“THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY”
Network: FX
Release Date: January 17, 2018
Talent: Penélope Cruz, Édgar Ramírez, Ricky Martin, Darren CrissPrepare yourself: While “The People v. O.J. Simpson” set up “American Crime Story” as a franchise devoted to murder-tinged drama, the tone established by executive producer Ryan Murphy and lead writer Tom Rob Smith is of a very different nature. The reverse timeline structure (which begins with the titular event but then moves backwards to examine the motives of Versace’s killer) proves to be a major showcase for the acting talents of Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan. Andrew’s journey ends up driving the story, but there’s still plenty to learn about Versace, his world, and in general what gay people in that era were dealing with — none of it easy.
Tag: review
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace‘ is gay allegory filled with fiction
The second season of “American Crime Story” is an absorbing, thought-provoking drama that will shock and disturb viewers.
Does it matter that entire sections of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” are fiction?
Here’s the thing. This follow-up to the nine-time Emmy-winning “The People v. O.J. Simpson” is the story of severely troubled Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss, “Glee”), who, en route to killing fashion icon Versace (Edgar Ramirez), on July 15, 1997, murdered four other people — bludgeoning Jeff Trail (Finn Wittrock) with a hammer, shooting David Madson (Cody Fern), stabbing Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell, “M*A*S*H”) repeatedly and shooting William Reese (Gregg Lawrence).
We know what Versace was doing up until the moment he was murdered; in flashbacks, we see a lot of him, his sister, Donatella (Penélope Cruz), and his partner, Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin). But we don’t know exactly what Cunanan was doing or what his motive was; he killed himself before he could be arrested.
Entire episodes portray what happened leading up to the murders, and the only people who know are dead. Much of this story is sort of a best-guess; Tom Rob Smith’s script is based on Maureen Orth’s book “Vulgar Favors.”
Yes, the production team went to great lengths to accurately re-create settings — filming at Versace’s Miami Beach home and copying it in great detail on a soundstage. But whereas “O.J.” and the book on which it was based worked largely from the court record, there is no such record for Cunanan and Versace.
Executive producer/director Ryan Murphy was quick to point out that “American Crime Story” is not a documentary but a “docudrama. So there’s always certain things you take liberty with” in an effort “to move toward something emotional.”
One of the most intriguing aspects is that, because Cunanan and four of his five victims were gay, the authorities did less than their best to capture him.
“It’s more than why [Versace] was killed. It is sort of why it was allowed to happen,” said Murphy, who came to the conclusion that Versace “really did not have to die.”
“One of the reasons Andrew Cunanan was able to make his way across the country and pick off these victims … was because of homophobia at the time,” Murphy said. “So I thought that that was a really interesting thing to examine, to look at again, particularly with the president we have and the world that we live in.”
That’s a conclusion left for viewers to make on their own. There’s no reference to Donald Trump in the eight episodes (of nine) screened for critics.
And, unfortunately, the homophobia subplot is the least-developed aspect of the series — and one for which there is an actual record. Unlike so much of the “American Crime Story” narrative.
“Between the Maureen Orth book and sort of our own speculation, there’s a lot of blanks to fill in,” Criss said.
Does any of this matter? As a drama, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” is somewhat uneven but engaging. And it breaks out of the TV crime-drama mold.
It opens with what has become a TV trope, starting at the end of the story, with Cunanan murdering Versace and then flashing back. But it moves back in steps, portraying the third murder before moving back to the first two, then moving back to events leading up to the first two murders, and so on.
The victims in this nine-part series are portrayed sympathetically — even, in the case of Madsen, heroically. And it offers some understanding of how, perhaps, Cunanan turned into a serial killer by portraying his deeply disturbing childhood.
(Jon Jon Briones delivers a dynamite performance as Cunanan’s father, Modesto.)
So does it matter that much of this season of “American Crime Story” is fictionalized? Not as long as you watch knowing that’s the case.
This is TV, it’s not altogether history.
‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace‘ is gay allegory filled with fiction
Screener reaction at Gold Derby forums part 3
I recall two times when people are having sex, both gay and both wide shots.
What else do we have on the horizon that could upset this for limited series? The first full review that came out for this was Dan Fienberg’s, which Metacritic scored as a 70. That sounds about right to me. (He was admittedly harsher on the first season than most; his review was an 80 for that, ten points lower than the Metacritic weighted average and it did not make his top ten for the year.)
It was just last year that the category was so packed and it seems pretty empty right now. Mosaic might be nominated or it might go the way of The Young Pope, which was also quickly burned off by HBO in January. Godless has its fans, but its Golden Globe and PGA shutouts do not inspire much confidence. Will have to watch the three screener episodes of Trust that I have, but who knows if that will even be eligible? Other possible nominees are The Long Road Home, Manhunt: Unabomber and Gunpowder, but none of those are winning. Genius missed PGA, but maybe the next season is amazing?
