Contributors Zach Laws, Riley Chow and Amanda Spears debate the Emmy races for Best Limited Series, Movie, Movie/Limited Writing and Movie/Limited Directing. | 4 July 2018
Cody Fern, ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ (FX)
Initially, it seemed like Cody Fern‘s delicate, devastating performance as David Madson, the second of Andrew Cunanan’s murder victims, was going to be relegated to a mere tragedy of proximity. David was unfortunate enough to cross paths with this burgeoning killer at exactly the wrong time, catching his eye, earning his sinister intention, and ultimately reaping the violence that Andrew held inside him. Ryan Murphy and Tom Rob Smith’s production was far smarter than that, showing David in the crosshairs not of one madman but of a dehumanizing, unsympathetic society that left people like David exposed and uncared for. Into that elevated narrative, then, stepped Cody Fern, an Australian actor and genuine find, who played David not just with the doomed air of future victim but with the waxing and waning of someone trapped between choices he never wanted to have to make. As the season went on, we got to see more of how Fern played David’s faith in people — his parents, his friends, his neighbors — and how that faith would be broken and questioned. The way Fern plays David, wholesomely kind and talented, you can see why Andrew would have thought that attaining him would solve all his problems. But Fern also never let those haunted doubts behind David’s eyes go away. The ones that, in his final days, wondered if the shame of a son touched by sin wouldn’t be worse than the grief of a son lost forever. — Joe Reid
Darren Criss, ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’ (FX)
It would have been easy for The Assassination of Gianni Versace to lean into the pulpy tone that defined Versace’s murder in 1997. Instead Darren Criss brought us a performance that was more complicated, nuanced, and sympathetic than any coverage of Andrew Cunanan has ever been. Criss’ Cunanan was unmistakably the villain of his own story, but through his shifting glances, fake smiles, and constant lilting lies, he captured the hero Cunanan saw in the mirror. More than once Criss forced audeinces to ask if this killer — who murdered five innocent men in cold blood — was actually a victim of his upbringing, societal homophobia, and his own disturbed mind. And yet the Versace season of American Crime Story was never afraid to pull back, showing us the monster Andrew Cunanan was beneath his perfect smile. Criss’ portrayal of a young man so enchanted by notoriety and enraged by jealousy that he would kill to obtain it is one of the most haunting roles ever brought to screen. — Kayla Cobb
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story’
From singing high schoolers to horror stories throughout history, Ryan Murphy has made a career out of humanizing society’s outcasts. But nothing he has created has ever been as heart-breaking, nuanced, or painful as the Versace season of American Crime Story. Rather than building to the climax of Andrew Cunanan’s (Darren Criss) murder spree, American Crime Story starts with Versace’s (Édgar Ramírez) murder. What follows is a complicated reflection on how the prejudice the LGBT community faced in the ’90s, a toxic celebrity environment, a genius designer’s complicated legacy, and one man’s disturbed mind all resulted in one of the most preventable murders in American history. American Crime Story transformed its pulpy premise into an emotional love letter to Cunanan’s victims all while pointing a judgmental finger at the bigotry that led to these five victims’ needless deaths. — Kayla Cobb
The Assassination of Gianni Versace (FX)
Okay, it wasn’t at the level of People Vs. O.J. Simpson. But the second season of American Crime Story did have some of the more memorable performances of the year. And by operating in reverse chronology, we got to see a lot clearer what drove Andrew Cunanan to become the monster he was — something we never saw for O.J. Simpson. The series took on the issue of homosexuality in a far darker and more realistic way than we’ve come to expect from Ryan Murphy and company, and in its own way, it was as relevant as Simpson was in 2016. We still had a harder time looking at the title victim, but considering how closely we viewed all the other victims — including Cunanan himself — it was hardly lacking. The odds on favorite to win this year.
My Picks For This Years Emmy Nods: Limited Series – David B Morris – Medium
Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace
One of the most dominant and fascinating performances for the entire year, Criss did something that even the greatest television has rarely been able to do: put you in the mind of a psychopath. The reverse unfolding of the series showed us just how Andrew Cunanan went from a gay rent-boy to a serial killer. He never quite earned our sympathy — he was just too deranged a personality to accomplish that — but through Criss’ portrayal we saw that in many ways, Cunanan was as broken and damaged as the victims he killed. The fact that Criss managed to do all this while making us forget the memorable portrayal of Blaine in Murphy’s Glee demonstrated just how great a talent he is. Probably the front-runner for the Emmy.
My Picks For This Years Emmys, Outstanding Limited Series Awards
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace” will be the latest Ryan Murphy show to dominate the acting races at the Emmys, according to Gold Derby’s predictions. FX’s anthology series is forecasted to top all other limited series/TV movies with four acting bids, for lead Darren Criss and supporting players Penelope Cruz, Judith Light and Edgar Ramirez. Not to outdone, two other limited series — Netflix’s “Godless” and Hulu’s “The Looming Tower” — are predicted to walk away with three acting noms apiece.
