“Versace” kills as crime drama’s second season

While many people have kept up with producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s series “American Horror Story,” some have also taken notice of their other anthology show, “American Crime Story.”

Like “Horror Story,” each season of “Crime Story” is different from the last, with its own story, setting and characters.

However, while “Horror Story” contains fictional tales that try to frighten audiences, “Crime Story” shines light on historical crime cases.

When the first season, “The People vs. O.J. Simpson,” debuted Feb. 2, 2016, with its great acting and storytelling, it set the bar high for seasons to come.

While I had to wait almost two years for the second season, I am glad I did not lose interest in the show, as its next case has not only gotten me reinvested in the series but also keeps me eager for future seasons.

“The Assassination of Gianni Versace” follows not only the death of the world-famous fashion designer but also takes a peek into the mind of Versace’s murderer, Andrew Cunanan.

Before the story even begins, however, the show gave me an incredible look inside Versace’s Miami home. If it turns out the show was filmed inside his actual house, it would not surprise me, as the scenery is beautiful and befitting of a rich man.

Last season, despite its stellar cast, I did not enjoy Cuba Gooding Jr.’s portrayal of alleged serial killer O.J. Simpson. His voice was not as deep as Simpson’s, nor was he tough enough to match the former football player’s demeanor.

With actor Édgar Ramírez’s take on Versace, I have seen no issues with his acting. In this role, I genuinely see him as a famous designer with his own personal struggles.

However, the real marvel of this season is actor Darren Criss’ Cunanan. One minute he is lying about his relationship with Versace, and the next he is duct taping the head of an older rich man for money.

This portrayal of the killer is not only crazy, manipulative and remorseless, but he also bears a striking resemblance to the real-life Cunanan. Because of the show’s focus on his background of murders and obsession with Versace, I consider him the true star of the season.

The final main star worth talking about is Penélope Cruz, who is also starting to shine in her role of Versace’s sister, Donatella, who takes over the business for him after his death. Her dislike of Versace’s final boyfriend, Antonio, adds more drama, even if not on the same level as Criss’ unpredictable nature.

As for the story, audiences should not expect the docudrama to portray everything exactly the way it happened, as all the facts are still unknown and certain dramatic elements are included to keep viewers invested.

One of the main details the show adds is Versace having AIDs before he died. Personally, this does not add or take away from the story for me but is rather believable, considering the number of homosexual men who continue to fall victim to the disease.

Regardless, I still believe the show can be educational, as I had never heard of Versace or his murder until watching this.

I have only seen the first two episodes so far, and I can already tell this show will be another great season for “American Crime Story.” I am unsure it will be superior to the first, but it does not have to be. With different crimes come different stories, which are told in different ways.

“Versace” kills as crime drama’s second season

I Love Serial Killer Stories And Worry What That Says About Me

This past weekend, I binge-watched Mindhunter, Netflix’ new, dramatized-but-based-on-true-events series about the origin of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit. It’s set in the 70s, when profiling serial killers was just beginning to be a thing and despite thinking the main character had about as much charisma as stale break (it’s ok, the show does, too), I could not get enough.

“One more episode,” was the refrain. “C’mon.” And then, of course, we’d watch another, with protagonist Holden Ford finding a way to create rapport with serial killer Edmund Kemper. Agent Tench, the cop-ass-cop of the duo, starting to see value in it. Dr. Carr—a professor and consultant on the project— finding ways to reign in these two and actually make their research viable and scientific and therefore useful in predicting violent behavior.

Eventually finishing up in spectacularly dramatic fashion, we were both shocked to realize that it was over. Season one: finished.

We immediately rolled into season two of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. This is another dramatized but based-on-true-events story of a serial killer, the stylish, compulsive-lying Andrew Cunanan, who killed a whole bunch of people on a spree that included famed fashion designer Gianni Versace at his Miami Beach palace in 1997.

He preyed especially on gay men, using his good looks and erudite air to get men to trust him. Then, he robbed or killed them. Sometimes both.

