“I remember I was just 14 years old when I first visited the Philippines in 1985 as part of the Menudo band. We love the Philippines and the Filipinos. We even released ‘In Action,’ recording songs in English and Tagalog to appeal to our Filipino fans,” he said.
The Puerto Rican singer-actor-author admitted he would love to go back to the Philippines.
Ricky, whom we interviewed in Miami at the Versace Mansion, portrays Antonio D’Amico, the lover of Gianni Versace in Ryan Murphy’s second installment of his “American Crime Story” titled “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace.”
The show, which also features Fil-Am Darren Criss (“Glee”) as Versace’s killer Andrew Cunanan, began production this past April and is marked for debut in early 2018. Originally slated as a third installment after “Katrina,” the show has been moved to Season 2. Aside from Ricky and Darren, the show will feature Edgar Ramirez as Gianni Versace and Penélope Cruz as Donatella Versace.
Asked about his reaction when he got the part, Ricky said, “I postponed a whole tour to shoot this video actually. I pushed back 20 days of my tour in Spain and Portugal. This is something that I’ve been dreaming of and when I received the phone call from Ryan that he wanted to meet with me, I’m honored.”
So did he know what it was about, we asked. “I knew a little bit because I’m very good friends with Edgar and Edgar told me that he was just booked to work in Versace with Ryan,” Ricky said. “I had the opportunity to work with Ryan in ‘Glee.’ Two weeks later, I called Edgar. I go ‘Edgar, guess who I’m having dinner with tonight’ because Ryan wanted to see where I was and Ryan wanted to invite me to this amazing project. It was a very beautiful dinner where we talked about our kids, where music is at the moment and about this amazing story and how important it is for this story to be told. Then I got really nervous. I pushed back a few months of a tour in Spain and everything worked out perfectly. The serendipity, the stars were aligned for this to happen and I’m very happy that I’m doing this.”
Does he remember where he was when he heard the news about Versace? “Yes, I was living in Miami at the moment,” he replied. “It was very personal but I was in Europe when it actually happened. But I remember the atmosphere in Miami obviously changed completely. It changed in every way. The market collapsed. People were living in fear for a moment because there was a man out in the streets who was killing people randomly. No-one knew who he was. No-one knew what was happening so there was a lot of tension and it really affected the whole city.
“Celebrities started leaving the city. I remember back then even Sylvester Stallone was living here and Madonna was living here. The Bee Gees were living here and they said it’s a wrap. It’s time to move because it was really scary.”
Is he confident portraying somebody alive? “I’ve been obsessed with this character,” he confessed. “I’ve been obsessed with this. When I started reading the script I immediately started trying to say the lines of how incredibly beautiful it was written and how powerful every line is. The amount of research that we’ve done and of course the production company and Ryan has helped me so much. He just tapped into the big story, what’s known and what’s not known. I feel powerful. I feel confident that I’m going to do justice to the role and what Antonio D’Amico went through.
“There’s a lot of highs and lows in this character. There’s a lot of sadness. There’s a lot of uncertainty but at the same time you have the love and the connection between him and Gianni which was something so magical. To be able to live for 15 years together and in an era where a (gay) relationship was forbidden in many aspects and the fact that nothing stopped them is something that I definitely want to talk about.
“He is still alive and I am reaching out to him little by little. Sometimes they want to talk; sometimes they don’t want to talk. I am making myself available to see if he wants to guide me a little bit but what’s documented and what is out there is enough for me to see exactly and feel what he was going through.
So where does he feel he is now in his life? “I am a proud father of two beautiful twin boys who are my life. They’re eight years old and they inspire me like no-one. I have a great man (Jwan Yosef) next to me. I will get married soon hopefully. We don’t have a date. Let’s see what happens but what I’m trying to say is I’m in such a good place.
“I’ve been touring for the last three years around the world and I needed to land. We just moved to L.A. I just moved there and I’m so in love. I’m in love with my house. People invite me to parties in L.A. and I’m like no, come to my house. You have to come to my house. So I’m in a really good place. I am divided right now between three very beautiful projects.”
