There was another nine-part US television series about the murder of your brother called The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, released in January of this year. You are played by Penélope Cruz. Does time heal all wounds, or does it make wounds of Achilles heels?
I still get as angry as I did on the first day when people want to make money with lies about Gianni. My lawyers tried to file a lawsuit against this television series, but they lost because my brother is a person of contemporary history and therefore has limited personal rights. Around 25 books came out after his murder, each with a different theory about the perpetrator’s motive. The wildest speculation was that it was a mafia contract killing. We were in countless trials, but no sooner had we won a case than another book came out. It was hopeless. Why does this TV series about my brother have to come now? The murder was 20 years ago. Can’t people leave Gianni alone?You could have called Penélope Cruz and …
Penélope called and told me about the project. She said that she has great respect for me, so I should write her if there are untrue things in the script.The script is based on the 1999 non-fiction book Vulgar Favors by American journalist Maureen Orth.
I had not heard of the book until last year. After reading it, I sent a list of factual mistakes to the production company working on the TV series. They replied that they were filming the book by Maureen Orth, so they could not take my findings into account. Viewers should know that the series is fiction, not a documentary.
The Epic of Donatella
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