Where Mindhunter is sometimes clinical, showing its characters meticulously interviewing serial killers in scenes that almost border the mundane, this show is passionate. It delves deeply into Cunanan’s victims’ lives, and cares deeply about their interior selves: struggles, passions, heartbreak.

I’m halfway through the season so far, but I already “know” Versace to some degree. I know Lee Miglan, a successful but closeted elderly man who, in one scene, tearfully prays at an alter, telling Jesus he “tried” not to be gay. I know David, a young man who dated Andrew and took him in, only to watch him brutally murder another friend, then hold him hostage and eventually kill him, too. I know about David’s relationship to his dad, an outdoorsman who wasn’t exactly pro-gay, but loved his son enough to accept him, despite his own leanings.

Both are valid approaches to the genre, as is the ridiculous, sexy Hannibal, which didn’t so much humanize a serial killer and cannibal, but made him so hot that it was impossible to resist his allure.

God, it all just makes me want to watch Hannibal again.

But all of this has got me thinking: why, exactly, is the serial killer genre so popular in our culture? Why is it so compelling to watch other human beings be broken down, terrified, brutally murdered? Why do we want to understand why that happens? What drives this morbid fascination with a particular psychological extreme?

I don’t really have any answers. If I had to wager a guess, I imagine that it’s fun on some level to play armchair detective, and comforting on a deeper level to have a safe (fictionalized) space to contend with the dark side of human nature.

I Love Serial Killer Stories And Worry What That Says About Me

Don’t miss these March TV premieres

March 21
“Inside Look: The Assassination of Gianni Versace” finale, FX

Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) will be hiding out on a houseboat in the explosive finish to this tragic true-life American crime story. Versace’s (Edgar Ramírez) death was another crime the FBI might have prevented had they acted sooner on overwhelming evidence that Cunanan was in Miami after killing four men and making the 10 Most Wanted List.

Don’t miss these March TV premieres

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The Assassination of Gianni Versace, All Too Human exhibition, Debut novelist Mick Kitson

We hear about the second series of the American Crime Story television franchise which began in 2016 with The People Versus OJ Simpson. John Wilson is joined in the studio by novelist turned screenwriter TomRob Smith. He has written the next instalment – The Assassination of Gianni Versace – which dramatises the events surrounding the murder of the Italian fashion designer outside his Miami home in 1997. | 26 February 2018

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Must Watch: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” | Valley Magazine

Sex, money, murder and fashion—the underlying themes of ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” The story behind the assassination of one of the most iconic fashion designers of the ’90s titillates its audience with scenes of opulence and glamour.

The shows stellar cast includes a bevy of Hispanic actors like Édgar Ramirez as Gianni Versace, Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace and Ricky Martin as Antonio D’Amico, Versace’s partner. Darren Criss also stars as the psychopathic killer, Andrew Cunanan.

The show is set in South Beach, Miami in the ’90s and recalls debauchery and luxury. The show features an assortment of iconic vintage Versace pieces, colorful and skin-baring. Chainmail dresses (which made an appearance modeled by a cast of supermodels at the spring 2018 Versace show) and pin dresses might as well be cast members in the show.

The show also provides a look into Versace’s Casa Casuarina on Ocean Drive, a representation of who Versace was in life, Italian-made and dripping in gold. From working for his mother’s small boutique in Calabria to a multi-millionaire with a company worth millions at his death.

Versace’s premature and tragic death on the steps of his home caused a worldwide uproar. Perhaps people didn’t know Versace before his death, but they did know of him later. The show provides a look at how slinky dresses, pretty houses, sexuality and fame are important themes in Versace’s life. Versace lacked support as a gay man in the ’90s from an Italian family. He had many rumored lovers and a steady partner, controversial to the mainstream during that time.

The Versace name demands grandeur, still a prominent fashion house proclaimed in rap music. The notable and inimitable Versace style, along with its Medusa head logo, is central to fashion history.

Even though there is a certain and obvious sadness to Versace’s story, the glamorous party scenes and overall ’90s vibes will inspire that same carefree, go-big-or-go-home attitude.

Must Watch: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” | Valley Magazine