Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story

{{Infobox television

| image = Poster of the movie Rudy- The Rudy Giuliani Story.jpg

| caption =

| genre = Biography
Drama

| director = Robert Dornhelm

| executive_producer = Michael Braham
Jody Brockway
Stephen Davis
Jane Walmsley

| producer = Mark Winemaker

| based_on = {{Based on|Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani|Wayne Barrett}}

| writer = Stanley Weiser

| starring = James Woods
Penelope Ann Miller
Michelle Nolden
Jack Langedijk

| music = Harald Kloser

| cinematography = Serge Ladouceur

| editor = Victor Du Bois

| company = JAM Pictures
Carlton America

| network = USA Network

| released = {{Start date|2003|03|20}}

| runtime = 120 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

}}

Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story is an American television film produced and broadcast on March 20, 2003 on the USA Network. The movie stars James Woods as former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and depicts the life of Giuliani, focusing primarily on his mayoral career and response to the September 11 attacks.{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,435120,00.html |title=James Woods prepares for his role as NYC's ex-Mayor {{!}} Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story {{!}} Television News {{!}} TV |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=2020-02-08 |archive-date=2012-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819084428/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,435120,00.html |url-status=dead }}

The film was based on the 2000 biography Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani by Wayne Barrett.

It has been broadcast in several countries.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Cast

James Woods as Rudy Giuliani
Penelope Ann Miller as Donna Hanover
Michelle Nolden as Cristyne Lategano
Philip Spensley as Howard Safer
Jack Langedijk as William Bratton
John Bourgeois as Peter Powers
Kirsten Bishopric as Judith Nathan
Mark Camacho as Tony Carbonetti
Maxim Roy as Beth Petrone

The real Rudy Giuliani makes a cameo in the film as a construction worker.

Reception

John Leonard of New York Magazine gave it a negative review and wrote: "Rudy seems to suggest that such passionate mood swings are nothing more than lint in the navel and wax in the ears of a Great Man being grandly operatic."{{cite web |date=2003 |author=John Leonard |title=The Teflon Mayor |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/tv/n_8514/ |website=New York }}

MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher thought the film came too soon after September 11, 2001 for real perspective and said the film "suffers from a shallowness and a rushed kind of hagiography".{{cite web |date=6 August 2003 |author=MaryAnn Johanson |title=Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (review) |url=https://www.flickfilosopher.com/2003/08/rudy-the-rudy-giuliani-story-review.html |website=FlickFilosopher.com }}

In November 2020, thousands of social media users rediscovered the film and began mocking it, both for its poor quality and in light of Giuliani's career since its release.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/james-woods-rudy-giuliani-story-trump-b1760864.html|title='Hilarious' clip from James Woods's Rudy Giuliani biopic resurfaces|website=Independent.co.uk |date=24 November 2020}}

In a 2006 interview with PARADE, Woods reported that Giuliani met with him after the network premiere and praised his performance in the film.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

=Awards and nominations=

Emmy Awards

2003: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie" - James Woods
2003: Nominated, "Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Non-Prosthetic)" - Jocelyne Bellemare, Stephan Dupuis, Cécile Rigault, Matthew W. Mungle

Satellite Awards

2004: Won, "Best Motion Picture Made for Television"
2004: Won, "Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television" - James Woods

Writers Guild of America Awards