October 9, 2024

‘Hard Level Liar’: Former Colleagues Talk About the ‘Chaos’ of the Suspected Actor’s Killer – 07/14/2023

7 min read
‘Hard Level Liar’: Former Colleagues Talk About the ‘Chaos’ of the Suspected Actor’s Killer – 07/14/2023

Anna* ran through photos of independent productions that she submitted to YouTube in 2016. In them, besides the actress, there are other cast members and the director. “He was behind me laughing,” he says. “And I’m thinking, Oh my God, it could happen to one of us.”

Just like the actress, many were surprised to learn that this warm, fun, outgoing, friendly and helpful man was arrested, on June 15, as the prime suspect in the brutal murder of the actor. Jeff Machado44. The director was in the picture Bruno Larubia37.

“People used to say that Bruno must be a politician or an actor, because he made up stories and told them as if they were true,” says a (former) college friend who preferred to remain anonymous. He did not enter politics: he preferred to venture into the arts, leaving behind a professional past full of gaps, inaccuracies and inconsistencies.

Bruno Larrubia (officially, Bruno de Souza Rodrigues) started his career on Record. Around 2009, when he joined the station, he was taking a technical course in audiovisual production at the Estácio de Sá University in Rio.

He was an apprentice and later a casting production assistant: he was the first face many actors knew at the start of their careers on television. He would register candidates, record auditions and organize the material to be analyzed by the casting producer – a position not held by Bruno Rodrigues, as he had signed up to then, although he said he had practiced at market events.

Bruno Larrubia at the time he was on the record - Personal Archives - Personal Archives

Bruno Larubbia, at the time he was working at Record, in Rio

Photo: personal archive

During his internship, he gave workshops using the Record name incorrectly, in Porto Alegre, to earn “extra money”, he confided to a station friend at the time. The issue was reported to TV via email with pictures. The person in charge of the course confirmed the information, but Bruno kept denying it.

“Bruno is a compulsive, die-hard liar,” says a former employee. In the end, the assistant was fired, but for no reason. “If it had been for a good reason, Globo would not have hired him then.”

He sought confirmation of the jobs Bruno had effectively done at the station, at first Record denying he was a house employee. Faced with reports containing details about the class and even a picture of Bruno with the company badge, the Unpaid bill He questioned the TV guidance again, but received no response.

around the world

Bruno Larubia with the cast of 'Malhação: Conectados', from TV Globo - clone/instagram - clone/instagram

Bruno (centre, with headphones), with the cast of “Malhação: Conectados”, from TV Globo

photo: playback / instagram

Bruno didn’t stay still for long. He was hired by Globo and started working in another audiovisual field. On the official website of “Malhação: Conectados”, which aired from August 2011 to August 2012, he is mentioned as a producer in a photo alongside actor Cayo Padoan.

Bruno Souza Rodrigues, when he started signing, appeared in the technical sheet for “Malhação: Intensa Como a Vida”, which was then broadcast, as a member of the production team. In a behind-the-scenes video posted on the soap opera’s official website, he is seen talking to actor Guilherme Leicam – there, already credited as Bruno Larubia, Studio Assistant, a job that handles set logistics, with tasks such as ensuring that the actors are ready at the time of the ‘recording’. “.

“We had a lot of little parties, he showed up, walked everywhere with us,” one actress recalled. “He liked to show a position of power, that he was everyone’s friend and he was on top of everything. He would always say, ‘I saw him, I’ve been there, I know things.’ Today we see that everything was a mess.” Another artist adds that he had a “let me teach you what this director likes and doesn’t” attitude, even towards the veteran cast. “It was really an exercise in power.”

On Facebook, Edna, Bruno’s mother, still keeps the photos she took of recording “Malhação: Intensa” in a concert hall in the Campo Grande neighborhood, west of Rio, where she lives. The class was introduced panic With singer Naldo and DJ Marlboro. “I was in doubt if my son had a job or if he was just having fun,” she wrote in the caption of a photo posted on June 3, 2013.

At that time Bruno also took his friends to see Projac, now renamed Estúdios Globo. There, they visited the scenic town of Avenida Brasil (2012) and took pictures with celebrities like Fatima Bernardes and Qua Raymond.

