Tag: interview

‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’: Ryan Murphy on the finale and the next ‘ACS’

Tonight was the haunting, operatic finale to The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. The end of the nine-hour miniseries found Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) taking his own life and the Versace family laying their beloved Gianni (Edgar Ramirez) to rest.

EW talked to executive producer Ryan Murphy about the finale, Criss’ revelatory performance, and whether Katrina is still planned as the next installment in FX’s critically acclaimed American Crime Story franchise.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You all shot in the Versace mansion for a month for the beginning of the series. Was this finale shot when you shot the initial stuff at Versace’s home? Or did you go back?
RYAN MURPHY: No, we went back. We had to build that houseboat. We built it based on the specifications of the mockup, so it took some time.

This final episode feels almost like a curtain call for a lot of the actors, like Jon Jon Briones and Max Greenfield. Was that a conscious choice to have them back and, in some ways, take a bow?
Well, I think the point was to bring back as many of the players as you could. But they were all very active in those final days of Cunanan. Like, they really did think Cunanan might be coming for Marilyn Miglin. So it all dovetailed nicely. By the nature of the cross- country manhunt idea, the narrative was so spread out, so it was nice to finally have an episode where all of these great people could come back together. That was always part of the plan of the structure.

Max Greenfield’s scene in the interrogation room at the police station feels like the thesis for Versace, in that homophobia was so much of the reason the police didn’t pursue Cunanan.
Yes, and also Marilyn Miglin [played by Judith Light] has a big monologue about family. So yes, but I think the reason I was interested in doing it initially and was drawn to it initially was because one of the crimes was apathy. Here was this manhunt, and it’s true that in Miami a lot of the police officers would not go into gay bars to put up the most-wanted posters because they thought people would think they were gay. So by pure apathy and being dismissed as, “Well, he’s taking out gay people, who cares!” that’s one of the reasons he ultimately had such a high body count — because people just didn’t care, particularly law enforcement.

It’s so great to see Jon Jon, Judith, Max and even Ricky Martin get these great moments. Was that rewarding to give them these showcases at the end?
We gave all these great actors these solo arias. I love that about it. I thought it added something personal. One of the things we’ve done over the course over the show, it wasn’t a show just about Versace or Cunanan — it was about the victims and the victims of the time. They’re all such fantastic actors, so to give them these page, two-page-long monologues, I loved doing that and I know they were very grateful for that.

So much of the houseboat stuff feels like a hallucination by Andrew. Was that something you were going for?
Yeah we did. Of course nobody can really know what happened in there other than a lot of physical evidence he left behind, like what he ate and what he watched. What I thought was so crazy about that houseboat was that there was a TV in every room and Andrew had found this television projector, so that was something that was really there. So he kind of did have TVs going in every room. At that point, Cunanan was on crystal meth and coming down off the drug in very painful withdrawal, and he had no food. The last couple days of his life were very fraught.

Darren really leaves everything on the table for this role, even shaving his head. You were his biggest champion for this — how do you feel about his performance?
I am proud of him and I always knew he could do it and I think he proved he could do it. I was very adamant about his casting. I thought there was a great dramatic actor inside there waiting to come out. He took his responsibilities very seriously, and that’s the best thing I can ever do having the gig I have, is believing in people and giving the opportunities for them to shine. I do think it’s the best performance of the year, and I think it’s the hardest. It’s a nine-hour descent into madness.

You began the series with Versace waking up, and you end it with Andrew in a mausoleum. Did you go back and forth on the final image?
Well, I liked the juxtaposition and I like what it said: In the end, Andrew didn’t get what he wanted. He was just one man out of thousands. When you pull out and the names surrounding him go on forever, as opposed to Versace. I liked the idea of the anonymity of Andrew’s legacy. I thought it was haunting to go back and forth to Donatella looking at the medusa in Versace’s mausoleum, and the grandeur and the love and the family and the spirit, versus the coldness and isolation of Andrew’s.

So when will ACS: Katrina start? Soon?
I don’t quite know. We’re working on a couple of things. That’s a show where we have a lot of things cooking. We literally just edited the finale last week, so we haven’t made that decision yet. We’re never going to have a Crime Storyunless we have the scripts down. I think the reason why Versace went next is because Tom Rob Smith had such a strong take on it. I am not in a rush to move forward with anything unless it’s perfect. So we’ll see what’s next for that.

