments after he hides the murdered corpse of his mistress. I don’t know where it’s coming out but I do know they have a final cut of it. And I am very excited about my work in it.
What type of roles and projects would you love to take on in 2024?
I would like to take on more challenging roles that would require me to be ON and in character for extended periods of time. Also, something that’s physical and action oriented which would require fight choreography. And always more comedy. I love doing comedy, I don’t get many opportunities to do comedic roles but that’s where I am the most free.
Photo credit: Raul Ramo
Catch Rushi on socials @rushikota