The other full review that we have so far is much more positive. New York Post critic Robert Rorke singles out “an excellent Finn Wittrock” and “future Emmy winner Jon Jon Briones”.
“The performances of the leads are outstanding, but special mention must be made of Criss, who beautifully captures Cunanan’s ability to tell the biggest lies anyone has ever heard and literally charm the pants off anyone he sets his sights on. He’s a lot like Patricia Highsmith’s Mr. Ripley, but Ripley was a fictional creation. Cunanan […] was sadly all too real. Murphy’s ability to showcase well-known performers in surprising cameos continues apace with gems from Mike Farrell, Max Greenfield and even Cathy Moriarty as a wily pawnshop owner. The Assassination of Gianni Versace is more personal and heartfelt than Murphy’s The People v. O.J. Simpson, and proves that when it comes to seductive allure laced with menace, no one in TV is Murphy’s match.”
Screener reaction at Gold Derby forums part 2
Watched the last two screeners that the press has, so I have now seen all but the finale of this nine-episode season.
#7 was the first one with an arc for Cruz that ran through the episode. She was better in #2 though. Then of course she, Ricky Martin and Edgar Ramirez were absent from #8. It would not even surprise me if they all missed the finale. It is not so much that their story is done as it was never theirs in the first place. This is the story of Andrew Cunanan as played by Darren Criss, as well as the story of his victims, in reverse-chronological order. Versace was his last, so we got to spend some time with Ramirez/Cruz/Martin early on, then the show moved on to before Cunanan had anything to do with Versace. But because Ramirez/Cruz/Martin are big names under contract, the show randomly checks in with them.
Criss has been in all eight episodes, Ramirez has been in five (including one with only a cameo) and Cruz, Martin, Cody Fern and Finn Wittrock have been in four. Somebody vaguely recognizable plays Cunanan’s mother in three episodes, but there were no credits on those ones and I cannot place her. Max Greenfield (Schmidt on New Girl), Dascha Polanco (Daya on Orange is the New Black), Jay R. Ferguson (Stan on Mad Men) and Giovanni Cirfiera were in the first two. Annaleigh Ashford (Betty on Masters of Sex) and Michael Nouri (Flashdance, Summer’s dad on The O.C.) were also in two. Mike Farrell (Emmy nominee for M*A*S*H) has a notable one-off appearance as the husband of Judith Light’s character.
#1 and #8 are the best episodes. Matt Bomer directs the latter and it the only one that runs over an hour. The story of Cunanan’s childhood and teenage years, it features an excellent one-off guest performance by Jon Jon Briones as Cunanan’s father. Who knew that Darren Criss is half Filipino? I suppose that people usually do not think that I am half Asian either.
Sex is minimal in this show. There is a lot of shirtlessness in the opening two Miami-set episodes. Criss has some nice dancing and nude swimming sequences later on in the season. Violence is not so bad, considering that this is a show about a serial killer.
Screener reaction at Gold Derby forums (SPOILERS for which episodes characters appear in)
I have seen six episodes so far.
Penelope Cruz:
Episode 1: Finally arrives on private jet 37 minutes in
Episode 2: Leaves on private jet 10 minutes in, later in flashback
Episode 3: Absent
Episode 4: Absent
Episode 5: Only in opening 4 minutes
Episode 6: AbsentCruz might end up submitting the second episode because it has her grieving, but it is not a showcase like the third episode for one-off guest Judith Light, the fourth for recurring guest Cody Fern (halfway between Chris Zylka and Domhnall Gleeson) or the fifth for recurring guest Finn Wittrock. Max Greenfield is unrecognizable in the first two episodes. Donatella often appears with her brother Santo, played by Javier Bardem doppelgänger Giovanni Cirfiera.
Ricky Martin is also missing in the third, fourth and sixth episodes. Ramirez is missing in the third and fourth, appears in a dream sequence in the sixth and spends most of the first episode on a gurney. The point is that this is decidedly Darren Criss’s show, even though the credits in the first two episodes are:
Starring Edgar Ramirez
Darren Criss
Ricky Martin
and Penelope CruzThe rest of the screeners did not have credits on them, so I am not sure if people are still credited when they do not appear. Criss is very good, although it is not far off from his performance as Blaine Anderson on Glee. If Blaine were a serial killer instead of a singing teenager, this would be it. There is talk in the Call Me by Your Name thread about how gay guys in film are often played by straight guys seemingly playing straight guys who are apparently gay. Suffice it to say that this is not that.
As for the show itself, it does not live up to The People v. O.J. Simpson or even Bette and Joan. Cult was more entertaining. Despite the title, the show follows Andrew Cunanan on his cross-country killing spree. Is he worthy of such examination though? He is a compulsive liar, so nothing that he says matters. It is a bit repetitive over so many episodes. His victims fit a pattern, but they are all innocent. It is sad that they randomly got killed, but it is sad when innocent people randomly get killed. The show is supposedly about the pursuit of the American dream and the failures of institutions and—most effectively conveyed—how being gay in the nineties sucked, but Andrew being a homicidal psychopath transcends all of that as far as I am concerned, two-thirds into the season.