What about Feud 2? Are you any closer with that?
Still talking about it. We’re still deciding it. I have the new Netflix deal and I have all my shows with Fox, I don’t want to do something unless the scripts are ready and the casts are ready. I’m taking my time and just trying to get everything right.

I haven’t talked to you since the Netflix deal. How do you feel about this?
I’m really excited. I’m really excited to do something else. I’m excited to explore new worlds and do all different types of programming and make documentaries. I’m also really excited about the shows I have with Fox, two of those are my Netflix shows, Ratched and The Politician. At least for the near foreseeable future, nothing has changed. It’s business as usual and I’m still there, and we’re all still close and cool. I feel good about everything.

‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’: Ryan Murphy on the finale and the next ‘ACS’

American Crime Story Producers Are Hunting for Their Own Making a Murderer Season

Producing super-team Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson are responsible, individually and collectively, for major money-making franchises like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the Hunger Games. When they decided to try their hand at TV in 2016, with American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, they hit ratings and awards-season gold. The second season of the FX franchise, titled The Assassination of Gianni Versace, wraps up Wednesday night to a slightly more muted reception, and the pair acknowledge that fans have wondered why there wasn’t more of the titular Versace family in this show.

“We’ve obviously seen the tweets,” Simpson said as part of a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair’s Still Watching: Versace podcast. “ ‘Oh, The Assassination of Gianni Versace is really Andrew [Cunanan]’s story.]’ There’s a lot of surprise and I think we were a little underprepared.” Jacobson and Simpson went on to explain how that reaction will impact the future of the American Crime Story franchise, and why, perhaps, we might not see any famous name at all in future season titles.

“We had done the People v. O.J. Simpson, which wasn’t really about O.J. Simpson,” Brad Simpson explains. “The surprise of that show was that O.J. Simpson was really a supporting character. After the first two episodes he just sits in court until the finale. Really it was about the lawyers. We were surprised by the way people thought the Versaces would be leads instead of supporting characters.”

According to Simpson, when the Versace team was figuring out episodes 3 and 4 of the season, which involve the deaths of Lee Miglin, Jeff Trail, David Madson, and William Reese, they felt it would be “disrespectful” to cut away from the deaths of these four men simply to spend time in the more luxurious and high-profile world of the Versaces. Though he concedes the story of the Versaces after Gianni’s murder was more “melodramatic,” he worried delving too deep into that world would result in criticizing the famous fashion family and break the rule of the season, which was to not “demonize” the victims in any way.

The finale, which was edited together a good deal after the first eight episodes, due to some availabilities, does, however, spend more time with Penelope Cruz’s Donatella Versace and Ricky Martin’s Antonio D’Amico—as well as a brief fantasy sequence with Edgar Ramirez’s Gianni Versace. But Simpson insists the increased Versace presence in the finale is not a reaction to audiences “clamoring” for more Cruz and Martin. “I honestly think if we had given people more Versace, they would have gotten tired of it.”

As for the future of the franchise, Jacobson said they are currently “up to our neck” in developing the next few seasons, which will reportedly still cover both the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal. She acknowledges that pursuing true-crime stories that serve as a mirror for the clash between “who we say we are as Americans and who we actually are as Americans” doesn’t always result in the “fastest turnaround time,” but neither producer sounds at all rushed in their process of trying to get it right.

In fact, Simpson explains, that in order to find a story that says something “bigger and deeper and more disturbing about America,” the duo are “on the hunt for a story that people don’t know,” similar to Netflix’s smash true-crime docuseries, Making a Murderer. They want an “untold story for future seasons” and tease that everyone should “stay tuned” for that announcement. In the meantime, however, for all the fans who are still cross over the missing Versaces in The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Brad Simpson has a promise to make: “We’ll be more careful on how we title future seasons.”

American Crime Story Producers Are Hunting for Their Own Making a Murderer Season

Matt Bomer Shares the Secrets Behind His Long-Lasting Marriage (Exclusive)

Matt Bomer’s key to a successful marriage was actually someone else’s key first.

“My grandparents were together from the time they were teenagers on, and I used to ask them and they’d tell me, ‘One day at a time,’” the actor tells ET. “So, I guess I try to adapt that philosophy, but also just having perspective. You know, at the end of the day, the family and our home life is the most important thing and keeps everything else in perspective.”

