Darren Criss on how homophobia was a catalyst for Gianni Versace’s murder

The current series of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story has not only had audiences gripped, but contextualised the circumstances surrounding one of the fashion world’s most infamous murders.

American actor Darren Criss plays serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the anthology series, giving a scene-stealing performance as the young gay man who went on a murderous rampage across the US back in 1997.

His victims included Gianni Versace, as well as Chicago tycoon Lee Miglin, and former US Navy officer Jeffrey Trail.

While Cunanan’s horrific actions are unjustifiable, Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story shines a spotlight on the rife homophobia that existed in America during that period, which would have had an impact on the killer and his mental health.

During his cover interview with Gay Times this month, Ricky Martin – who plays Gianni’s lover Antonio D’Amico – suggested that it was homophobia that actually killed Versace.

“It’s not the way he died, it’s the way it was allowed to happen,” Ricky told us. “Back in the 90s – and we have to be careful because history tends to repeat itself – Gianni Versace was killed by a man that was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

“This man was living in Miami but because he was a gay man killing other gay men, everybody turned the other way. That’s what infuriates me.”

When Darren Criss came to London recently, Gay Times sat down with him to ask him if he, like Ricky Martin, felt that it was homophobia that killed Versace.

“I think there’s a lot to that,” Darren told us. “It’s not just homophobia, but that’s not an off-base or incorrect statement at all. It’s a huge part of it – from the way homophobia played out during the investigation.

“When we use the word homophobia I don’t think it necessarily involves the extreme end of what that means. People tend to think of it in terms of hate crimes and violence, but homophobia exists in much smaller systemic ways. It operates institutionally between fear and misunderstanding.

“A lot of the investigative bodies not necessarily wanting to go into gay clubs to post flyers, not because they didn’t like gay people, but because they weren’t sure if that was something they could do. Maybe they were scared they’d be perceived as homophobic.

“There’s a general sort of disconnect between asking questions and being involved that could be put under the category of homophobia. That’s certainly what allowed Andrew to get away with this for so long.”

Darren added: “The media exposure on Andrew Cunanan in general before Versace was killed had a lot to do with the media’s fear of exposing gay murders. Especially after AIDS was a very hot button topic. That’s also another form of homophobia.

“Andrew’s own fear of himself and not wanting to be this thing in certain circles… It manifested itself in so many ways and different bodies that the amalgam of that probably did kill Versace. It’s a very complex thing.

“Andrew’s history of mental health in his family, and his own socio-economic situation was nothing to do with his sexual identity, but his identity as a person socially. He wanted to be wealthier than he was.

“There was this cocktail of really unhealthy things that were already in place, so homophobia being present in the world around him was just the right/wrong catalyst to make it all blow up.”

Elsewhere, Darren Criss told us what playing gay roles on two major US television shows has, as a heterosexual actor, taught him about the gay experience.

Daniel Minahan (‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’): ‘I felt so strongly about this material’

Daniel Minahan (‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’) director/producer chats with Gold Derby’s Riley Chow: ‘I felt so strongly about this material.’ The 1990s-set second season of the true crime anthology series “American Crime Story” on FX is from Ryan Murphy. Originally subtitled “Versace/Cunanan,” the ultimate subtitle “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” eschews explicit reference to its main character, a serial killer played by “Glee” actor Darren Criss. | 23 April 2018

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Max Greenfield preps for life after ‘New Girl’

[…] Just before the final season started airing, Greenfield had a featured role in “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” That got his creative juices moving and his interest piqued in what kind of dramatic parts he might be able to accept.

Despite the limited series’ dark subject matter, Ryan Murphy, the executive producer, was open to casting someone who had made a name for himself in comedy.

“I had done ‘Horror Story’ with Ryan and we talked about (the miniseries),” Greenfield says. “I was like, ‘Let me put myself on tape for you.’ I sent it over and a week later, I was in Miami.”

Cast as a gay man who encounters Andrew Cunanan, the serial killer who murdered Versace, Greenfield wanted to show how he was able to stretch. “There was a description in the script that was far away from who I was. So, I did some research about that period and talked about the hair and the look he had.”

Murphy, he says, “lets you explore in all the different departments” of a production. Greenfield decided the character would have an earring and a buzz cut, “a homeless haircut and a mustache, but a crooked one. Nothing really was put together on this guy, but he was trying.”

The result: The kind of raves Greenfield hadn’t seen since the premiere of “New Girl.” Then, his quirky Schmidt was hailed as one of the breakout characters of the television season. He nabbed a Best Supporting Actor Emmy nomination and became the go-to guy for offbeat humor.

