Darren Criss talks about his most challenging role to date—playing Andrew Cunanan

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LOS ANGELES—In a room inside the Versace mansion in Miami, just a few steps from where Andrew Cunanan fatally shot the designer, Darren Criss was told that Ryan Murphy, who cast him in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” paid him the supreme compliment.

Hearing that the award-winning executive producer-director cast him as Cunanan because he always knew there was a great dramatic actor in him, Darren gave a fittingly serious answer. Playing the serial killer, who murdered at least five people, is a big shift for Darren, who first worked with Ryan as Blaine Anderson in the musical TV series, “Glee.”

“Oh, how far we’ve come,” Darren quipped with a laugh. He has taken off his gray suit jacket. “Miami heat is getting to my head,” he explained.

We were in a room with walls gilded with mosaic tile work and stained glass windows, typical of the designer’s lavish home.

Like Cunanan, Darren is Filipino-American. The actor— the son of a Cebuana, Cerina (nee Bru), and Charles William Criss from Pennsylvania— noted his eerie resemblance to Cunanan. The latter’s mom (Mary Anne Schillaci) is Italian-American, while his dad, Modesto Cunanan, is Filipino.

For the actor who starred on Broadway in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” this role represents his biggest and most dramatic challenge yet.

Ryan, on a career high with his “Feud: Bette and Joan” and “The People v. OJ Simpson,” picked a fine cast to join Darren: Edgar Ramirez (Versace), Penelope Cruz (Donatella Versace) and Ricky Martin (Antonio D’Amico, Versace’s longtime lover).

The FX miniseries, which continues to shoot, debuts in early 2018.

Excerpts from our interview:

Ryan Murphy said he always knew there was a great dramatic actor in you, and he wanted people to see that in this show. How scary or daunting is that for you? Actors are only as good as the parts they get to play. It’s a passive art form. People will hate me for saying that because obviously, when you’re doing it, it isn’t passive. But if I’m a musician, I can pick up my guitar and play it. If there was no one in this room, I can still play my guitar. I can proactively be a musician.

I always say the best actors in the world, we’ll probably never know about. We’ll never get to see that guy do “King Lear,” that woman do “Hedda Gabler.” You have to wait for those moments.

This is a moment for me, and I recognize that. I do feel like my ship came in for this one. “Glee” was a big hit before I was on it. I had a very objective relationship with it. I was in college when it was all over the place. So, to suddenly be thrust on it was a strange but very wonderful experience.

It brings me here for which I’m unfathomably grateful. But I studied acting. I treat acting like a real craft as much as you love to roll your eyes at that little word. But it’s true. There’s no sense of entitlement. But I worked hard. I believe in doing the necessary steps to get to a certain place.

So, to be finally be given this opportunity, I feel prepared. Whether or not it’s good is a whole other story. It could be horrible, crash and burn. But it’s like that—give me the ball, coach. And Ryan certainly gave me a good throw. So I’m very excited about that.

You were 10 when Versace was killed. At what point in your life did you know about him? I knew Versace was killed in front of his home. I’d been here before, the first time I went to Miami. I remember looking it up, seeing the steps. This is so eerie. I vaguely remembered that he was half-Filipino. If there’s any half-Filipino in the media, you tend to pay attention to it.

I had, through the fabulous world of “Glee,” met Donatella. I had been to Versace’s home in Milan. But, that was about as far as a connection that I had.

Can you talk about filming the crucial assassination scene? It was gruesome. Because we were not shooting this in a sound studio in Los Angeles. This is the house—and people walking around here were there for that. We couldn’t hide it. It was in broad daylight. So, to feel that energy of this very real event, it weighed heavily on me.

When I shot it, I was thrilled because Edgar wasn’t here for that. If I had to look in Edgar’s eyes and do something like that, that would have been tough, because it weighs on your conscience.