The 40-year-old quietly wed his longtime love, power publicist Simon Halls, back in 2011. The couple share three sons, Henry, Walker and Kit, though Bomer admits they’re not very familiar with his work.

“I just have to make sure that I start working on more things that they can see!” the American Horror Story vet notes. “’Cause they’re like, ‘You do this, but then we can’t watch it.’ I’m like, ‘When you’re older maybe!’”

That includes Bomer’s latest project, stepping behind the camera on FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. He made his directorial debut on episode eight, “Creator/Destroyer.” ET caught up with him at a For Your Consideration event for the series at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, ahead of its finale, airing Wednesday on FX.

‘American Crime Story: Versace’ Cast on How They’ve Worked With the Designer’s Real-Life Family

“It’s a big responsibility,” Bomer says of directing the series. “It’s a big stage to step on to, to make your directorial debut, so I took it very seriously. I spent about four and a half months working on the project, from research I did, to here at the DGA, I did an intensive. I shadowed two of the great directors we had, Dan Minahan, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, and just exhaustively, I think I read over 300 pages of books on directing, and reached out to friends who were kind enough to mentor me … so, I guess it meant a lot of hard work.”

The actor lit up when asked what a nomination or award for his directing work would mean, saying, “I don’t think there are words for it, really.”

Next up for Bomer is another Ryan Murphy project, the Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band. The play officially opens on May 31 at the Booth Theatre in New York City.

“It’s the 50th anniversary of the play, The Boys in the Band,” Bomer notes. “It’s really the first mainstream gay play that there was, and I think it’s incredible how far we’ve come in 50 years, but also important to look back on what life was like for people 50 years ago in the LGBT community, people who couldn’t go out and dance together in public without being arrested, who had to live in the shadows. And so, this play is really about a group of friends who are having that experience together and how it affects their relationships in their lives, and what there hopes and dreams are.”

“It’s gonna be fun!” he adds. “Come celebrate the birthday party with us and I hope you have a good time.”

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

Max Greenfield Says He’s Just ‘Gonna Be a Dad for a While’ After Final Season of ‘New Girl’ (Exclusive)

Max Greenfield is preparing for life after New Girl.

“I’m gonna be a dad for a while,” he shares of his post-show plans. “That’s my favorite job.”

The actor has two kids, daughter Lilly and son Ozzie, with his wife of 10 years, Tess Sanchez. He tells ET that his parenting skills came in handy while working on the final season of New Girl, premiering Tuesday, April 10, on Fox.

“We do a flash forward,” he teases. “It’s like a three-year flash forward, so it’s fun. You get to see the characters that you’ve sort of known for the past six seasons in a little bit of a different light. Specifically, you know, Schmidt and Cece, who are now parents.”

It was revealed in the season six finale that Greenfield’s character, Schmidt, and his wife, Cece (Hannah Simone), were expecting their first child.

“It wasn’t like much of a stretch,” he says of playing Schmidt as a dad. “I was like, ‘Ugh! I was trying to get away from this. Now I have to come do it at work, too?’ It made me realize, ‘cause you know, you like, relate to being a parent and you want to play out those scenarios on set, or in some sort of acting role, and then you get there and you do it and you’re like, ‘No! No! This is not what I want to be doing.’”

Still, Greenfield notes the parenting storyline was something fresh for the series.

“It was sort of bittersweet, you know?” he says of wrapping production on the show. “I mean, it’s been seven years. I don’t think there were many more stories to tell. But, to say goodbye to a show and the people that you worked with for a really long time is difficult and then you’re, like, tasked with finding something new and going, oh man!”

Greenfield definitely found something new on The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, playing Ronnie, an acquaintance of spree killer Andrew Cunanan. ET caught up with the 37-year-old at a For Your Consideration event for the series ahead of its finale, airing Wednesday on FX.

“It was very meaningful to be a part of this show,” he shares. “I think it’s a really strong message, I always love working with Ryan [Murphy]. He has such a specific point of view and, and you know, I had sort of only known what the first two episodes were going to look like and didn’t know anything beyond that. As I’ve watched the show, you’re like, this is just… this is a really stunning piece.”

A Quick Chat With Tom Rob Smith, the screenwriter of The Assassination of Gianni Versace – American Crime Story

How did you get involved with The Assassination of Gianni Versace – American Crime Story?