He paused and asked, “Did I say I am in a really good place?”
rodnerfigueroa Besides the eclipse, this blew my mind first this year!!! ⚡️ Aparte del eclipse, esto me impactó primero este año!!! #goodvibesonly #rodnerfigueroa#acsversace #acs #versace
monsieurhollywood very private and secret #setvisit on #americancrimestory#edgarramirez is amazing as #gianniversace also #darrencrissincredible as Versace’s killer and #rickymartin as #versace lover… can’t wait to see it on #fx in January 2018 #moretocome with #interviews and congrats to #ryanmurphy #acs#theassassinationofgianniversace #acsfx#monsieurhollywood #instahollywood#youtubers #instastars
Two years on from The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, Ryan Murphy’s most acclaimed anthology series will return for its second run, this time chronicling the murder of designer Gianni Versace. The opening nine minutes were shown to reporters at the TCA Press Tour this week, and they are ravishing, exhilarating and deeply stressful, devoting equal time to establishing Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez), larger-than-life and seemingly untouchable, and the man who is about to kill him, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), shaky and clearly unhinged.
After the footage screened, the show’s producers and cast fielded questions from journalists, with Criss, Murphy and the series writer Tom Rob Smith (London Spy) weighing in on their unusual portrait of a serial killer.“
Andrew was so many different personalities to so many different people,” Criss told BAZAAR.com, referring to multiple conversation he’s had with people who knew Cunanan. “For me, that makes things a bit easier—we see him at his best, we see him at his worst, we see him at his most charming, we see him at his most hurt. It’s been one of the most exhilarating characters that I’ve spent time with because he is so all over the place, and he’s capable of truly great things. My goal is to have people exercise their sense of empathy, because from the get-go we all know that he’s capable of something truly horrendous… it’s been a wonderful challenge to find as much humanity as possible.
”The book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History, by Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, is the source material for the season. Very little is known about Cunanan beyond what Orth pieced together, but Smith teases out a parallel between Versace and his killer. “We were talking earlier about the similarities between somebody like Gianni and someone like Andrew,” Criss continued. “On paper, you go, that’s insane, you can’t possibly compare the two, and obviously they’re very, very different men. But we try to find common denominators between these two men who had different levels of brilliance that were guided in very, very different ways.”
Per Smith, Cunanan’s story is “much closer to a story of radicalization than a typical serial killer.” Prior to his killing spree in 1997, Cunanan had no criminal record of any kind; instead, “go back a year and he’s in a million dollar condo in La Jolla talking about politics or art, and really charming people. How do you get that person in that condo to a person who can brutally kill someone with a hammer?” The series opens with the event we all know about—Versace’s murder on the steps of his Miami home—and then, over the course of ten episodes, deconstructs that event and its backstory through the parallel tangents of victim and killer.
“You’re looking not at someone who is inherently monstrous,” Smith concluded, “but someone who has similarities to Versace from the outset, and the reasons why his footsteps go in one direction and Versace goes in a completely different direction.”
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story will air in January 2018.
Yesterday, television critics got a first glimpse of the opening scene from The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as part of the TCA Press Tour. Premiering January, the FX mini-series recounts the fashion designer’s murder in reverse—beginning with the day he was shot outside of his Miami Beach home and then unraveling the events leading up to that day across 10 episodes.
Creator Ryan Murphy was joined by screenwriter/executive producer Tom Rob Smith, EP Brad Simpson, and series stars Darren Criss, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin for a panel about the series, which is still in production. Ramirez stars as Versace, who was at the height of his success when he was gunned down by Andrew Cunanan (Criss) in 1997. Martin plays his lover, Antonio D’amico, who recently expressed his distaste for the show.
“The picture of Ricky Martin holding the body in his arms is ridiculous,” D’Amico said. “Maybe it’s the director’s poetic license, but that is not how I reacted.” But during the panel, Martin revealed he’d since spoken with D’Amico.
“The first thing that came out of my mouth when he picked up the phone [was], ’I’m so happy we’re talking. And I just want you to know that this is treated with utmost respect,‘” Martin said at the panel. “But more than anything, there is a level of injustice with this story.”
“I told him that ’I will make sure that people fall in love with your relationship with Gianni,” the out singer added. “That is what I’m here for. I really want them to see the beauty and the connection that you guys had.’ And he was extremely happy about it.”
Like all Murphy productions, painstaking detail was put into The Assassination of Gianni Versace, with scenes shot in Versace’s home, Casa Casuarina, now a hotel.
“I was very emotional shooting it, as we all were,” Murphy said. “I mean, Darren and I were, and Ricky. The assassination was important and tough to shoot, and the crew was crying, and we were very emotional doing it. We shot exactly on the exact step where he died.”
Production designer Judy Becker (Carol) was also able to recreate the home and Versace’s design studio/office on the Fox studio lot.
“It is tiny things I love,” said Murphy, who placed Versace’s favorite orchid on a table as a tribute. “There was an ashtray that was actually made that year that he designed that Edgar snatches the keys out of. I really loved hunting those things down and finding them as a tribute to that character.”