There is some jumping around early on, but for the most part, episodes are ordered reverse-chronologically. The first eight minutes of the show have almost no dialogue, but the score never stops. It would be a good reel to submit in cinematography as well. The premiere is very well directed by Ryan Murphy, but the show is less dynamic after that. The second episode, directed by the cinematographer, has an excessively warm filter, like when Breaking Bad would go to Mexico.
‘Versace’ miniseries is the first great show of 2018
TV REVIEW
AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE★★★★
The second installment of Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” franchise is the tragic tale of a globally famous gay talent and an obscure gay parasite.
Based on Maureen Orth’s “Vulgar Favors,” “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” is also a glamorous and frightening portrait of a certain kind of modern monster — the entitled kept boy who snaps when he loses the keys to what he imagined was his kingdom.
In her book, Orth describes Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) — who shot Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez) at point-blank range on the steps of his Miami villa in July 1997 — as a “narcissistic nightmare of vainglorious self-absorption, a practiced and pathological liar who … was clever enough to pull off his deceptions.”
The nine episodes of Murphy’s series, all carefully crafted by British screenwriter Tom Robb Smith (“London Spy”), track the disintegration of a spoiled child who demanded the maximum payoff for the most minimal effort — and, unable to develop any real relationships with his peers, cruelly targeted older, wealthy gay men who were willing to satisfy his endless needs.
Smith tells his story in reverse, heightening the central mystery of how a scruffy drifter with a baseball cap, backpack and gun approached Versace as he was returning from a stroll to a neighborhood cafe. Was this a random shooting, or did the younger Cunanan know the celebrated Italian fashion designer, recovering from illnesses brought on by a suppressed diagnosis of HIV? Cunanan, already infamous after landing on the FBI’s Most Wanted list following a spree that left four men, including two of his friends, dead, was bumming around Miami for two months to the apparent indifference of the local police. He then killed one last time.
As the mystery unfolds, Murphy, who directs the pilot, and Smith invite us to witness the extremes of gay culture in the 1980s and 1990s. We meet Versace’s boyfriend Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin), and Cunanan’s companions (and ultimate victims), former naval officer Jeff Trail (an excellent Finn Wittrock) and rising young architect David Madson (Cody Fern). We get glimpses of the Versace fashion empire with his unimaginative, controlling sister Donatella (Penelope Cruz) watching enviously as her brother silences his detractors with one ravishing creation after another. And we get a ringside seat at the twisted Cunanan home in San Diego, where Andrew’scon-man father, Pete (future Emmy winner Jon Jon Briones), sold the family home from under his wife and four children before fleeing the country on an embezzlement charge. All the tools Andrew needed to embark on his trajectory of murder and menace he learned at his father’s feet.
The performances of the leads are outstanding, but special mention must be made of Criss, who beautifully captures Cunanan’s ability to tell the biggest lies anyone has ever heard and literally charm the pants off anyone he sets his sights on. He’s a lot like Patricia Highsmith’s Mr. Ripley, but Ripley was a fictional creation. Cunanan, who committed suicide after murdering Versace, was sadly all-too-real.
Murphy’s ability to showcase well-known performers in surprising cameos continues apace with gems from Mike Farrell, Max Greenfield and even Cathy Moriarty as a wily pawnshop owner.
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace” is more personal and heartfelt than Murphy’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” and proves that when it comes to seductive allure laced with menace, no one in TV is Murphy’s match.
What to Watch: TV chat with Hank Stuever
Do you think The Assassination of Gianni Versace has the potential to be as big as The People vs OJ Simpson? Or is 90s gay politics too niche for audiences?
A: Hank Stuever
Is it political, though? What principles did Andrew Cunanan stand for?
That said, I think you’re onto something. Make the subject gay (either a little bit or a lot) and you still lose some potential audience (dude bros, mainly), though not nearly to the degree that you once might have. Plus, I think everyone wants to tune in to see if this one is as good as the last one. Versace is nowhere near the true-crime mania that accompanies the subject of O.J. Simpson. Minus the crazed gay serial killer angle and debaucherous gay luxury angle, he Versace murder is hard sell as a work of nostalgia or revisionist drama.
I have seen two episodes at this point, but I have a feeling I’ll be bingeing a lot more of it tonight in advance of FX’s presentations tomorrow. What I can say, so far, is that this series hits the same sweet spot that the O.J. series did, between fact and sensation. Darren Criss goes all out as Andrew Cunanan.
Q: Darren Criss
Is that the Street Magician guy?
A: Hank Stuever
No, it’s the guy from “Glee.”
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