It was never called that at the beginning. The producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson sent me the book which the series is based on by Vanity Fair journalist Maureen Orth, called Vulgar Favors. They said they were thinking about doing a mini-series based on it. Both Brad and Nina knew my writing from my novel CHILD 44, and the scripts for LONDON SPY. And that was how it began.

What was it about the project that attracted you?

The material was challenging, the main character – Andrew Cunanan – is intriguing and human in his early years, but gradually descends into addiction and murderous madness, so the challenge was how to structure the story because once Cunanan starts killing he can’t be the centre of the episodes.

Was the fashion world one you were already familiar with?

I knew a little, I guess. I read everything that had ever been written on Versace. I was surprised by how little attention and scrutiny he’d been given, considering he was such an amazing man.

How did you carry out research?

Maureen Orth is the journalist, so she provided the bulk of the research, I also read through all the FBI files, and as I said, everything that been written about Versace. I also travelled to San Diego and went to all the most important places in Andrew Cunanan’s life, just to get a feel for them.

During the writing of the drama did you warm to the principal characters, as you found out more about them? Did your preconceptions change?

The most unusual aspect of this show is that the victims are the central characters, they are the heart and soul of the piece. I have to admit, before I read the book all I knew of the case was that Versace had been shot on the steps of his Miami mansion, it’s remarkable to me that the entire story was in shadow. Those other victims were extraordinary people, their stories deserved to be told.

How different did it feel writing your first true crime story? How much did you have to fill in the gaps of existing material or ‘dramatise’ events?

There are gaps, but any dramatisation was only ever done to support the larger truths. We all knew that David Madson had nothing to do with the murder of Jeff Trail, we all felt that very strongly, so we needed to figure out how to convey that innocence to the audience, to show why David left with Andrew.

Do you think the title of the show represents what it is really about?

I actually didn’t choose the title so I can’t address that question but I don’t think the title of the non fiction source material would have been right.

We understand the Versace family are not happy with the show. Has this been very disappointing and how have you dealt with this?

Their position is the same as they had with the source material – their statement is very similar. In the end, this is a celebration of an amazing man, it was a tragedy that Versace was taken from the world, both from his family, and from a creative perspective. We set out to contrast why one man was so great, and one man became so despicable.

Do you think your background as a novelist help or hinders screenwriting?

Both! There are advantages and disadvantages, but mostly advantages I think. This series plays a long game, the lie that Andrew tells Versace in Episode One, seems like a piece of nonsense, but we reveal how much truth there is in it, how much sadness, in Episode Eight.

Is it very different working as a screenwriter in the USA from the UK? Are there key differences?

At the moment writers are considered more central to the process in the US than in the UK, but the UK model is in the process of changing.

What have you got coming up next?

A new show for BBC Two, called MotherFatherSon, an eight part original show.

A Quick Chat With Tom Rob Smith, the screenwriter of The Assassination of Gianni Versace – American Crime Story

Do Ratings Still Matter? Ryan Murphy Argues There Are No Rules Any More

Ryan Murphy’s freshman series 9-1-1 is the most watched show on Wednesdays, and the most watched show on all of Fox, with 14.3 million viewers.

With more than 400 scripted shows vying for your time, let’s just give you the highly scientific data here: Those kind of numbers are about as easy to come by as a unicorn crapping gold on your front lawn.

For Murphy, whose shows are often adored by fans and critics, but aren’t always necessarily heavy-hitters in the Nielsens, this kind of ratings bonanza, right out of the gate, feels a little surreal.

“I really did 9-1-1 as an experiment with [Fox Television Group Chairman] Dana Walden,” Murphy tells E! News. “Like, what’s not on network television? I had no expectations of it, but I just wanted to surround myself with people that I’d worked with and loved. And then when those live numbers were coming in, they were so high, comparatively, and it won every night during its run, and I was pleasantly surprised.”

And perhaps a little conflicted, given that 9-1-1’s numbers were coming in at the same time as the second installment of Murphy’s American Crime Story, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which appeared to underperform compared to the series’ first installment, The People vs. OJ Simpson, on FX.

(Both Versace and 9-1-1 air their season finales tonight.)

O.J. was clearly a ratings behemoth—and an awards-show beast. But while Versace hasn’t garnered quite as much buzz or live-viewing luster, it does seem well positioned for its own awards glory, and plenty of streaming clicks when it hits Netflix. (Not only is it a natural binge-watch series, you actually can watch it in reverse for a second go-around, to put the events in chronological order, if you so desire.) 