But, as an actor, when you’re doing something like that, I’m not thinking of my conscience. As far as I’m concerned, I’m the hero in this story. That’s how I have to play it. There’s a certain longing, loss, confusion, hurt and just a f**kload of pain that is coming into an act like that.

That’s what you have to channel. It helps that we’re in paradise because we do this really gruesome stuff, then I can go home and have a cocktail on the beach. It’s like, “All right, real life is OK.”

Can you clarify why you didn’t film that scene with Edgar around? Only because that had to do more with the technical aspects. It’s highly technical, but the biggest meat of the shot was of me making the decision [to kill Versace] and going up [to him]. It’s giving a little bit away. So now, you know about that shot. Sorry, Ryan.

How did you research on Andrew Cunanan? The series is mainly based on the book of Maureen Orth, who’s an extraordinary journalist and did mind-bending work and collection of data from friends, family and all records available.

What’s interesting about this particular case is, as famous as Versace is, there’s not a whole lot of stuff [about it]. There’s only one book, at least one that’s pretty serious. The others are trashy pulp novels.

There are three different versions of Andrew that I have to deal with. There’s the real version that none of us knew. There is the version that people did know, then there’s the version that we’re telling.

As an actor, I can contact the family members or friends, but they’re all going to have different answers of who he was. My job is to serve the script. As much as I want to stay true to who Cunanan was, we really don’t know what kind of person he was. We just have to humanize him as much as possible and hope for the best.

(Conclusion tomorrow)

American Crime Story: Versace–Interview with Ryan Murphy | Emanuel Levy

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This is the third installment of Ryan Murphy’s acclaimed anthology, American Crime Story: Versace.

Edgar Ramirez stars as the openly gay designer, who was tragically gunned down on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion in 1997 by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, played by Darren Criss.

The limited series chronicles the bizarre murder and the manhunt for Cunanan, who targeted gay men and was responsible for five murders.

Casting Darren Criss as Cunanan

Ryan Murphy: I didn’t have to convince him at all. What I like to do is give people opportunities sometimes that they would never have. And Darren is obviously a brilliant singer and a performer and a showman and did “Glee” and has been on Broadway. When Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson and I were first talking about this idea of doing Versace as sort of the O.J. follow-up, which was around two years ago, I immediately called Darren. Because to me he was the only one for that part. And I just said, I’m thinking about doing this, would you be interested. And he said, well yes, very much so because it’s such a great part. And I said, ok I’ll get the contracts drawn. And then it took two years because you have to write it and you have to get it green-lit. But he was always the only person I had in mind for it because I knew that he would push himself because he was so hungry to prove himself in a different way. And it’s a truly insane dramatic part. And he really wanted to go there. So he was the only person we talked to. He hadn’t heard from me and then he was getting ready to do another show and the day it was announced that Versace was up, he was, oh shit what am I going to do. But we all worked it out so he was able to get out and commit pretty much a year to it. And he was great. Brad and Nina went to see him in “Hedwig” and he knew they were in the audience so of course he came out and sat on Brad’s lap and did the whole showbiz thing.

Relationship to Versace

RM: I never met him but I know a lot of people who did meet him. I sold my first script in late 1996 so I was just starting. And he obviously was killed a year later so I never got to meet him. I knew a lot of people who were very close to him. I’ve worked with Naomi Campbell who was very close to him, who told me a lot of interesting things about him. Madonna, there’s the Madonna guest suite upstairs which is the first place I went to when we came here. She used to sit in the bathtub and stand up and tease them all out in the courtyard. I never got to meet him, but he was always somebody I was very interested in. I loved him. I felt like I had a lot in common with him, what he did and where he came from and how he really dedicated his life to beauty and style and was obsessed with a vision of things. And I related to him. I was at restaurant called Off Vine in L.A. when I first heard the news. And weirdly was also at the same restaurant when Princess Diana died. So I’ve stopped going to Off Vine after the Princess Diana announcement. I was just very moved and shattered by it. It was somebody who’s gay, who is in the gay community, of course then, half the people I knew who had had ties to Hollywood and San Diego said, I was at a bar, I met Andrew Cunanan. So there was always a very mythical thing about that guy. But it was just a real tragedy. And the reason I wanted to do this story so badly was because if you do O.J., what do you do to top O.J.? You have to do something completely different. And I wanted to do something smaller and more intimate. And, it’s a different kind of crime. When we do “American Crime” we’re not just going to do Jon Benet, we’re not going to just do something salacious. It has to be about something that has American social issues in it. And this period of time that we’re talking about, 1997, there were really two people who were out in entertainment, Elton John and Gianni Versace.