Murphy has long been a fan of Versace, whom he called a fearless designer and an inspiration for being out when even fashion designers seldom did.
“I was always very moved by him. He was a very important and cultural figure, and he lived outrageously and daringly, and he was a disrupter,” he said. “And I think his life was opera… I remember being so proud and excited when he did that interview in theAdvocate, because, at the time, there wasn’t really a lot of people who were brave enough to live their life in the open. I was very emotional shooting it, as we all were.”
Murphy’s inspiration for the series was two-fold: Besides his love of Versace, he also wanted to explore the cultural context in which his murder took place. As EP Brad Simpson mentioned, Versace was killed just three months after Ellen DeGeneres came out.
“Nobody was out. There were no out celebrities,” Simpson said. “There was Elton John. There were no out fashion designers. You know, Versace had given an interview with his lover, and chosen to live openly as a gay man, and that was part of the reason why he was targeted and killed. Andrew Cunanan was a serial killer who killed other gay men.”
The exploration of Cunanan’s motives are a huge part of The Assassination of Gianni Versace, something Murphy believes hasn’t been touched on yet. Cunanan was a 27-year-old hustler who had relationships with wealthy older men. Those who knew him describe his desire for status symbols—lavish houses, fine clothes, vacations. But his access to the men who could provide these luxuries was limited and eventually, he began a killing spree, murdering five gay men across the U.S.
“We pay tribute to all of the victims that are in many ways forgotten and not talked about,” Murphy said. “And I think having episodes that center on their lives and how they were taken too soon is important.”
Cunanan’s other victims include his ex-lover David Madson, Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin, friend Jeffrey Trail, and cemetery caretaker William Reese. The murders of Trail and Miglin were particularly violent—Trail was beaten to death with a claw hammer, and 72-year-old Miglin was stabbed more than 20 times with a screwdriver, his throat sawed open with a hacksaw.
“Nobody’s really, sort of, traced the Andrew Cunanan of it all that I think Darren does so brilliantly,” Murphy said. “The pain that he brings to that, and why and answer why did he do it. Was he a madman or was he a victim of the times? And I think the answer is, sort of, both. And both things we examine in the show.”
Criss met with dozens of people who knew Cunanan at different points in his life, all of whom describe him very differently.
“There’s a lot left a lot of blanks to fill in, which has been a very interesting ride,” he explained. “Andrew was so many different personalities to so many different people,” he added. “That makes things a bit easier because we’re not just following what we would assume to be a murderous, horrible person all the time. We see him at his best; we see him at his worst; we see him at his most charming; we see him at his most hurt.”
Screenwriter Tom Rob Smith penned all 10 episodes, largely based on Maureen Orth’s 2000 true crime book Vulgar Favors. He said he wanted to connect any similarities Cunanan and Versace had, like their interest in living large. But of course, Versace’s career provided for him in a way that was out of Cunanan’s grasp.
“It’s much closer to a story of radicalization than a typical serial killer,” Smith said. “I mean, he killed five people… Technically, he went on a spree. But if you go back a year from most serial killers, they’re committing crimes of one description or another, like assault or arson. There are these signals. With Andrew Cunanan, you go back a year and he’s in a million-dollar condo in La Jolla talking about politics or art, and charming people. How do you get from that person in that condo to someone who can attack someone with a hammer and brutally kill them?”
Smith said it was important for him to present Cunanan “not just someone who is intrinsically monstrous, but who, has similarities to Versace from the outset” and explore “why his footsteps go in one direction and Versace’s go in a completely different direction.”
But don’t expect the series to be a pity party for Versace’s killer.
“It’s about the choices you make,” said Smith. “We’re tracking those choices and seeing how society impacted them, and how he chose various things and the people around him. You’re taking a murder that we all know… and you’re taking it apart and going back to the very nuts and bolts [of it.]”
For Murphy and the other producers, The Assassination of Gianni Versace is a larger story than just a celebrity murder. It’s about being out of the closet in 1990s America.
“I think it’s more than why [Versace] was killed. It was sort of why it was allowed to happen,” Murphy said. “I think the thing about American Crime Story is that we’re not just doing a crime. We’re trying to sort of talk about a crime within a social idea. Versace, who was the last victim, really did not have to die. Part of the thing that we talk about in the show is one of the reasons Andrew Cunanan was able to make his way across the country and pick off these victims, many of whom were gay, was because of the homophobia at the time.”
He recalled how police in Miami refused to put up wanted posters for Cunanan even though they knew Cunanan was a major suspect and likely headed toward the city. “I thought that that was a really interesting thing to examine,” Murphy added, “particularly with the president we have now and the world that we live in.”
