Author: acsversace news

mattbomer: Excited to announce my directorial debut next Wednesday, March 14th at 10 PM on @americancrimestoryfx This was a 4 and a half month labor of love that I worked my a#% off on. The cast and creative team of #acsversace are phenomenally talented, and I’m so grateful to @mrrpmurphy and the many incredible mentors who helped to make this a reality for me. I hope you can tune in to see! #acs #fxnetwork #versace #directorialdebut 📸 by the brilliant Shelly Westerman

What it’s like to play a real-life murder victim who almost escaped

Of all the five murders committed by Andrew Cunanan, the most poignant may be that of David Madson because he’s the victim who almost got away.

An architect living in Minneapolis, Madson had everything Cunanan wanted — a promising career, a good dating life, a circle of loyal friends — but didn’t want to work for. When Cunanan forced Madson, who was 33 when he was found dead at a rural lakeside in Minnesota, to flee the scene of the murder of Jeff Trail, his first victim, his doom was sealed.

As the Ryan Murphy reaches its bloody climax in a few weeks, we spoke to Australian actor Cody Fern who plays Madson about what it was like to shoot the series in reverse and to recreate that ghoulish crime scene.

Fern, who is 30, will next be seen in the sixth and final season of “House of Cards” on Netflix.

What was it like filming the storyline backwards?

You start at the most intense sequence and then you get to discover the other end of the pendulum. So it was nice to work backwards. I don’t want to get too airy-fairy, but it was nice to live out the horror of David’s life and then backtrack to something more beautiful.

Did you talk to anyone in David’s family before you started filming?

I didn’t. I’m not sure the opportunity was there.

When we were given the scripts, there was a collective feeling this was difficult to get through, especially for the families. We wanted to stay true to Maureen Orth’s book, the source material, and not stir up anything with the families through unsolicited phone calls. “I’m playing your son or brother though the most horrifying part of his life. Do you want to chat?”

Why didn’t David run?

It’s very easy to look at things objectively and say. “I would do this” or “I would do that.” When you see your best friend [Jeff Trail] murdered, 27 times with a claw hammer, you don’t know how your going to behave. The level of shock. He must have been so afraid.That was the whole linchpin of the character.

From what can be gleaned about David, he was this wonderful, generous human being. When the police were searching his apartment, they found wrapped presents for his nieces and nephews months in advance of Christmas.

You’ve been working in Baltimore on “House of Cards.” What can you tell us about your character?

I can’t say anything. There are so many rumors about my role out there. We’re not allowed to confirm. But everyone is so psyched for Robin [Wright taking over]. I think the show has been about Claire since Season Two. It’s really not a show about one man. Or Kevin Spacey’s indiscretions or his terrible secrets. It’s about Robin and Michael Kelly and Jayne Atkinson.

What it’s like to play a real-life murder victim who almost escaped

Sex, Lies, And A Disturbing Bludgeoning In ‘American Crime Story: Versace’ (Ep. 7)

Both Episode 6 and 7 of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace were directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton. The two episodes, titled “Descent” and “Ascent,” form a neat diptych depicting the imagined suffering of Cunanan, whose inability to seperate fact from fiction led him into increasingly dangerous proclivities. To what extent he is the product of pure evil or a series of misfortunes is a question begged by the show.

Episode 7 starts in Milan, Italy in 1992. Donatella appears to have taken a creative lead in the design process as Gianni’s health deteriorates (amidst denials of his condition). The siblings argue over the future of the company — can Donatella handle the pressure of their line after Gianni’s imminent demise?

This marks the return of the eponymous family to the series, who had been conspicuously absent for much of the show — considering the program’s title.

In San Diego at the same time: Cunanan is working in a convenience store. He continues telling lies to customers about his future prospects as a PhD candidate. He lives with his mother, embroiled in a constant, semi-incestuous battle with her.