Versace as Openly Gay

RM: Versace really struggled with it. There were a lot of conversations with Donatella. Should I come out of the closet? Because my business is going public. He was terrified that by not being able to be himself he would be discriminated against and lose everything. That was also the period of don’t ask, don’t tell, which we dive into. The reason why it’s such an interesting American crime is because Gianni Versace was only killed because of homophobia. Andrew Cunanan killed and targeted people who were gay or who were in the closet. And his murders tend to out them. There was a gentleman who was in his 70’s named Lee Miglin who was one of the early victims, whose family was so upset and terrified of his personal life coming out that they just sort of said, motive unknown. And the police didn’t pursue it. And by the time Cunanan got to Miami, the police officers in town had thousands of wanted posters in the trunks of the cars that they would not put up because they would not go to gay bars. They just wouldn’t do it. So we’re delving with all this very dark period of American society that is obviously personal to me, and very upsetting.

Cunanan as Character

RM: We had the book that we optioned, “Vulgar Favors.” The thing about Cunanan was a mystery in many ways. The things that I was fascinated about is the creator-destroyer idea of Cunanan and Versace sort of were the same beginning. They came from immigrant families, they wanted to be famous, they wanted to be celebrated and one person did the work and took the risk, which was Versace, and one person didn’t, who was Cunanan. Cunanan was also a tragic story. He was lied to by his parents, specifically his father, who told them they were incredibly wealthy, almost royalty in the Philippines. And in his teenage years he discovered that his father had been lying the entire time. He was treated like a celebrity in his own family. When he was very young his parents gave him the master suite. So he sort of grew up with this kingly idea of who he was and who he could be. And then it was all taken away and he was shattered by it. And he had real psychological difficulties dealing with. There was also what we could never verify or prove, sexual abuse in his family. So he was also a very tragic figure and wanted fame and fortune so desperately that what happened with him was when he killed someone, the first victim, that probably was in a fit of pique and rage, he decided well, I’m going to go to jail, I’m going to be destroyed, so I want to be famous so I’m going to move towards that. And in taking the life of the famous person became his fame which is also a very American story that we see time and time again, that’s gotten progressively worse with social media over the years and threats and violence. When you have somebody like Cunanan, who is thought of in many circles as a monster, and the person that took away Gianni Versace from us, you also have to with the actor say, well let’s talk about his childhood. He was a real person. Something along the way made him snap. So we’ve talked a lot about that. And Darren did a lot of research on his own and showed up ready to go.

Edgard Ramirez as Versace

RM: Whenever I do something like this, or like O.J. or, I always have one person in mind that I think of, always. So, Darren was the obvious choice. I was friends with him. I knew him. And I wanted people to see something that I saw which was a great dramatic actor. In the case of Edgar, if you look at Edgar, Edgar looks exactly like Versace. When we have the prosthetic and the wig and can show you pictures it’s amazing. And Edgar has that sort of grandiose gravity as a human being that Versace had. And he was my only choice. And I met him. And I always have this thing when I give this really long, impassioned spiel, I’m going to die if you don’t do it. And at the end of the meeting I was, what do you think? And he was, well, let me think about it. I was, what? What do you mean? And then I was, ok I’m going to get you no matter what, and I did. And he met with Brad and Nina and loved them and I really pushed hard. And by the time I gave him a second script you can’t deny the power of the part. And he was, ok, I get it, I love it, I’ll do it.

