Tag: interview

Singing star Ricky Martin uses voice to help others│Hispanic Network Magazine

Martin has accepted a role in, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” set for release in 2018.

Martin will play Gianni Versace’s longtime love, Antonio D’Amico.

“It’s a story that needs to be told,” said Martin. “We’re going to go mainstream with a story that talks about homophobia, that talks about hate, that talks about indifference. I feel humbled. It’s so raw and honest and so dramatic and sad. But at the same time you show the love of Gianni and Antonio and 15 years of struggling, fighting. It’s something that I really wanted to be loud about.”

Singing star Ricky Martin uses voice to help others│Hispanic Network Magazine

“I grew up in a home that embraced outdoorsmanship as a form of male bonding, so that type of language and shared space was something that I understood from the time I was a little kid,” Bomer tells The Hollywood Reporter, who called from the set of his directorial debut, an episode in the forthcoming American Crime Story: Versace. (Of the latter, he couldn’t give away any plot details but did praise the cast and crew, calling the experience “an unbelievable honor.”)

Matt Bomer interview for The Hollywood Reporter | 13 October 2017

The Irresistible Rise Of Penélope Cruz

She tells me she’s jet lagged, having returned only a day earlier, en famille, from LA. But I can find no evidence whatsoever for this assertion. Not once does she yawn or flag. She was in the US to film the next series of American Crime Story, the fizzy TV show that, having dealt already with one high profile Nineties celebrity murder case, in The People v OJ Simpson, now turns its attention to The Assassination of Gianni Versace, with Cruz as Donatella — a prospect, for fashion and pop culture nerds such as myself, almost as succulent as our shared steak.

This is the first TV show Cruz has made since she was a teenager. “The rhythm of television is different because they’re writing so quickly,” she says. “Sometimes you get the new scenes three, four days before you shoot. So that’s a new thing for me. It’s a lot of dialogue, in my second language, but with [Donatella’s] accent, which is Italian.”

The Irresistible Rise Of Penélope Cruz

Next spring he makes his directorial debut in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, a professional move 20 years in the making. “I’ve been asked before, but I always had a prominent role in a production. I wanted to come at it with fresh eyes, independent of being in the middle of a story being told, and be able to put my own fingerprint on the work,” he says, adding with a laugh: “I am terrified and excited and sometimes both in the same moment.”

Matt Bomer interview for Angeleno magazine

Matt Bomer on Man Against Nature in Walking Out and His New Job

How have you been preparing for your directorial debut?

I am in my directing office right now and I am going to start tomorrow. I poured over thousands of pages of books, I shadowed some really talented, generous, wonderful directors, and I am in the world of Ryan Murphy, so you have some of the most incredible professionals you could have working with you. I am excited and terrified and I haven’t really been this thrilled about anything in this industry for awhile, so it’s been a great way to shake up my creative spirit.

I’ve heard that Ryan is good about giving opportunities to first-time directors. How did it come about that this was yours?

He is just one of those people who is so generous of spirit. Truly. I think he knew I had been in this medium of episodic for 20 years, and he knew that I really extensively prepare for everything that I do, and for whatever reason, he saw qualities in me that he felt would work well as an episodic director.

He called me out of the blue and said, “What do  you think about directing it?” I was flabbergasted and blown away and I just very humbly said, “I can’t thank you enough. I will do my best to be prepared and come through. Obviously, he’s been a very big influence in my life and, in large part, he’s been an architect of my career in many ways.

What about the murder of Gianni Versace will make people want to watch?

There is so much I didn’t know. There are so many reasons people are going to watch. There are so many incredible performances going on and the writing is unparalleled. But there is so much about the story that I didn’t understand the specifics of it in the larger context of what was going on in the time period. I am excited for people to see it.

It also has sex, money and fashion.

All the things that excites and titillates but it also has some real substance and nuance to it that will keep people coming back for more.

Matt Bomer on Man Against Nature in Walking Out and His New Job

Penelope Cruz

PALTROW: The other project of yours that I’m dying over is The Assassination of Gianni Versace. I saw pictures. You look incredible as Donatella.

CRUZ: From the moment I got the call from Ryan Murphy, I thought, “Why did you think of me for that character? That’s very … interesting.” I know her a little bit, and I really like her. I had a few questions about how he was going to handle her portrayal, but he’s so classy, and he’s very respectful to people. This is a delicate story, because I’m playing someone who is alive, someone who lost her brother in a horrible way, and someone who still misses him very much 20 years later. I was not used to the rhythm of doing television.

PALTROW: It’s fast.

CRUZ: Getting four monologues two days before the shoot? And I was doing English with an Italian accent! I was like, “This is impossible.” But then you just do it.

PALTROW: When I did Glee, I was like, “What do you mean we’re shooting a whole musical number in half a day?” I couldn’t believe it. And then after TV, you go back to doing a movie and you’re like, “This is so slow!”

CRUZ: I know! Now I’m shooting a movie with Asghar Farhadi, the director of The Salesman and A Separation, in Spain. I look at my dialogue and I’m like, “Uhh, okay. I got this.” [laughs]

PALTROW: How did you go about preparing to play Donatella Versace? Did you watch interviews?

CRUZ: I worked a lot with a dialogue coach to find the way that Donatella speaks, which is a little different from the way she spoke in the ’90s. The accent that she has, it’s Italian with a very international flavor—very rock ’n’ roll. I didn’t want to do an imitation of Donatella, or a caricature. I wanted to try to capture the essence of who she is.

PALTROW: Did you speak to her about it?

CRUZ: A little bit. I needed that conversation. I really hope that when she sees the show, she’s going to be happy. I’m sure there are going to be scenes that are hard for her to watch, because it’s a lot about the loss of her brother, which, of course, I have so much respect for. I did it with all my love. From that place of devastation, she had to keep this company going in his honor. I don’t know if she ever said this, but it was a way of keeping him alive.

PALTROW: Do you think you’ll do more TV?

CRUZ: Why not? I would love to work with Ryan and his team again.

Penelope Cruz