Later, Andrew and Trail head to a gay bar where Cunanan continues to create elaborate lies about his past, his family, his income. An older gentleman approaches him with his phone number, implying that his needs could be taken care of.

The next day, as if inspired by the events of the night before, Cunanan finds himself interviewing at an escort service. Despite his superior wit, the interviewer is unimpressed with his racial identity and demeanor. He decides to sell himself.

Back to the Versaces. Gianni and Donatella are working on a masterpiece together. Gianni thinks Donatella should be the model for his piece de resistance in his next collection. Donatella demures at first, but gives in. The cameras eat up their fetish-y design.

Meanwhile, Cunanan begins tracking high-profile charity events and operas in order to scope out potential older suitors. He zones in on one gentleman, Norman Blachford, and immediately begins seducing him (and his friends), saying “Let’s discuss your wants and my terms.”

Donatella is met with celebration at her studio — but despite the publicity, sales are down. Donatella conceives of designing a more ready-to-wear version of her bondage look. Gianni is furious, feeling like his artistic integrity is being compromised. His health is obviously deteriorating — he suddenly goes deaf.

Andrew shows off his newfound wealth with friends. He buys a drink for an attractive young blonde at the bar: it’s Madson.

Smitten, Madson returns to Cunanan’s hotel room. The two bond over stories of lost love, coming out, past melancholies.

Cunanan’s patron, Lincoln Aston, sees the itemized bill from the night and cuts him off.

The next night, Cunanan bizarrely witnesses Aston murdered by someone he was attempting to seduce — specifically, bludgeoned to death in a shockingly graphic scene. Cunanan lets the killer slip by without calling the police. The next day, Andrew meets with his older suitor and explains that police let the murderer go on a gay panic defense.

“I’ve been living through this my whole life. We fall sick, it’s our fault. We’re murdered, it’s our fault,” says the suitor.

“You can rob us, you can beat us, you can kill us — and get away with it,” replies Andrew.

The next day, Andrew recounts one of Madson’s stories to Norman — as if the events had happened to him.

Andrew announces to his mother that he’ll be traveling the world (with Versace — another lie). His mother begs Andrew to let her come with him. Andrew refuses before their argument gets physical. He pushes her into a wall and breaks her shoulder blade. She lies to doctors about what happened.

Donatella tells the Versace employees that Gianni is suffering from a rare form of ear cancer. She announces she will be taking over the operations of the business.

Andrew and Norman purchase a house together.

“If they could see me now…” muses Andrew.

“Who?” asks Norman.

“Everyone.” replies Andrew.

The show’s writer, Tom Rob Smith, has discussed his portrayal of Andrew in this duo of episodes.

“I think it’s wrong to think of him as the ‘Talented Mr. Ripley,’” said Smith to Vanity Fair. “Mr. Ripley is someone who is always hustling and is aware that he’s angling things… . I think Andrew thought he was a husband or a partner in his own right. I don’t think he understood that he was a hustler, otherwise he would’ve been happy with his lot.”

Andrew’s deception in the face of a particularly cruel social milieu has become the show’s central throughline: but the extent to which Andrew was deceiving himself remains a large, perhaps unanswerable question. By juxtaposing Andrew with his most famous victim, Murphy’s team appears to be commenting, once again, on the lies queer people need(ed) to be legible to society. Blachland’s resignation in the face of his friend’s murder shows the necessity of those lies, which are used like armor to protect from the indifference of the straight world.

Sex, Lies, And A Disturbing Bludgeoning In ‘American Crime Story: Versace’ (Ep. 7)

American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: S02E07: Ascent

Season two’s hot streak comes to an end with an average episode

American Crime Story has a Versace problem. This isn’t anything new, the show has struggled to make the famous designer, his sister, and his lover essential characters apart from the aftermath of his murder. This season is unabashedly about Andrew Cunanan, his friends, lovers, and family feel more layered due to the time, detail, and truly brilliant performances that permeate this one-sided show. Ascent tries to address this imbalance by giving Gianni and Donatella an honest to god plot of their own. Where previous episodes have used these two characters to underline themes that prop up Andrew’s story, Ascent feels a lot more balanced as each plot informs the other.