Ricky Martin as Versace’s Lover

Ricky was another example of somebody that, people think of Ricky as “La Vida Loca” and a Vegas showman and he’s doing Sting. But Ricky is so soulful and intimate. And I just saw something in him. I’ve also worked with him once before. And you know the boyfriend, Antonio, was a very tragic figure because he was with Versace for 15 years and loved him and Versace was killed and he was out. He was thrown out of this palace and this life. And he had suicide attempts. And I thought, well I think Ricky could really go there and would want to do this. I met Ricky, I just called him up and said, can I talk to you? And I explained to him the role. And then I offered him the role. And at the end of the meeting we both got really teary because he didn’t tell me that he and Edgar were very close friends. And Edgar was, oh I want you to do this part so bad but I’m not going to, do that.

Penelope Cruz as Donatella

RM: was a little bit trickier because I obviously know and adore Gaga. And we briefly discussed it but she was doing “A Star Is Born” with Bradley Cooper, that’s basically shooting this whole year and I had to shoot the show this year. So then I was sort of thinking about people and I know Penelope because of Javier and “Eat, Pray, Love” and I spent a lot of time with them. And I just asked if I could speak with her. And she is friends with Donatella. And I thought that was a great in because she knew her, she would be an advocate for her. But again, she is an Oscar winning actress and a great one at that so I thought it would be interesting. And she said yes instantly too. So I had great luck with it. And I also love that for all of them, you’ll see a different side of them. You’ve never seen Penelope do something like that. You’ve certainly never seen Ricky Martin or Edgar do something like that. And it’s been exciting to see.

Surprises: Versace was HIV+

We have a brilliant writer named Tom Rob Smith who’s writing the episode and has really taken an auteur approach to the material. And so he’s really immersed in it. And he’s constantly coming up with great nuggets that are surprising. I think the most devastating thing for me that I learned was that he had HIV and almost died. And at that time there was no cocktail. And he was really devastated because he was a person who loved life and he was trying to figure out a way to pass the company to Donatella because he was going to die. It was a death sentence. But miraculously, right around the time the cocktail had started to come back and he took the right cocktail of pills and got his health back. He felt he had so much left to say and then he was killed out on his steps that morning. He was creating again and designing again and he was crying all the time because his life had been given back to him. You can imagine for Donatella and Gianni and Antonio to have this second life, this great lion of a man was restored to vigor. And he was just snuffed out instantly with two bullets to the face. That was really devastating to me.

Other Victims

The Lee Miglin killing was just so barbaric and cruel and awful. He was a closeted gay man. And Cunanan did that and had such rage, obviously self-loathing, that he killed him in such a violent way. And then dressed him up as a woman with panties and lot of sex toys around so that his family would find this and be humiliated. We spent two days shooting that assassination. And it was really tough. The crew was crying and the actors were crying because it was the exact spot he was killed and you can feel him. Like, who does this in a room? And what else could he have done? He was taken so soon. And you can just imagine the gifts he would have given us.

Actual Filming

Every story has its own organic thing. So for this story we did a really cool thing, we’re starting the story with, the first 15 minutes are music, opera, no dialogue, and it’s Versace restored to health, getting up and starting his day with his staff and then walking to the News Café, intercut with Cunanan stalking him and tracking him. It starts with his murder. And then what we wanted to do was tell the story backwards. Versace was the last murder but in our show he’s the first. And then we go back in time. We tell the story backwards, ending with the Cunanan figure as a young man and Versace as a young man trying to make a stab of it as a designer.