Max Greenfield preps for life after ‘New Girl’

How I won the role of Versace’s killer Andrew Cunanan

Darren Criss, previously best known for his role as clean-cut Blaine Anderson in Glee, said he told executive producer Ryan Murphy: “I don’t want to flatter myself but if you can find someone else my age who looks like him and is half-Filipino like he was, then sign them up.”

Cunanan preyed on rich, gay men and was obsessed with Gianni Versace. He murdered at least five people culminating with the shooting of the designer himself in 1997.

Criss’s portrayal has won plaudits from audiences and critics alike and on a whistle-stop visit to London to promote the show and perform a concert, Criss says how little was known about Cunanan’s killing spree before the show was aired.

“Unless you happened to be living in Miami, certain gay communities in San Diego or worked in real estate in Chicago, these were localised things you just wouldn’t have known about,” he explains.

The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story reaches its finale on Wednesday and hints at the homophobia that may have been behind the FBI’s reluctance to investigate the killings.

In one scene some leaflets about Cunanan’s activities are shown still stored in the car boot of a police car.

This, combined with the reluctance of many gay men to speak up – some had survived the Aids scare – allowed the outwardly charming and apparently wealthy Cunanan to stay at large.

“He was not like Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson, whose behavioural patterns all pointed to their eventual homicidal behaviour,” explains Criss, 31, who says of those who knew Cunanan during his teenage years very few had anything negative to say about him.

“One woman, in particular, said to me, ‘I just remember Andrew being so much fun. He was so good to me, he was so sweet. He was just someone you could count on’.”

What curdled Californian-born Cunanan’s character above all, the actor suggests, was that his beloved father, a broker, turned out to be an embezzler who fled to Manilla having sold the family’s house out from under them. The series also hints he sexually abused his son.

“His father was his hero but when your hero does that you can do one of two things. You can either change your way of thinking and shift your adolescence or you can just cover up the stench with more perfume.”

Cunanan chose the latter. He lied to friends and employers that his father was a rich man who owned pineapple plantations in Manilla. Eventually he began lying about himself, enriching his own career and experiences to ensnare and live off the money of wealthy men.

“One day he’d be a rich Israeli, next he was a French diplomat or the designer of the sets for Titanic. It was all delusional.”

The TV series was structured to play the events in reverse order, from the Versace killing to both the victim and killer’s early lives. “It’s almost willing the audience, who already know what he did, to try and find some redemptive qualities in him,” says Criss. Whether they do or not, he says, is up to them.

“Obviously what he did was deplorable and unforgiveable, and nothing positive about him exonerates that. But [his story] questions the complexity of the human experience. We are all as capable of murder just as we are all as capable of having a wonderful night out with friends.”

How I won the role of Versace’s killer Andrew Cunanan

One-On-One With The King Of Vintage Fashion, Seth Weisser, Of Celeb-Favorite WGACA

HL: Do you curate each store to the specific location in terms of what you carry?

SW: Yes, our stores are a unique experience because each store has one-of-a-kind products. My partner Gerard is very careful with the way he designs each of the stores in the different locations—each are unique based on the space and based on the market. We’re consistent in that the service and the quality of the product is the same, but each store has a totally different feel on a cultivated uniqueness that makes it fun for our customer to come to new stores. Between our five stores, you’ll find that what we have in Miami is distinctively different than what we have in Beverly Hills or New York. So, you’ll want to go to each store to see what pieces are there that fits their style at the moment, and each market gets a little bit of its moment. For example, In Miami, we’ve been emphasizing Versace because it’s been really hot since the show [American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace] came out.

One-On-One With The King Of Vintage Fashion, Seth Weisser, Of Celeb-Favorite WGACA

https://acsversace-news.tumblr.com/post/173067450694/audio_player_iframe/acsversace-news/tumblr_p7e595NvgA1wcyxsb?audio_file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Facsversace-news%2F173067450694%2Ftumblr_p7e595NvgA1wcyxsb

Darren Criss on The Assassination of Gianni Versace: “It’s a Shakespearean tragedy that you can’t believe is a real story.”

Darren discusses playing the serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who murdered Versace in 1997. | 18 April 2018

Darren Criss reveals what ACS: Versace and Glee taught him about the gay experience

While viewers in the US have already been treated to the harrowing series finale of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, there are still two episodes left to air in the UK.

Darren Criss plays serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the Ryan Murphy-produced series, chronicling his murderous rampage back in 1997 which concluded with the fatal shooting of world-renowned fashion designer Gianni Versace.

The award-worthy performance sees Darren Criss at his finest, and is worlds away from the last gay character he played in one of Ryan Murphy’s television shows, Glee.

Gay Times sat down with Darren during his visit to London to find out what, as a heterosexual actor, he has learned about the gay experience having researched the characters.

“They are two very different roles,” he told us. “Glee was really an extraordinary beam of positivity – especially for primetime television with mass appeal for young people. It was a wonderful example to set on television, and to be a part of that was really a thrill.