The problem with this is that I’m still struggling to care about the Versace’s. I’m not a fashion expert, which didn’t stop from knowing who they are, at least, but I’ve no basis on who Gianni Versace is without Edgar Ramirez’ performance. Said performance is all performance, big emotions that swing from light to dark, and it’s becoming a little one note. As I write this I realise that I’m being unfair to Ramirez, it’s not his fault that the show hasn’t given him anywhere near enough screen time to show us anything but broad strokes. It’s also true that Versace took his public personae incredibly seriously, he is still intrinsically connected and visible within his company’s legacy 21 years after his death, even after Donatella took over. This confirms my theory that this is a fault of American Crime Story itself, as they are still relying on Versace’s status as Andrew’s most famous victim without becoming as full a character as Jeff Trial or David Madson.

Thank the TV gods, or the American Crime story casting director, for Penelope Cruz. As frustrating as the unfulfilled potential of Gianni as a character, it’s even more frustrating to see a brilliant actress like Penelope Cruz on the side-lines for so many episodes. For the way that Andrew’s murder spree has been structured, and American Crime Story’s habit of fully characterising the victims (something that is severely lacking in most crime shows), there is a brilliant opportunity to put Donatella front and centre of the aftermath of Andrew’s fatal action. Why cast Penelope Cruz if you aren’t going to use her?

Ascent doesn’t go this way. Instead this episode portrays the rise to success by completely different means of both Andrew and Donatella. It’s horrible to say, although this show is all about the investigating the horrible truth, but Donatella wouldn’t be what she is today without the death of her brother. Ascent smartly explores this success by focusing on the first time Donatella thought she would have to take her brother’s place due to his battle with a rare form of ear cancer. With Gianni staring down the barrel of his own mortality (my gun reference was unintentional, but oddly telling) the pressure is on Donatella as she must get her head around the idea of one day leading the company that she helped her brother build.

Through some tough love, Gianni is trying to develop Donatella into his successor. His main method is emotional abuse, something he gets away with thanks to his medical condition, as he berates Donatella for taking credit for other people’s ideas. Although, this isn’t exactly true. Donatella, as shown in the beginning of the episode, that she has her own vision that she isn’t quite comfortable telling her brother about. Instead, Gianni proposes that they work on a dress together, a dress that becomes a major success when Donatella wears it herself. It’s in the after math of this that Donatella’s true strength as a business woman comes to the fore. Put simply, she is a shrewd business woman, who can read the market in a way her brother can’t because of, let’s call the creative differences with the bottom line.

Unlike Donatella, Andrew’s success isn’t hard earned, although his obsessive research for sugar daddy’s show him at his most productive. While Descent shows us Andrew at his lowest point before the murders, Ascent shows him as a young man with a narcissistic need for a better life. Again, this is nothing new for the show, but we see that Andrew was always like this. What’s different is that this is the part of the story where everyone still believes his bullshit stories. Jeff still loves him, he finds success as an independent escort, and he spends a perfect romantic night with David. Except he is still a fiction who goes by the name of Andrew De Silva. He has a mentally ill mother living in an apartment that she can only afford with his help that he has promised will be taken to the top along with him. Andrew is a liar, instead he fractures his mother’s shoulder, leaving her at the same point in the previous episode when he came back to her.

7/10 – Ascent is a solid episode of American Crime Story, but it’s missing the style and spark of the last four episodes. Direction that felt stylish and visceral last week feels a little sterile, although a decent into madness is always more visually interesting than a success story. Even so, this particular crime story is far to interesting to be really bad, though I think it’s time for us to fast-forward back to the biggest failed manhunt in American history.

American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: S02E07: Ascent