There’s only violence and murder in the first four or five episodes. And then you really get into the psychological struggle of how does one person become a creator and how does one become a destroyer. And then the last episode is Cunanan on the houseboat making a decision to kill himself before they arrest him. I’ve never done anything backwards. But I loved the storytelling of it because I think you’ll be so moved because it starts with a violent act and by the time you’ll get to the end you will really realize what Versace had to go through to become Versace and what Cunanan went through to become that killer.

Donatella

RM: We have had some contact with Donatella. I met Allegra when she was younger, she came to the “Glee” live tour. I was very excited to meet Allegra Versace. Donatella had been very kind and very lovely. As a mother she really has been very protective of her children. And that was really her only request was, which she conveyed to Penelope and thus to me, is she really wanted to make sure that her kids weren’t portrayed on screen and that there was nothing about them in the show. I’m a parent and I can understand, I don’t want them to see that and go through any pains. We removed them at her request. And I think it was the right thing to do. But that was it. She has been sort of hands off, and that was her only request. I’m sure it will be incredibly difficult to see. But in a weird way I hope that the family can see it because it really is a tribute to his genius. And also, she comes off incredibly well because it’s really a very modern idea about a woman who is the sister of a very famous person. She’s also creative but suddenly he’s dead and what do I do? Do I fold up the tent or do I keep the business alive? That was incredibly difficult for Donatella to do. And I think she did a very heroic job of it. She saved the company. She mobilized the family. She kept the business afloat and became a modern heroine.

American Crime Story: Versace–Interview with Ryan Murphy | Emanuel Levy

Darren Criss: From a Warbler on ‘Glee’ to a Killer in ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’

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Ryan Murphy was adamant that Darren Criss — best known for his five seasons on Murphy’s Glee as sweet, bow-tied Blaine — play the Andrew Cunanan, the twisted serial killer in The Assassination of Gianni Versace. A Talented Mr. Ripley-type character, Cunanan charmed his way into wealthy circles before his violent break; he’s far from a one-note monster.

It’s unquestionably the biggest and most challenging role of Criss’ career so far. “Actors are only as good as the parts they get. You can only be as good as those moments you get,” Criss says. “This is one of those ship-coming-in moments where Ryan has really given me this massive opportunity, and I’d like to think I am up for the challenge. There’s zero anxiety.”

It’s a definite about-face from the squeaky clean Blaine, but Criss says he treats all roles with equal intensity. “I don’t like quantifying one [role is] harder or easier or funner or more significant than other characters,” says the 30-year-old. “Blaine, by comparison, could be put into a cartoonish box. The very patter of Glee exists in a different world than the one we’re dealing with. But all the same, I treat that silly hairdo and the clothes he wore and the way that he spoke and the things he believed in with the same currency that I treat someone like Andrew, who was a real person and had real friends and family.”

To sell his creative team on his vision, Murphy sent Smith and executive producer Brad Simpson to see Criss in the touring production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. “Once every night he jumps into somebody’s lap and makes out with them,” says Simpson. “In the middle of the show, he jumps in the audience and rips my glasses off and makes out with me. It was very charming and a very Cunanan thing to do, to be a little devilish. Cunanan charmed people and then turned them off. We’re talking about a serial killer people liked.” Criss jokes: “I casting-couched the s— outta that! In my defense, I didn’t know it was Brad Simpson. I’m glad I didn’t know.”

Darren Criss: From a Warbler on ‘Glee’ to a Killer in ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’

Trump Gets a ‘Bracing Cold Slap’ from ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace,’ Says Ryan Murphy

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Ryan Murphy has never been one to shy away from bold storytelling and provocative themes. Last year’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which Murphy executive produced, was about the iconic trial but also delved into issues of racism, sexism, and fame obsession in our culture.

For ACS‘s second installment, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the TV producer hopes to once again use a crime as a way to explore social issues. In particular, Murphy sees the 1997 murder of the fashion designer as a chance to discuss sexuality and homophobia in the 1990s. “The more I had read about it the more I was startled by the fact that [Versace killer Andrew Cunanan] really was only allowed to get away with it because of homophobia,” says Murphy. “There was this great apathy about it and nobody cared and I think part of that was because it seemed like gay people were disposable in our culture.”