So for perhaps the first time in his storied career, Murphy—who just signed a massive overall deal with Netflix—is re-evaluating the metric by which he measures his own success.

“What the past six months have taught me is, there are no rules any more,” Murphy tells E! News. “There are no rules of success. There used to be. You were a winner or a loser overnight, and you knew overnight exactly where you were. And I think that it’s not about that any more. I never feel that overnight ratings on anything tell the story. I feel like it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I don’t watch live television. In my life, I don’t do that. I watch things in delayed viewing. And Versace’s numbers have grown each week.”

More so than ratings, Murphy says he’s deeply invested in feedback from those who are watching. “Versace has been a show were it has elicited the most response of people coming up to me on the street or at award shows or on sets and saying, ‘I’m watching it and loving it.’ So I do feel people are watching Versace. Most people don’t know about Andrew Cunanan. Everybody knows about O.J. So right there, it’s just a different entry way, but I think that Versace is doing tremendous numbers in delayed viewing, it sold incredibly well overseas, and it’s going to be on Netflix were it will have a long life next to OJ.”

In the past five years, as Netflix has poured massive funds into original programming and sent the number of original series soaring, networks have fought hard to make linear TV feel urgent again. And that’s precisely what Murphy’s 9-1-1 has done, with its focus on first responders on the scene of some incredibly intense emergency calls.

“I’m interested in the Netflix model,” says Murphy, “because you don’t get the daily report card. But I’m also interested in the 9-1-1 experience, which proved to me that there is sort of an excitement and there is still an appetite for immediate water-cooler conversation shows. It’s still there.”

Murphy says it will be “business as usual” with the projects he already had in the works under 20th Century Fox (Pose, The Politician, American Horror Story and Ratchet are next in the pipeline) as he begins developing new projects for Netflix under his new deal.

“All I can ever do is try and do my best work and try and connect with an audience. I’ve just decided that I don’t have a judgment about anything, because the business is in such flux, that every time you think you understand how it’s going to be, there’s some new wrinkle and something has changed.”

Do Ratings Still Matter? Ryan Murphy Argues There Are No Rules Any More

Why Ryan Murphy Can’t Care Too Much What Donatella Thinks

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story comes to a chilling conclusion tonight on FX, and spoiler alert: Ricky Martin’s heartbreaking performance as Gianni Versace’s lover Antonio D’Amico may leave you in pieces.

“I want to give Ricky [Martin] his own show,” executive producer Ryan Murphy tells E! News. “He and I have been talking about that, so we are working on that. I feel the same way about Ricky as I did Sarah Paulson when I gave her Marcia Clark—which is, I knew Sarah was capable of anything. Ricky is, too. I knew that, given the opportunity, he could really surprise people.”

With Murphy’s massive new deal with Netflix, while maintaining his commitments to FX and Fox, it seems a safe bet he can find more work for Ricky.

And Ricky isn’t the only stand-out in tonight’s final episode, which shows the manhunt following Versace’s death for spree-killer Andrew Cunanan. In an exclusive chat with E! News, Murphy reveals how he knew Darren Criss, as Cunanan, could take the show to the depths it needed, his thoughts on the man behind the monster, Andrew’s father, Modesto “Pete” Cunanan, and why he can’t concern himself too much with what Donatella might think.

There was some skepticism when Darren Criss was cast as Cunanan that he could pull it off, and the finale feels like his most challenging work yet. Did you initially have any doubts?

I did not. It’s something Darren and I have been talking about for a long time and I was never going to make this show unless he did it. The stars aligned and I was proud of him. He showed up every day very prepared. He worked longer and harder than anybody. He sensed this could be really the role of a lifetime because they don’t write roles like this for young actors. This part is Shakespearean. It’s the most difficult, multi-faceted role of the year. It’s essentially nine hours of somebody having a nervous breakdown. He went for it. I knew he would.

The final two episodes shed a lot of light on Andrew Cunanan’s relationship with his father. Do you feel like his dad was the real monster behind this tragedy?

