While change has been slow, at least there has been some momentum. In the years since 2000, there are at least some actors of Asian descent in lead roles on American TV, even if you can count them with your fingers. And that may even be more about the sheer volume of TV, rather than replacing caucasian actors.
There’s Lucy Liu on Elementary, there was Daniel Dae Kim on Hawaii Five-O, who quit after producers refused to pay him the same as his white co-star, Priyanka Chopra on the cancelled Quantico, Maggie Q on the cancelled Designated Survivor, Ken Jeong on the cancelled Dr Ken, Mindy Kaling on now-ended The Mindy Project, Darren Criss (whose mother is Filipino) on Assassination Of Gianni Versace and there is the cast of Fresh Off The Boat, led by the phenomenally funny Constance Wu and Randall Park.
Tag: news.com.au
Serial thriller with designs on Versace
Gunned down by a serial killer on the steps of his Miami Beach home, the murder of fashion icon Gianni Versace in July 1997 captivated the world. But the crimes that festered around, and later were exposed by Versace’s death, most fascinate Darren Criss, the 31-year-old actor who plays killer, Andrew Cunanan, in a new TV drama series. After his breakout role as Blaine in Glee, Criss has made a string of TV appearances; wowed Broadway as Hedwig in the musical Hedwig And The Angry Inch; developed the alt-pop band Computer Games with his brother, Chuck; and in January this year got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, writer-producer Mia Swier.
American Crime Story 2: The Assassination of Gianni Versace has already aired in the US, what’s been the reaction?
I’m just thrilled people have watched it — not for my own ego — but because it’s such a fascinating and compelling story that raises so many questions. It’s the kind of show that I’d like to talk about, even if I wasn’t in it!
We don’t totally know Cunanan’s motivation for the serial killings, do we?
I don’t think it is as simple as this guy wanted fame and fortune or glory. It’s sort of a pretty big cocktail of a lot of unfortunate factors.
And the crimes around that crime?
The show tries to hone in on this theme of homophobia in the United States. One of the great things about American Crime Stories is that we centralise our story on a crime, but we kind of really investigate and explore the other crimes around that, and how they affected the central crime, and vice versa. The first series (The People v O.J. Simpson) obviously is centred on the murder, but what it is really investigating is racism in Los Angeles; and what that trial meant for national black identity. What we focus on here (Versace) is how homophobia plays a hand in these crimes — not just for Cunanan and Versace, but how it manifests itself in the FBI and in the military.
20 years on, those issues are still relevant.
Absolutely. It’s unfortunate, fear and prejudice always seem to be in fashion in one way or another.
Aimee Mann guest stars in a powerful scene for Cunanan, where she sings “who’s going to drive you home tonight?” (The Cars, Drive). How psychologically revealing are those lyrics?
Oh, yeah. It’s a great scene. He’s terrified of being left alone. There’s a key line — and I’ll summarise — where he says, ‘I’m a new person. Now I just need someone to be a new person for’. He just needs these people so he can share this fantastical version of himself.
Segueing now, The Cars, ’Til Tuesday, did they influence your band Computer Games?
Sure. Any popular good music. Everything influences you either consciously or not. So, yeah, sure, I’ve played my fair share of Cars covers in my day.
Hedwig creator John Cameron Mitchell will be in Brisbane next month. Did John give you any advice on the role when you took over from him on Broadway?
He’s been such a great friend and a great mentor in general, that I can’t boil it down to one specific piece of advice. But I will say John was always very encouraging of me to learn my own stuff to sort of add to the internal narrative that is Hedwig. And, yep, I’m a ‘Hed-head’ myself. I was a Hedwig fan that got to wear the wig!
American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Foxtel, showcase, Thursdays, 8.30pm; also available Foxtel On Demand
The Origin of Love: The Songs and Stories of Hedwig, QPAC Concert Hall, July 17, 8pm, qpac.com.au
The role Darren Criss was born to play
While Darren Criss’ most famous character saw him favouring bow-ties, cardigans and being an unabashedly good guy, his latest role calls on him to repeatedly drive a claw hammer into one of his victims, blood spluttering all over the walls of a downtown warehouse conversion.
Andrew Cunanan is most famous for gunning down Gianni Versace as he stood outside his beachside Miami mansion in 1997. But before he drew his weapon at the designer’s head, Cunanan had wreaked havoc with four other killings.
Even though American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace — with an A-list cast that includes Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin — appears to be a drama about the famed design house, Cunanan’s story makes up something like 80 per cent of the time.
By structuring the series in reverse linearity and opening with the Versace murder before each subsequent episode takes a step backwards, to the other killings and back to Cunanan’s adolescence and childhood, it seeks to explain how someone as charismatic as him could end up where he did.
With the weight of almost the entire nine episodes on his shoulders, Criss gives a nuanced and powerful performance that’s been talked about in terms of how many statues he’ll nab come awards season.
What’s on TV: American Crime Story, Save Me and more
AMERICAN CRIME STORY: ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE
(Showcase on Foxtel — Thursday, May 24 at 8.30pm; also on iTunes)
After the runaway success of People vs OJ Simpson, Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story series is back with an exceedingly watchable second instalment, this time tackling the murder of designer Gianni Versace.
Gunned down in front of his Miami mansion by a serial killer, the death shocked the world and celebrities including Elton John and Princess Diana attended his funeral in 1997.
But the story of his killer, Andrew Cunanan, is lesser known and that’s what this series is really about. While the marketing has been trumpeting its A-list cast — Penélope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin — most of the show’s nine episodes are focused on Cunanan, played here with incredible depth by Glee star and Murphy alum Darren Criss.
Cunanan, an openly gay man, had already murdered four people by the time he stood outside Versace’s home. A pathological liar with delusions of grandeur, Cunanan’s emotionally tortured soul was emblematic of the “national crime” Murphy captured in the DNA of this series: Shame.
Played out in reverse linearity, the show peels back the layers of Cunanan’s actions and twisted psychology before bringing it back to the climax — it’s an incredibly effective exercise in empathy. It also happens to be some of the most phenomenal TV you’ll see this year. Don’t miss it.
ACS news 