He also believes the current political climate makes Versace‘s themes even more relevant. “I think it does open a discussion and I think it’s the perfect timing based on this president we have,” says Murphy. “One of the reasons I wanted to do this was I felt that Obama was a president who I revered. He was my president. I felt there was so much progress in terms of gay rights and rights for any marginalized group of people. Suddenly, it felt like Trump is inaugurated and the door closed and there’s fear again and they’re trying to take away everything that we fought for for so long. This is a bracing cold slap against the policies that the current government has. We celebrate gay people and gay creativity. So I think it’s the perfect time to put that on.”

Trump Gets a ‘Bracing Cold Slap’ from ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace,’ Says Ryan Murphy

How Ryan Murphy Plans to top ‘People v. O.J. Simpson’ Phenomenon with ‘Gianni Versace’

How do you top a phenomenon like last year’s The People v. O.J. Simpson? Opulence, sex and Ricky Martin, naturally. Those are just a few of the elements viewers can expect when The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story premieres in early 2018, focusing on the tragic killing of the fashion titan (Martin plays his long-time love Antonio D’Amico). FX’s follow-up to Simpson, featuring the same team of executive producers including Ryan Murphy, Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson, won’t premiere for months but EW was exclusively on the set in May as the cast shot in Versace’s former home, Casa Casuarina. “It was very moving, sometimes disturbing,” says Penelope Cruz, who plays Gianni’s sister Donatella, of shooting in the house. “We all felt a very powerful energy. It just made me have more passion to tell this story.”

On July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace had left to go on his regular run to Miami Beach’s News Cafe. As he returned home and was opening his front gate, Andrew Cunanan, a sociopath who had become fixated on the designer after reportedly meeting him years earlier, walked up behind Versace and shot him twice in the head. The openly gay Versace was one of the most exciting and provocative designers of the moment, famous for his bold skin-baring designs. “Gianni was a disrupter,” says Edgar Ramírez (Joy), who plays the colorful figure. “He was doing things at the time that no one else was doing. He had this rock-star vision of couture and was the master of combining fashion, celebrity, and fame in a way that had never been combined before.” But his future was snuffed out by Cunanan (Glee’s Darren Criss), an intelligent, handsome, and highly disturbed young man from San Diego. Versace, based on the book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth, hopes to show how these two men’s paths crossed and ended so violently. “Here are two men from comparable backgrounds that had all kinds of similarities,” explains writer Tom Rob Smith (London Spy). “They came from parents who were striving but not wealthy. They had the Italian-heritage connection. This feeling of being an outsider. The sexuality connection. Why does one go on to become this incredible creator and great life force? And the other young man ends up destroying so much?”

The tale haunted Murphy, who pitched doing it even before Simpson aired. “I kept going back to Versace because it was different from O.J. tonally,” says the executive producer, sitting on the back patio of Casa Casuarina. “It was a manhunt and it takes place all over the country.” And just as the O.J. Simpson trial was a lens through which to examine racism, Murphy sees the Versace murder as a chance to do the same with sexuality and homophobia in the ’90s. “The more I had read about it, the more I was startled by the fact that Cunanan really was only allowed to get away with it because of homophobia,” says Murphy. “There was this great apathy about it, and I think part of that was because it seemed like gay people were disposable in our culture.”

The ACS team now not only has to live up the legacy of Simpson‘s success but also a glut of other true-crime scripted series. “I would only feel pressure if we were doing, like, the Menendez trial,” says Murphy. “But this is so dramatically different, and it’s about fashion and celebrity. Everything feels like you’re jumping off a diving board for the first time because there’s no template.” In this week’s cover story, EW has your exclusive deep dive on how Murphy brought together an Oscar winner, a Glee favorite, and a music superstar for one of 2018’s most anticipated television events.