“The Assassination of Versace is really the opposite end of that spectrum where you’re really displaying the turmoil of that gay American identity. Particularly through the navy and military and what people had to go through, and still have to go through.

“I think it’s cool that I’ve been able to be a part of telling both sides of that narrative, and see how far we’ve come and how far we have left to go.”

One of the main points Darren took away as a viewer of American Crime Story is the intense political and social climate around LGBTQ people serving in the US military back in the 1990s.

It was the era of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy being introduced, where LGBTQ recruits were expected to hide their sexual if they wanted to serve. Openly gay people were prohibited from enrolling completely.

“The great thing about this season of American Crime Story was really learning more about – and this is not about the character I played, but rather being a part of the show and watching it – the gays in the military episode,” Darren told us.

Jeffrey Trail – who was one of Cunanan’s five victims – did an anonymous television interview back in 1993 before the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was introduced by the Clinton administration, revealing the struggles LGBTQ recruits faced.

That moment in history is featured in an episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, outlining the rife homophobia that existed around the time Cunanan committed these atrocious murders.

“It was really illuminating because it’s something that we know about and it’s still talked about in the United States. It still continues to be a divisive topic in our country,” Darren continued. “It’s sort of an abstract concept because most of my friends aren’t in the military, so I’m not as close to it as some people are.

“To me it seems very clear-cut, but when you get into the complexities of what it means to people, like how do you do marry an identity between two things that mean a lot to you. There was a lot of stuff that was explored that I necessarily wasn’t as familiar with, and I was thrilled that it was told on television. I’ve never really seen anything like that before.”

Darren added that although Andrew Cunanan’s sexual identity in part informed his actions, that inner conflict is something all humans can relate to on some level.

“I think even beyond it necessarily being a gay narrative, it’s a human narrative,” Darren told us. “Irregardless of anyone’s sexual identity they’re just fascinating human tales.

“You don’t have to be Chinese or African or any other race or identity to understand the triumph of certain historical events, or the struggle and conflict we’re all familiar with.

“Conflict is what makes drama. When you witness these conflicts within these young men and women in our show, you can’t help but relate to their resilience or their ability to get through it.

“It’s been a real privilege to be a part of that, because to me it’s less about gay identity and more about human identity.”

Darren Criss reveals what ACS: Versace and Glee taught him about the gay experience

Darren Criss responds to Versace family’s reaction to American Crime Story

Darren Criss has responded to the Versace family’s anger about American Crime Story: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace, admitting he understands why they feel so negative towards the show.

The second series of Ryan Murphy’s crime anthology focuses on the killing spree of Andrew Cunanan, who murdered Gianni Versace and four other men in 1997.

The Versace family issued a statement calling ACS a ‘work of fiction’, saying: ‘The Versace family has neither authorised nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming TV series about the death of Mr. Gianni Versace. Since Versace did not authorise the book on which it is partly based nor has it taken part in the writing of the screenplay, this TV series should only be considered as a work of fiction.’

And Darren – who plays Cunanan in the drama – admits that if he was in their shoes, he would react in the same way.

The 31-year-old told Metro.co.uk: ‘If any of these things happened to somebody I loved, I’d be equally as vocal about it. And if I had the public platform the Versaces have, I’d do the exact same thing. They have every right and reason to feel the way they do. Who wouldn’t understand that?

‘Obviously, my heart goes out to them, regardless of us doing the show. I’m a fan of the Versace house, and it’s a horrible thing to try and bring to light. But I hope they understand we’re not exploiting the story for commercial value. There’s a larger story at play here – the landscape at the time, and of course the other victims who until now haven’t really had a lot of voice.

‘I would hope they’d understand that. And I would like to think that if I had a chance to meet Gianni Versace, he would understand we’re trying to create some light out of this darkness.’

The actor continued: ‘So much of what Andrew did is shrouded in mystery. We don’t know what he did in that car or in that room. We’re not that moral authority on that. It’s not an expose of what really happened behind closed doors.

‘All we know is the facts that we do have, and the things we fill in are not for spectacle or show, I’m interested in the emotional truths, because we can’t paint the factual truth in the white space.’

Criss – who was best known before ACS for his role as Blaine in the hit series Glee – also insisted that they weren’t trying to glamourise the killings of Gianni Versace, Jeffrey Trail, David Madson, Lee Miglin and William Reese.

He said: ‘If someone perceives it as being glamourised, that’s out of our hands. I don’t think we do it. The nice thing about starting backwards is that we know what he’s done.

‘It’s so clear in my mind that it’s obviously deplorable, it’s pretty clear cut on the moral spectrum where we stand. We’re asking how did we get here, how did it happen.’