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Born Rich is a 2003 documentary film about the experience of growing up in wealthy families. It was created by Jamie Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and filmed primarily between 1999 and 2001. The film consists primarily of Johnson interviewing 10 other young heirs. These interviews are offset by Johnson's exploration of his own experience and family as he comes into a large inheritance on his 21st birthday. He seeks out how to be a productive person, avoiding the dysfunction that he sees affecting many of the very rich. The film explores the taboo the ultra rich have against talking about their wealth. Johnson believes this secrecy about wealth causes the wealthy to be dysfunctional, and exists because the discussion of their wealth challenges the notion that America is a meritocracy and their right to have their wealth. Cast Georgina Bloomberg — born to New York City mayor and media mogul, Michael Bloomberg. Stephanie Ercklentz — born to socialite Mai Harrison and New York corporate lawyer, Enno W. Ercklentz Jr., son of banker and industrialist Enno W. Ercklentz Sr. Christina Floyd — born to golf champion, Raymond Floyd. Cody Franchetti — an Italian baron and Milliken textiles heir, born to actress Angelica Ippolito and Baron Andrea Franchetti, son of Baron Mario Franchetti and American heiress Anne Milliken. Juliet Hartford — born to model Diane Brown and A&P heir, Huntington Hartford, grandson of a principal founder of A&P, George Huntington Hartford. Josiah Cheston Hornblower — a Vanderbilt / Whitney heir born to Alexandra Thorne, daughter of Whitney Tower, a grandson of Gertrude Vanderbilt and Harry Payne Whitney. He is also a descendant of Josiah Hornblower, a delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress. Jamie Johnson — born to Johnson & Johnson heir, James Loring Johnson, son of John Seward Johnson I. S.I. Newhouse IV — born to Condé Nast publishing heir, Samuel Irving Newhouse III, son of Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr. Ivanka Trump — born to real estate tycoon and 45th US President, Donald Trump, son of real estate developer Fred Trump. Benjamin Luke Weil — son of Scientific Games Corporation Chairman & CEO, A. Lorne Weil. Carlo von Zeitschel — Kaiser Wilhelm II's great-grandson who is both a German baron and an Italian viscount. Production Development and pre-production Made over a three-year period while he was a history student at NYU, the documentary started out as his graduation thesis. At the age of 20, Johnson came up with the idea for the film through conversations with his uncle, Dirk Wittenborn, a novelist and screenwriter, who is also a producer of the film. Having been brought up reading F. Scott Fitzgerald, Johnson noted that no one of his class or background had attempted to examine issues of social class in America today. He was also personally motivated to make this film by his approaching inheritance on his 21st birthday, having observed that a lot of people with inherited wealth, including members of his family, “live unproductive lives, and even in some cases tragic and miserable lives.” He wanted to figure out why this occurs, to avoid that fate. The film makes reference to his grandfather, Seward Johnson, noting the conflicts from his third, late in life marriage to his chambermaid, and the longest, most expensive contested will trial in U.S. history that ensued after his death in 1983. During the trial there were ongoing headlines in The New York Times about the estate battle and lurid tales were revealed that humiliated his family. Johnson said, “My grandfather made some serious mistakes, he was born rich and I really didn’t want to be in the same situation that he found himself in at the end of his life.” It took three years to make as most of the young heirs contacted to participate in the film turned him down, sometimes harshly, due to parental objection, fear of losing their inheritance, or fear of violating social taboo. A Campbell's soup heir and a Rockefeller initially agreed to participate but both of them backed out due to a parent's objections. The pre-production took two years and involved hundreds of phone calls to line up the "young inheritors". Johnson enlisted Bingo Gubelmann, a childhood friend who is a cousin of socialite Marjorie Gubelmann, to be a co-producer and to help recruit "inheritors" in their late teens to mid-20s who could live lavishly without ever having to work. 11 heirs ended up being interviewed. Filming By summer of 2000, after a year of filming, most of those interviewed were asking Johnson to take them out of the movie. Carlo von Zeitschel threatened a lawsuit but never filed. Johnson recalls people approaching him at parties telling him that he was a traitor to his class, that making the documentary was the "stupidest thing" he could do, it would not benefit anyone, and he would regret it and lose all his friends. When they were no longer able to get permission to film at parties, Johnson and Bingo had a "Roaring Twenties" themed joint 21st-birthday party for themselves at the East Hampton house of Johnson's parents. A sign posted at the entrance informed the guests they would be filmed for a documentary. They were worried that no one would come to the party because of their unpopularity with the rich due to the film, but four film subjects and 150 other guests attended. The movie ends at the party with Johnson's voice-over about living outside the American dream that was achieved by his great-grandfather. According to Johnson, the decadence of the party was intentional. He had always wanted to film the final scene, where he and Bingo pour Veuve Clicquot into a tower of champagne glasses, "as part of the movie about the unequal distribution of wealth in America." Post-production The editing process took over a year, with 45 hours of footage to edit. While the film was being edited, Wittenborn wrote an article about the film that appeared in the September 2002 issue of W magazine. After hearing early reports about the film, Luke Weil filed a lawsuit on September 4, 2002, demanding that his scenes be removed. The lawsuit was featured in the film. Other film subjects were also apprehensive when the press started reporting about the movie. Weil alleged in the lawsuit that he had been "tricked" into participating in what he thought would solely be a school project. Wittenborn recalls that when he was questioned by Weil during the filming, he told Weil about his work in film and television, and that they hoped to sell the film to HBO. Johnson recalls Weil constantly vacillated during the making of the movie between being the most enthusiastic film participant, who expressed his ideas for film scenes, to being nervous about the criticism from his friends regarding his participation. Other film subjects also had regrets about participating and some also claimed they were told that it was a student film and thought it would never be seen by a large audience. Joh.... Discover the Chris Franchetti Michaels popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Chris Franchetti Michaels books.