How Ryan Murphy Plans to top ‘People v. O.J. Simpson’ Phenomenon with ‘Gianni Versace’

entertainmentweekly:

American Crime Story

Step inside the Versace mansion. The acclaimed series is taking a fresh look at the shocking murder in ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ and we’ve got your exclusive first look.

On July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace had left to go on his regular run to Miami Beach’s News Cafe. As he returned home and was opening his front gate, Andrew Cunanan, a sociopath who had become fixated on the designer after reportedly meeting him years earlier, walked up behind Versace and shot him twice in the head. The openly gay Versace was one of the most exciting and provocative designers of the moment, famous for his bold skin-baring designs. “Gianni was a disrupter,” says Edgar Ramírez (Joy), who plays the colorful figure. “He was doing things at the time that no one else was doing. He had this rock-star vision of couture and was the master of combining fashion, celebrity, and fame in a way that had never been combined before.” But his future was snuffed out by Cunanan (Glee’s Darren Criss), an intelligent, handsome, and highly disturbed young man from San Diego. Versace, based on the book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth, hopes to show how these two men’s paths crossed and ended so violently. “Here are two men from comparable backgrounds that had all kinds of similarities,” explains writer Tom Rob Smith (London Spy). “They came from parents who were striving but not wealthy. They had the Italian-heritage connection. This feeling of being an outsider. The sexuality connection. Why does one go on to become this incredible creator and great life force? And the other young man ends up destroying so much?”

The tale haunted Murphy, who pitched doing it even before Simpson aired. “I kept going back to Versace because it was different from O.J. tonally,” says the executive producer, sitting on the back patio of Casa Casuarina. “It was a manhunt and it takes place all over the country.” And just as the O.J. Simpson trial was a lens through which to examine racism, Murphy sees the Versace murder as a chance to do the same with sexuality and homophobia in the ’90s. “The more I had read about it, the more I was startled by the fact that Cunanan really was only allowed to get away with it because of homophobia,” says Murphy. “There was this great apathy about it, and I think part of that was because it seemed like gay people were disposable in our culture.”

The ACS team now not only has to live up the legacy of Simpson‘s success but also a glut of other true-crime scripted series. “I would only feel pressure if we were doing, like, the Menendez trial,” says Murphy. “But this is so dramatically different, and it’s about fashion and celebrity. Everything feels like you’re jumping off a diving board for the first time because there’s no template.” In this week’s cover story, EW has your exclusive deep dive on how Murphy brought together an Oscar winner, a Glee favorite, and a music superstar for one of 2018’s most anticipated television events.

Edgar Ramirez Can’t Wait to Step Into Gianni Versace’s Clothes for American Crime Story

Edgar Ramírez has some designer shoes to fill. He’s been tapped to play the late fashion designer Gianni Versace in Ryan Murphy’s highly anticipated FX mini-series Versace: American Crime Story—the planned third installment of his acclaimed anthology.

The Venezuelan actor—he played Jennifer Lawrence’s husband in the drama Joy and most recently appeared with Matthew McConaughey in Gold—will star as the openly gay designer, who was tragically gunned down on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion in 1997 by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. The limited series chronicles the bizarre murder and the manhunt for Cunanan, who targeted gay men and was responsible for five murders.

“Versace’s life is an amazing story,” Ramírez told Vanity Fair at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday. “It happened 20 years ago, but it’s still very relevant with the discrimination that is happening in the world today. Ryan is very keen and very sensitive at identifying stories that have a deep connection in society. He creates shows that we can relate to in a deep way—socially and collectively. Versace won’t be an exception.”

It helps, of course, that Ramírez shares a striking resemblance to the top designer, especially after some strategic styling. “It’s really crazy, right?” he said. “I mean, there are pictures now, and it surprised me how much I look like him. We are still in the process of getting everything together, but I may change my hair to look more like him. I am in for a transformation.”

