Darren Criss looks and acts like a stand-up guy with a good head on his shoulders. When he stopped by the New Hollywood Podcast, he was nice, approachable, and is personable — much like Blaine, his character on Glee. But in FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, Criss does a 180 from his good guy roles by playing the real-life Andrew Cunanan, the man who murdered at least five people, including titular fashion designer. Obviously, Criss is not a serial killer, but his casting in the role is an advancement for authentic representation in Hollywood. Criss, like Cunanan, is half-Filipino — a detail about the actor that many people are surprised to hear.
A San Francisco Bay Area native, his role in Versace marks another collaboration with TV maestro Ryan Murphy, who created Glee as well as American Horror Story, which Criss also appears in. But Versace is a much more dramatic turn for Criss. It’s also a series which he is the lead — and as an Asian, it’s kind of a big deal. In the episode (with a new theme song courtesy of Pete Blyth), we talked to Criss about tackling the nuanced role of Cunanan, his cultural identity, his love for musical theater, and how his new bar has a clever drink special called “The Moesha.” Listen to the episode below.
Darren Criss joins Deadline’s Dino-Ray Ramos and Amanda N’Duka to discuss his career and work on American Crime Story: Versace. Produced by David Janove. Music by Pete Blyth.
Come learn about careers in the motion picture industry from working Academy members and film professionals. Topics will include the pre-production, production, and post-production phases and the various skills used throughout the movie making process. | 14 April 2018
[…] LB: Speaking of substance, you are about to start shooting the fifth season of Transparent.
JL: It’s going to be later than planned. I also just finished working with [writer, producer, and director] Ryan Murphy on The Assassination of Gianni Versace …
LB: And people are dying over it, asking to change the Emmy categories so you can get the guest actress nomination. You’ve always received a lot of attention, but how does it feel when you get this confluence of great reviews?
JL: It’s so wild. It always feels good. I was at a Christmas party with Joan Rivers once, and we were having this lovely conversation, and she said, “I say yes to everything,” explaining that the world works out for you in certain ways when you say yes to things. And it’s true. That’s how a whole trajectory of things fell into place, including working with Ryan Murphy, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
LB: And he’s so great with women who aren’t 12. I mean, Jessica [Lange], Kathy [Bates] …
JL: Exactly. We didn’t really know each other, and then, when he saw a play I did [Other Desert Cities] and the response to it, he just said, “OK, we’ll do things.” He was so incredibly gracious and kind.
LB: Isn’t it wonderful that one of the great things about getting older is the equity you own? There’s something about “You know me and my work, and you know that I’ll show up for you” …
JL: That is so brilliant and so true.
LB: Who do you find beautiful?
JL: The memory of my mother is very beautiful to me. My father, the same thing: really light, beautiful. We’re talking about soul beauty now. My husband has been so beautiful and present for me—you know, my publicist, my agents, my friends … All the people I worked with on The Assassination of Gianni Versace and Transparent. They are people who are there in the goodness of their being, not in their doing.
Ryan Murphy’s Versace: American Crime Story centres on the 1997 murder of Donatella Versace’s brother, designer Gianni Versace. After returning from a morning walk, the 50-year-old was shot dead on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan wasn’t caught by police but killed himself nine days later while on a houseboat in Miami. In this season, Ricky Martin plays Antonio D’Amico, and he gets talking about stepping into the acting world, balancing home and work, and coming out. Excerpts.
Tell us about your association with Antonio We have spoken a lot, and obviously, he’s been incredibly helpful and so open in sharing his emotions regarding all this. I really needed to ask deep stuff because it’s challenging and the script is asking for it. So I just wanted to do justice to his love with Gianni. He was extremely open. He was very organised with everything that had to do with the empire. But at the end of the day when he was going to take a shower, he would take his clothes and he would leave a mess.That’s when Antonio comes in. He would help him to pick up the clothes that he left behind and it was very, it’s very much about caretaking.
What was it like playing the character Antonio, who loved Gianni so deeply? In the ’90s I was hiding my boyfriends. I was very egotistical, self-centred and I didn’t care what people who were open about their sexuality felt. But since it was about me, I needed to keep it quiet because in my head, I had this illusion that if I came out, everything was going to collapse. So when I did the scene, I could see Gianni’s side and Antonio’s side and me playing both because I’ve been in both situations. So it was beautiful not just to do it, but to be able to talk about this.When I came out, a lot of people around me, people that I loved, begged me not to do it. I did it because I had to, and then it was fantastic. But this is a story that brings a lot of themes to the table once again.
What have you learned about love after working on this show? That you’ve got to be loud, open and transparent. The control aspect that society brings into what a relationship must be — break it, erase it and see love as a white canvas that you can throw all the colours and the brush strokes you want.
You’ve stepped into the acting world. Do you feel reinvented by this? Literally, yes of course. But the most significant acting role dramatic role that I had up until today is my first one when I was 15 years old in a TV series that I did in Argentina because I had no life experiences when I was 15 years old.
How did you and your family deal with this transition of you becoming an actor? I was very happy that I was shooting those scenes in Miami because my husband or my kids weren’t with me. They bring out the best in me.There were very dark scenes and I needed to stay in that bubble. So, it was a week of being very methodical and living as Antonio. When I went back to the hotel, I would just cry. It took me time to decompress. It was very intense.
There was another nine-part US television series about the murder of your brother called The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, released in January of this year. You are played by Penélope Cruz. Does time heal all wounds, or does it make wounds of Achilles heels? I still get as angry as I did on the first day when people want to make money with lies about Gianni. My lawyers tried to file a lawsuit against this television series, but they lost because my brother is a person of contemporary history and therefore has limited personal rights. Around 25 books came out after his murder, each with a different theory about the perpetrator’s motive. The wildest speculation was that it was a mafia contract killing. We were in countless trials, but no sooner had we won a case than another book came out. It was hopeless. Why does this TV series about my brother have to come now? The murder was 20 years ago. Can’t people leave Gianni alone?
You could have called Penélope Cruz and … Penélope called and told me about the project. She said that she has great respect for me, so I should write her if there are untrue things in the script.
The script is based on the 1999 non-fiction book Vulgar Favors by American journalist Maureen Orth. I had not heard of the book until last year. After reading it, I sent a list of factual mistakes to the production company working on the TV series. They replied that they were filming the book by Maureen Orth, so they could not take my findings into account. Viewers should know that the series is fiction, not a documentary.
During the gamelet Livin La Vida Versace, actor and singer Ricky Martin answers Andy Cohen’s questions about his role in “American Crime Story Versace” including if he manscaped for the part. | 9 April 2018
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