Gold Derby’s racetrack odds are derived from the predictions made by Expert journalists, website staff Editors, our Top Users who scored the best predicting previous events, and all site Users. The Emmy nominations will be unveiled July 12.
Here’s the breakdown of each limited series/TV movie that’s predicted to earn two or more acting nominations at the 2018 Emmys:
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace” – 4 acting predictions
Movie/Mini Actor Darren Criss
Movie/Mini Supporting Actress Penelope Cruz
Movie/Mini Supporting Actress Judith Light
Movie/Mini Supporting Actor Edgar Ramirez
Tuned In: Possible Emmy nominations, “Glow” and “Younger”
Tuned In podcast: Post-Gazette online features editor Sharon Eberson, TV writer Rob Owen and media writer Maria Sciullo discuss possible Emmy nominations, “Glow” and “Younger.” | 3 July 2018
*Limited series discussion starts at 6:27
Darren Criss has been the Emmy front-runner for Best Movie/Mini Actor since we opened our predictions center in March. He has a showy starring role as real-life serial killer Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” the second installment of Ryan Murphy‘s “American Crime Story” franchise. But later in the spring a challenger emerged who might be Criss’s biggest threat: Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose“).
As we approach the announcement of the Emmy nominations on July 12 Criss has leading odds of 10/3 based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. Among those users are 19 Expert journalists from top media outlets, 12 of whom agree with the consensus that Criss will win: Debra Birnbaum (Variety), Debbie Day (Rotten Tomatoes), Lynn Elber (Associated Press), Chris Harnick (E!), Matthew Jacobs (Huffington Post), Tom O’Neil(Gold Derby), Lynette Rice (Entertainment Weekly), Robert Rorke (New York Post), Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Ken Tucker (Yahoo).
Criss has no previous Emmy nominations for acting (he picked up a songwriting bid in 2015 for “Glee”), but that didn’t stop Riz Ahmed (“The Night Of”) from taking down a couple of Oscar winners in this category last year. And the last season of “American Crime Story,” “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” won this award just two years ago for its star Courtney B. Vance.
Based on our combined odds, Criss’s closest competition is Al Pacino(“Paterno”), who ranks second with 9/2 odds. But the Experts think the real dark horse is Cumberbatch for playing the title character in Showtime’s literary adaptation “Patrick Melrose.” It’s a meaty showcase for Cumberbatch, who gets to play a former child abuse victim struggling with addiction, and five Experts say it will be the ticket to an Emmy win: Eric Deggans (NPR), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Anne Thompson (IndieWire) and Ben Travers (IndieWire).
Cumberbatch is already an Emmy darling, with five nominations in this category over the last six years. One of those was for the miniseries “Parade’s End” (2013), and the other four were for playing the title role in “Sherlock” (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017). He won in 2014 for the episode “His Last Vow.”
In fact, if Cumberbatch earns a nom this year as we expect him to, he’ll tie the legendary Laurence Olivier as the second most nominated actor in this category’s history with six bids (Hal Holbrook is the all-time leader with seven). And if he wins he’ll be the 10th to claim this award more than once, joining other esteemed thespians including Anthony Hopkins, Peter Falk, and his possible 2018 rival Pacino.
So who do you think is really out front? Will Criss slay the competition, or will Cumberbatch get his fix?
Every TV show is a story about something going wrong. Since TV shows are invented by writers, and since writers are known for loving idea, it’s hardly surprising that the best usually have some unstated central theme in mind. It may be as simple as “Show life in the West Wing” or a complicated as “What’s identity?” Not that these ideas are planted from the beginning. But eventually a show finds a theme, or it finds its way out of relevance.
Each of the TV shows below are extended meditations on a particular human frailty. The Seven Deadly Sins seemed a fitting categorization. When it comes to lessons on virtue, you could do worse than the shows below. And that’s the point.
Envy
TV Show: American Crime StoryThe version of American Crime Story I’m referring to is this spring’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which deals with the 1997 slaying of the designer (Edgar Ramirez) by spree murderer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss). But to split apples and call the halves equal, we could be speaking of any edition of Ryan Murphy’s new anthology series.
The travails of The People v. O. J. Simpson were as much about envy, and its hold on the mind of the accused, as Versace is. In the first series, the longing was submerged below the mask of fame. Here jealousy is palpable, floating like an oil slick on a bowl of ocean water. The story of one man’s madness is straightforward in a way that’s new for Murphy. That doesn’t make it any less compelling. When a teacher asks little Andrew his wish, “just one wish, what would it be?” “To be special,” Cunanan replies, and everything erupts from that moment of compressed desire, and all the coveting that comes with it.
ACS news 