LOS ANGELES — Gianni Versace is the murder victim in the next edition of FX’sAmerican Crime Story, but the story will extend beyond the famed fashion designer.The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, the next chapter in the Emmy-winning anthology series that opened with O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, examines the lives of Versace (Edgar Ramirez) and his killer, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), who shot and killed Versace outside his palatial home in Miami Beach in 1997. It premieres in January.
Cunanan, who had killed four other men across the country before shooting Versace, later killed himself.
Penelope Cruz plays Versace’s sister, Donatella, and singing star Ricky Martin plays Antonio D’Amico, the Italian designer’s partner.The series opens with a nearly wordless, operatic eight-minute sequence detailing the moments leading to the murder of the fashion designer, who was open about being gay at a time when many prominent gay people weren’t. The scene, shown Wednesday to the Television Critics Association, , features lush cinematography and orchestral music and was shot partly in Versace’s beautifully appointed home.
The new season, which uses Maureen Orth’s book, Vulgar Favors, as its source material, will look backward from the murder to examine the men’s lives. It also will will go beyond the crime itself to examine prevailing social attitudes, including homophobia, executive producer Ryan Murphy said.
“Versace really did not have to die,” he said. “One of the reasons Andrew Cunanan was able to make his way across the country and pick off these victims, many of whom were gay, was because of homophobia at the time, particularly within the various police organizations that refused in Miami to put up wanted posters, even though they knew Cunanan was probably headed that way.”
Murphy says the season, which features an episode focusing on the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” military policy, remains relevant today, “particularly with the president we have and the world we live in.” After the panel, executive producer Brad Simpson noted the coincidental timing of a recent tweet in which President Trump said transgender people would not be allowed in the military.
Murphy called Versace “a very important cultural figure” and Ramirez sees the designer as a disrupter who changed fashion and attitudes. “He combined sexiness and glamour and opulence like no one has done before.”
Criss said it’s important to depict the complexity of Cunanan and not present a monster caricature. "We’re not just following what we would assume to be a murderous, horrible person all the time. We see him at his best and his worst. We really get to know him as a person.“
Considering Versace’s career, the season will look at fashion as it portrays the designer’s life, offering a bonus after the lawyer-heavy O.J. courtroom drama, Murphy said. “It was a real relief for me not to have to shoot boxy wool suits.”
A third Crime Story, centering on the devastating Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005, was planned to air first but is now due sometime in late 2018 or early 2019
Yesterday, television critics got a first glimpse of the opening scene from The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as part of the TCA Press Tour. Premiering January, the FX mini-series recounts the fashion designer’s murder in reverse—beginning with the day he was shot outside of his Miami Beach home and then unraveling the events leading up to that day across 10 episodes.
Creator Ryan Murphy was joined by screenwriter/executive producer Tom Rob Smith, EP Brad Simpson, and series stars Darren Criss, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin for a panel about the series, which is still in production. Ramirez stars as Versace, who was at the height of his success when he was gunned down by Andrew Cunanan (Criss) in 1997. Martin plays his lover, Antonio D’amico, who recently expressed his distaste for the show.
“The picture of Ricky Martin holding the body in his arms is ridiculous,” D’Amico said. “Maybe it’s the director’s poetic license, but that is not how I reacted.” But during the panel, Martin revealed he’d since spoken with D’Amico.
“The first thing that came out of my mouth when he picked up the phone [was], ’I’m so happy we’re talking. And I just want you to know that this is treated with utmost respect,‘” Martin said at the panel. “But more than anything, there is a level of injustice with this story.”
“I told him that ’I will make sure that people fall in love with your relationship with Gianni,” the out singer added. “That is what I’m here for. I really want them to see the beauty and the connection that you guys had.’ And he was extremely happy about it.”
Like all Murphy productions, painstaking detail was put into The Assassination of Gianni Versace, with scenes shot in Versace’s home, Casa Casuarina, now a hotel.
“I was very emotional shooting it, as we all were,” Murphy said. “I mean, Darren and I were, and Ricky. The assassination was important and tough to shoot, and the crew was crying, and we were very emotional doing it. We shot exactly on the exact step where he died.”
Production designer Judy Becker (Carol) was also able to recreate the home and Versace’s design studio/office on the Fox studio lot.
“It is tiny things I love,” said Murphy, who placed Versace’s favorite orchid on a table as a tribute. “There was an ashtray that was actually made that year that he designed that Edgar snatches the keys out of. I really loved hunting those things down and finding them as a tribute to that character.”
Murphy has long been a fan of Versace, whom he called a fearless designer and an inspiration for being out when even fashion designers seldom did.