In no way did I want to glamorize what Andrew Cunanan did, because what he did was monstrous and horrific and took the lives of five people. I was interested in showing the trail of destruction that he left but also interested in… nobody is born a monster. Nobody is born a psychopath or sociopath and I thought, unlike OJ Simpson, where we never really went into OJ’s backstory or childhood in that way, here was an opportunity that we could.

And I thought that Andrew’s father being a Filipino man and chasing the American dream and having to win at all costs – were things that he passed down to his son. And I think the physical abuse, the sexual abuse, that Andrew witnessed his father hitting his mother repeatedly, the violence that he grew up with, he became desensitized to it and that was all in the water and part of the reason why he was able to kill so easily and with very little remorse.

What is known about whether Andrew was physically or sexually abused by his father? The show strongly infers it, but doesn’t actually go there.

It’s hard because it’s hard to substantiate that. We had people discussing his childhood, who claimed in Maureen Orth’s book that, look, any boy that’s given the master bedroom…you have have to question what those motivations are about. But obviously, we had a point of view, and Maureen Orth had a point of view, and eye witnesses and people who knew Andrew. But everybody was a victim in it. It’s such a dark, American story about identity and the quest for fame and all of that stuff, which are issues that I’ve always been interested in.

Have you heard anything from the Versace family in recent weeks? Do you know if their stance on the authenticity of the series has softened at all after seeing it? 

I don’t know. I don’t know if they’ve watched it. I don’t know if they’ve softened. I think that Donatella is really connected in the world of celebrity, and everyone has remarked that the portrayal of Donatella and Gianni are beautiful. And you know, I think Penelope [Cruz] and Edgar [Ramirez] did an amazing job.

But I also think what [Donatella] did to Antonio was really sh–ty, and so, I really don’t care what she thinks, other than we were really truthful to Maureen’s book and we did our own reporting. But I also really admire [Donatella], because I think what she did was impossible. Her brother was gunned down, he was the love of her life, other than her children, and he was taken from her. And she was faced with an insurmountable position and she kept that business going in the face of great odds and she really accomplished something. And I think that Penelope portrayed her as such. I don’t know. I can never think about that because that would cloud how we created the work and I was just trying to find the truth.

Spoiler alert, and it’s a small thing, but … Did Darren Criss really eat dog food for the scene in tonight’s finale?

Andrew Cunanan definitely ate dog food. Darren did not eat dog food, although I don’t know what that stuff was, but whenever I would watch the edits, it would make me gag. It was wet and moldy. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Why Ryan Murphy Can’t Care Too Much What Donatella Thinks

Judith Light Weighs In on Possibility of a ‘Who’s the Boss?’ Revival (Exclusive)

In the age of TV revivals, there’s only one question left to ask: Who’s the Boss?.

The beloved ‘80s sitcom, starring Tony Danza, Judith Light and Alyssa Milano, seems ripe for a reboot, but Light tells ET that might never happen.

“I don’t know,” she admits. “Nobody’s really talked about it, and I don’t know that that would… I mean, we’re all working. Tony’s got a show on Netflix, Alyssa’s working, Danny [Pintauro]’s working, and you know, Katherine [Helmond]’s working, I’m not sure we’d be able to put it together. Nobody’s really talked about it, so I don’t know.”

So, for now, it’s a big question mark. What’s not in question, though, is Light’s standout performance on FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Marilyn Miglin, the widow of Lee Miglin, a victim of spree killer Andrew Cunanan. Light’s work as a woman forced to put on a brave face as she grapples with her husband’s murder, and alleged infidelity, has sparked major awards buzz. ET caught up with the actress at a For Your Consideration event for the show in Los Angeles on Monday night.

‘American Crime Story: Versace’ Cast on How They’ve Worked With the Designer’s Real-Life Family

“[An award] would mean that all people who were involved, who supported me in doing this, I would be able to thank them all, as I already have,” she gushes. “It would be an acknowledgment of this entire team, from my dear friend, Jon Robin Bates, who wrote me about it in the first place, to our producers, Brad Simpson, Nina Jacobson, and of course the extraordinary Ryan Murphy.”

“And Mike Farrell, who is a remarkable actor who plays my husband in the piece,” Light continues, “and Darren Criss and Ricky Martin and Edgar Ramirez and Penelope Cruz. I mean, you’re talking about, and Gwyneth Horder-Payton who directed it, and Tom Rob Smith who wrote it, so it would be a real acknowledgment of a team that put this together that really said, this was a story that needed to be told.”

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)