The 10-episode story begins filming in March, with a script based on the 1999 book Vulgar Favors, by Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth. The show is expected to air in 2018, following Katrina: American Crime Story. Beyond his physical makeover, Ramírez—who was a journalist before becoming an actor—has been preparing for the role by examining old interviews on Versace. His goal is to understand both Versace’s personal life and the public perception of him, to “identify with him so I can recapture his essence and help people relate and understand who he was,” he said. “It’s about re-creating, and I hope people will see Versace through my performance. I have discovered not only was he known for glamour, festivity, sexuality, hedonism, and pleasure—he was also very family-oriented. He was way more modest and focused than people would ever imagine.”

The designer had close relationships with Princess Diana, Madonna, Elton John, and his sister, Donatella Versace. Ramírez has not yet reached out to Donatella, who took creative control over the company after her brother’s death, and would not comment on whether she will be involved with the show. He also was mum on whether Lady Gaga, Murphy’s latest American Horror Story muse, would appear in the series as Donatella, as rumors have suggested—though, Ramírez does promise, “she’s going to be an interesting character.” (Murphy himself shot down the rumors in January, noting that the series’s demanding schedule would not reconcile with Gaga’s particularly busy 2017.)

Either way, viewers can certainly look forward to seeing the opulent and unadulterated glamour of Versace’s life. Even Ramírez is thrilled to wear expensive clothes like the designer once did and spend time at Versace’s lavish mansion, Casa Casuarina, where Madonna and Whitney Houston once stayed. The mansion boasts 10 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and a pool that is lined with 24-karat gold.

“I’m excited for the robes, and to hang out at the villa Casuarina,” said Ramírez. “It’s going to be fun!”

Edgar Ramirez Can’t Wait to Step Into Gianni Versace’s Clothes for American Crime Story

‘American Crime Story’: Ryan Murphy Talks Versace Season… Plus, Gaga as Donatella?

One of the most exciting projects on Ryan Murphy’s production horizon is the follow-up to his game-changing American Crime Story. Actually, make that two follow-ups.

Murphy took the stage at a very special panel at Entertainment Weekly’s PopFest on Sunday to reveal details about the dual forthcoming installments of Crime Story, the Emmy-winning series which launched its inaugural season centered on the O.J. Simpson trial.

As has previously been announced, seasons 2 and 3 of the series will be focused, respectively, on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 1997 murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace. Both will be shot simultaneously with separate casts and production units, with Katrina shooting in June and the Versace tale beginning production in April.

With casting underway for both shows, the panel moderator Tim Stack commented that Murphy repertory cast member Lady Gaga would make “the perfect Donatella.”

Murphy paused. “Ya think?” he asked, and grinned. And the crowd went wild.

“I was always very moved and freaked out by the Versace assassination, and I thought it was a really great story to do because it’s a manhunt season,” Murphy said. “[Serial killer Andrew Cunanan] killed four people and then Versace, and was on the loose. We’re exploring the reasons of how he got away with being undetected.”

It became very clear, though, that Murphy’s heart lies in the story of the recently announced Versace/Cunanan season, as he went on to speak about why he felt it was so important to tackle: “The tragedy of the Versace murder was that it should not have happened. He should have been caught by then. But he wasn’t caught because he was targeting gay people, and people didn’t care. That’s why Gianni Versace was killed, for the most part. So it’s a really tragic story and I’ve always said the thing that makes me cry the most in the world is lost potential, or lost possibility, and I think he was such an amazing force taken too soon for reasons which he shouldn’t have been. That is a true crime story in America, so we’re tackling that.”

The Versace story is expected to air after season 2’s Katrina: American Crime Story, which is scheduled to premiere in 2017.

‘American Crime Story’: Ryan Murphy Talks Versace Season… Plus, Gaga as Donatella?