“I was always very moved by him. He was a very important and cultural figure, and he lived outrageously and daringly, and he was a disrupter,” he said. “And I think his life was opera… I remember being so proud and excited when he did that interview in theAdvocate, because, at the time, there wasn’t really a lot of people who were brave enough to live their life in the open. I was very emotional shooting it, as we all were.”
Murphy’s inspiration for the series was two-fold: Besides his love of Versace, he also wanted to explore the cultural context in which his murder took place. As EP Brad Simpson mentioned, Versace was killed just three months after Ellen DeGeneres came out.
“Nobody was out. There were no out celebrities,” Simpson said. “There was Elton John. There were no out fashion designers. You know, Versace had given an interview with his lover, and chosen to live openly as a gay man, and that was part of the reason why he was targeted and killed. Andrew Cunanan was a serial killer who killed other gay men.”
The exploration of Cunanan’s motives are a huge part of The Assassination of Gianni Versace, something Murphy believes hasn’t been touched on yet. Cunanan was a 27-year-old hustler who had relationships with wealthy older men. Those who knew him describe his desire for status symbols—lavish houses, fine clothes, vacations. But his access to the men who could provide these luxuries was limited and eventually, he began a killing spree, murdering five gay men across the U.S.
“We pay tribute to all of the victims that are in many ways forgotten and not talked about,” Murphy said. “And I think having episodes that center on their lives and how they were taken too soon is important.”
Cunanan’s other victims include his ex-lover David Madson, Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin, friend Jeffrey Trail, and cemetery caretaker William Reese. The murders of Trail and Miglin were particularly violent—Trail was beaten to death with a claw hammer, and 72-year-old Miglin was stabbed more than 20 times with a screwdriver, his throat sawed open with a hacksaw.
“Nobody’s really, sort of, traced the Andrew Cunanan of it all that I think Darren does so brilliantly,” Murphy said. “The pain that he brings to that, and why and answer why did he do it. Was he a madman or was he a victim of the times? And I think the answer is, sort of, both. And both things we examine in the show.”
Criss met with dozens of people who knew Cunanan at different points in his life, all of whom describe him very differently.
“There’s a lot left a lot of blanks to fill in, which has been a very interesting ride,” he explained. “Andrew was so many different personalities to so many different people,” he added. “That makes things a bit easier because we’re not just following what we would assume to be a murderous, horrible person all the time. We see him at his best; we see him at his worst; we see him at his most charming; we see him at his most hurt.”
Screenwriter Tom Rob Smith penned all 10 episodes, largely based on Maureen Orth’s 2000 true crime book Vulgar Favors. He said he wanted to connect any similarities Cunanan and Versace had, like their interest in living large. But of course, Versace’s career provided for him in a way that was out of Cunanan’s grasp.
“It’s much closer to a story of radicalization than a typical serial killer,” Smith said. “I mean, he killed five people… Technically, he went on a spree. But if you go back a year from most serial killers, they’re committing crimes of one description or another, like assault or arson. There are these signals. With Andrew Cunanan, you go back a year and he’s in a million-dollar condo in La Jolla talking about politics or art, and charming people. How do you get from that person in that condo to someone who can attack someone with a hammer and brutally kill them?”
Smith said it was important for him to present Cunanan “not just someone who is intrinsically monstrous, but who, has similarities to Versace from the outset” and explore “why his footsteps go in one direction and Versace’s go in a completely different direction.”
But don’t expect the series to be a pity party for Versace’s killer.
“It’s about the choices you make,” said Smith. “We’re tracking those choices and seeing how society impacted them, and how he chose various things and the people around him. You’re taking a murder that we all know… and you’re taking it apart and going back to the very nuts and bolts [of it.]”
For Murphy and the other producers, The Assassination of Gianni Versace is a larger story than just a celebrity murder. It’s about being out of the closet in 1990s America.
“I think it’s more than why [Versace] was killed. It was sort of why it was allowed to happen,” Murphy said. “I think the thing about American Crime Story is that we’re not just doing a crime. We’re trying to sort of talk about a crime within a social idea. Versace, who was the last victim, really did not have to die. Part of the thing that we talk about in the show is one of the reasons Andrew Cunanan was able to make his way across the country and pick off these victims, many of whom were gay, was because of the homophobia at the time.”
He recalled how police in Miami refused to put up wanted posters for Cunanan even though they knew Cunanan was a major suspect and likely headed toward the city. “I thought that that was a really interesting thing to examine,” Murphy added, “particularly with the president we have now and the world that we live in.”
ACS news 