The Performance: Leave it to Ryan Murphy to spot that Glee’s teenage dream could also be The Assassination of Gianni Versace’s 27-year-old nightmare. There has perhaps never been a better match of performer and real-life subject matter than Darren Criss and serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Like Cunanan, Criss is a Filipino American with an inherently magnetic charisma. Whether sauntering into a house party in a red leather jumpsuit or coldly committing a brutal murder, Criss is as a hypnotic, heartbreaking, and, above all, terrifying anchor for the series. —Caroline Siede
Also Great: Penelope Cruz, Cody Fern, Finn Wittrock, Judith Light
If “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” earns an Emmy nomination for Best Limited Series, as Gold Derby’s racetrack odds predict, that would be the seventh consecutive nomination for prolific producer Ryan Murphy in this category. Over the past decade Murphy and his team at FX have completely reinvented TV’s longform format, and that’s no more evident than at the Emmys. Previously these six shows all received Emmy noms for Best Limited Series: “Feud: Bette and Joan” (2017), “The People v. O. J. Simpson” (2016), “American Horror Story: Freak Show” (2015), “American Horror Story: Coven” (2014), “American Horror Story: Asylum” (2013) and “American Horror Story: Murder House” (2012).
Based on Maureen Orth‘s book “Vulgar Favors,” “Versace” follows the story of spree killer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) who murdered several men in the 1990s including fashion designer Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez). Tom Rob Smith wrote the nine-episode series that also stars Emmy contenders Penelope Cruz, Judith Light, Ricky Martin, Cody Fern, Finn Wittrock and Jon Jon Briones.
Not to be forgotten, two other Ryan Murphy Productions also earned Emmy bids in the top races: “Glee” as Best Comedy Series in 2010 and 2011 and “The Normal Heart” as Best TV Movie, which prevailed in 2014. His landmark FX series “Nip/Tuck” was shockingly snubbed at the Emmys as Best Drama Series, though it did triumph in that same category at the Golden Globes in 2005.
In terms of Emmy wins, Murphy has one for directing the “Glee” pilot and three for producing “The Normal Heart,” “The People v. O.J. Simpson” and its short form counterpart “Inside Look: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” On this year’s Emmy ballot he’s eligible for producing “9-1-1” and “American Horror Story: Cult” in addition to producing and directing “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.”
Sixteen out of 19 of Gold Derby’s Emmy Experts from major media outlets don’t just think “Versace” will be nominated, but that it will win. They are: Debra Birnbaum (Variety), Debbie Day (Rotten Tomatoes), Eric Deggans (NPR), Lynn Elber (Associated Press), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Chris Harnick (E), Matthew Jacobs (HuffPo), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby), Lynette Rice (Ent. Weekly), Robert Rorke (New York Post), Matt Roush(TV Guide Magazine), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Ken Tucker (Yahoo) and Adnan Virk (ESPN). See more Emmy odds and rankings.
As one of TV’s most successful storytellers, Murphy is using his influence to try to change Hollywood for the better. He recently created the Half Initiative, which strives to make the entertainment industry more inclusive by creating equal opportunities for women, minorities and the LGTB community behind the scenes. “We started with the directing end of my company. We started with the hope of 50% or more. Now, actually, our average is running like 60% female,” he told our sister site Deadline.
To borrow a conceit from Community, we’re living in the darkest timeline. Pick a day and chances are there will be another dystopian-sounding news story. From unsettling meetings with North Korea to reports of children being forcibly removed from their families by our government, 2018 has proven to be a horror show… And the best television of the year has captured that. So far this year’s best shows have been about a serial killer (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story), a dictatorship that imprisons and rapes women (The Handmaid’s Tale), and deeply warped race relations (Atlanta and Dear White People). 2018 has been great for television, and horrible for everyone’s mental health.
Playing a villain in a way that the audience admires isn’t an easy task. Especially, when it’s based on a horrible person like Branch Davidians leader David Koreshin Waco. While the category – Lead Actor in a Limited Series – will most likely go to Darren Criss’ portrayal of Versace’s killer Andrew Cunanan – Kitsch still deserves the recognition.
@PopcornABCNews: “They were like, ‘You are Ricky Martin!’” @RickyMartin247 shares a sweet story on parenting and keeping his young sons grounded and talks the “Assassination of Gianni Versace” on #PopcornABC. #RickyMartin #ACSVersace
7. “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (FX) OK, fine, we can all agree — not as good as “O.J.” But there were many pleasures here, almost all in the craftsmanship. The performances were uniformly good, while lead Darren Criss turned in a superb one — and possibly an Emmy-winning one, too.
1. ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ Episode 4: “House By the Lake”
With its fourth episode, The Assassination of Gianni Versace emerged as the show it had been trying to be. Without the gaudy trappings of the Versace family, producer Ryan Murphy and writer Tom Rob Smith turned their narrative eye towards the unbearably tragic murder of David Madson.
Darren Criss (as Andrew Cunanan) and Cody Fern (as Madson) turn in searing performances as killer and victim, respectively, anchoring the episode even as it takes a few flights of fancy. — Joe Reid
The Assassination Of Gianni Versace didn’t seize the zeitgeist the way its predecessor did, but it still made for a focused tragedy told in novel fashion a visual flair fit for the late fashion icon of its title. Played with tremendous warmth by Édgar Ramírez, Versace is ultimately a supporting character here, the spotlight falling on Darren Criss, doing the best work of his career as Versace’s murderer, Andrew Cunanan. At turns magnetic and terrifying, Criss plays Andrew as a creature of pathological confidence and need, forged from the pressures of the American dream and an internalized homophobia whose external manifestations allowed his crimes to go overlooked and under-investigated for months. In the mixed-up chronology of Tom Rob Smith’s scripts, The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story shows not how the monster was once a man, but how the man always had some bit of monstrousness impressed upon him, an ugliness that festered in Cunanan and claimed the lives of others, until it snuffed out one of the world’s true champions of beauty. [Erik Adams]
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