For a long time, Bruno gave interviews and workshops with Globo’s name on his resume, although what position he held is unknown. In addition to the “Teenage Girls” soap operas, he claimed to have worked on at least 14 other productions, including daily dramas, variety shows, and comedies. According to the professionals involved in these productions, he was never an assistant director (a professional who bridges the gap between producing and directing)—some couldn’t even tell which department he belonged to; Others say he was a studio assistant, i.e. the position he held since the time of “Malhação”.

Wanted by Unpaid billThe TV spokesperson said that he did not have any additional information, in addition to what was revealed in the official memorandum at the end of May. The report stated, “Bruno de Souza Rodriguez worked for Globo until 2018, when he was fired. Globo provided police with details of the dismissal.” “Globo does not solicit any form of payment for participation in its programs nor does it authorize third parties to make such collection, and as soon as it becomes aware of this type of fraud, it immediately takes legal action against the scammers,” he added – the police are investigating whether Bruno promised Jeff a role in a TV series, for R$18,000.

puzzled friends

Publicity note for Bruno Larubia's Television and Film Workshop in Rio Grande (RS), in 2017 - Reproduction / Journal Agora - Reproduction / Journal Agora

Release note for a workshop Bruno did in Rio Grande (RS), in 2017

Photo: Reproduction/Journal Agora

Although he was known to the cast of “Malhação” as Bruno Larrubia, it was by the last name Baçallo (both of which are his surnames) that the then studio assistant interviewed columnist Alexandre Helfer, from Jornal do Oeste, from Toledo (PR), In 2012. He evaluated the participants of the workshop taught by Helfer, Alex Reis and Marcos Gomez, and introduced himself as an assistant director.

For reporter Andrei Zenobini, from Agora newspaper, from the Rio Grande (RS), in 2017 Bruno told a different version: He said he joined Globo as a producer in 2010 and became an assistant director in 2015. The report is inconsistent with the records of others, since 2011, for example, he presented a workshop introducing himself as a representative producer for Record.

Classes at the Rio Grande was presented by the Sobrinhos de Shakespeare theater company. According to the group’s founder, actor and director Marcos Vinicius Diniz, 52, it was Bruno himself who approached them on Facebook with the proposal. “He was so friendly, posing for a picture with everyone, giving students certificates. Everyone was blown away by the news, including me,” he says.

The 28-year-old gaucho actress Lara Lago took part in the course and is interested in going to Rio and working on TV. “He was a very good, approachable person. I learned a lot and we did some scenes, which I later made available on DVD,” he says. Another actor, who participated in the workshop twice and kept in virtual contact with Bruno until recently, ensures that he never promised his students any roles. “He said we shouldn’t think that the profession is a ‘thousand wonders’, that you have to hear a lot of ‘no’s.’ He suggested some courses and that was it.”

After promoting a workshop by Bruno that was scheduled for 2018 - Clone - Clone

Post promoting a workshop by Bruno scheduled for 2018

Image: reproduction

Since 2015, he said he has been feeling stressed and tired, and that he wanted to find a way out [da Globo]But I didn’t want to quit,” recalls a college friend. In 2016, he was the director of independent productions for YouTube. In 2018, he was fired from Globo, but he didn’t tell even his closest friends — even at the start of the pandemic, in 2020, he claimed. On medical leave, claiming to have been injured on set (revealing to friends that he obtained the license with a forged certificate).

I recently told my friends that I work in finance and asked for money to invest. At first, the associates got their money back, but then they stopped getting it back. “We started believing and investing more, until he kept procrastinating for months, and then he ended up getting arrested,” says one of them, who reported losing R$27,000. “Today we ask ourselves: Did he really have an investment or did he take that money from someone? It seems like everything we lived with him was just a farce.”

The friend says he believed in Bruno’s innocence from Jeff’s death until the last moment. The actor was strangled Jan 23at his home, but his body was only found in May 22nd. During this period, Bruno “continued his normal life,” says a friend. “It scared me a lot. carnivalAnd weekends, and birthdays … as if nothing had happened.

a Unpaid bill Bruno’s defense solicited by email and phone, but had not received a response as of the report’s publication.

*Fictitious name

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