Tag: tom rob smith

See how your favorite stars are reacting to their Emmy nominations

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (Outstanding Limited Series)

Ryan Murphy (creator)

“Of course it’s thrilling to see this series attract so much recognition, and I am forever grateful to Tom Rob Smith for his brilliant take, to my producing partners Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson and Brad Falchuk for their collaboration and friendship, and to our talented cast who breathed such humanity into these characters. This was a heartbreaking story to tell, made more so by the fact that we continue as a culture to grapple with homophobia and shame and intolerance.”

Darren Criss (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie)

“Zorro, Dr. Strange, Harry Dunne, Todd Alquist, and Jesus Christ… pretty incredible company to keep. Humbled by your talent, Antonio Banderas, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeff Daniels, Jesse Plemons, John Legend. I’m such a fan. Congrats! What an honor, Television Academy. Thank you so much. Truly. Wow. And a huge congrats to my fellow cast and crew of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story! Ryan Murphy does it again!”

Penelope Cruz (Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie)

“What a great honor to be nominated alongside this incredible group of women. I am very grateful to the Television Academy, to Ryan Murphy and our amazing cast and crew.  Donatella Versace is someone I really respect and admire and stepping into her shoes was a very inspiring adventure for me.”

Judith Light (Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie)

“My deepest thanks to the Emmy voters and of course, the brilliant Ryan Murphy for the gift of being a part of this culture changing  production; thanks to Brad Simpson, Nina Jacobsen, the crew, cast, hair, makeup, wardrobe, Tom Rob Smith for his remarkable script, Gwyneth Horder Payton and Dan Minahan for their glorious direction. My gratitude to all of them and FX is beyond words or measure.”

Tom Rob Smith (Outstanding Writing For A Limited Series, Movie Or Dramatic Special)

“This nomination is an extraordinary honor. Participating with the extraordinary team behind Americans Crime Story has been one of the highlights of my career. I owe Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson a great deal. And FX are the best partners a writer could dream of having. I’m so thrilled.”

Édgar Ramírez (Outstanding Supporting Actor in A Limited Series Or Movie)

“I am so touched by this nomination . Portraying Gianni Versace, has been one of the most transformative experiences of my life, and I am so happy, so proud and so grateful for the enormous recognition the show has received. I am so humbled to share this joy and honor with such talented artists, who are more than friends, they are now my family.”

Ricky Martin (Outstanding Supporting Actor in A Limited Series Or Movie)

“I am beyond humbled and so honored to be nominated in this category along with Edgar Ramirez and the other amazing actors in my category. This recognition from my peers is the highest honor I could dream of. I am grateful to Ryan Murphy and the whole FX team.”

Finn Wittrock (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie)

“I am so honored to be nominated today. I owe a great debt to Ryan Murphy and I would like to express a big congrats to my fellow nominees, especially my co-stars from American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.  I’m thrilled to be sharing this category with such a talented group of actors.”

See how your favorite stars are reacting to their Emmy nominations

‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Writer on Adapting David Madson’s Murder

The subtitle of the second installment of “American Crime Story,” “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” emphasized Andrew Cunanan’s (played by Darren Criss) most infamous murder, but writer Tom Rob Smith was determined to not overlook the killer’s other victims in his adaptation of Maureen Orth’s nonfiction book “Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History.”

With a Friend Like This…

Cunanan’s first murders were close to home. As depicted in the fourth episode Andrew snaps and ambushes his friend, Jeffrey (Finn Wittrock), much to the horror of former boyfriend, David (Cody Fern), who becomes his second victim.

“There is a difference in tone and in the way Andrew saw [those] murders compared to [those] of Versace and the others,” Smith says. “It’s someone who has had a nervous breakdown, in effect, who crumbled to nothing — who is full of loathing in his life, and is lashing out at the two people who he feels have drifted from him. Once he crosses the line, he thinks, ‘Now that I’m a killer, what should I do?’”

With these two killings Andrew’s potential future life collapses, Smith says.

Orth’s reporting was vital for Smith’s research and gave vital insight into the real-life mindset of everyone as it was happening. Smith credits Orth’s book with helping to establish how “American Crime Story” would handle David’s death, which occurred after Andrew coerced his ex to go on the run with him post-Jeffrey’s murder.

“What Maureen’s book did was go to the family, and their grief, after describing his death,” Smith says.

Drawing Out the Death(s)

Smith took great pains to make David’s final moments on-screen appear as close to reality as possible (replicating the lake, tall grass, and the home nearby that was evident in crime scene photos), but because the murder itself “would have taken a couple of seconds.” Smith lingered on the moment.

“Clearly, we don’t know what went through his mind in those few seconds, but I really wanted to contrast Andrew, and it became about the love of his family,” Smith says.

Though the show would quickly reveal these are David’s final thoughts, “it was about trying to take that part of the book, which deals with the grief of the family, and put it into that moment, so it didn’t become a series of mechanical facts about the murder,” Smith says.

To give the proper respect to the other deaths, Smith’s limited anthology series jumped around in time, starting with Versace’s (Edgar Ramírez) homicide, and then backing up to show what led to it.

“The other murders aren’t just a prelude to the thing that everyone knows,” he says. “The format was a way of increasing their weight in the structure of the story, and not make them just look like they were a stepping stone on the way to a thing that everyone knew. These victims, who had been given no attention, were incredible people. To be able to pull their story into the light was sad, rewarding and emotional.”

‘Assassination of Gianni Versace’ Writer on Adapting David Madson’s Murder

American Tragedy

dcriss-archive:

It’s not quite five o’clock, but Darren Criss is sipping his first glass of champagne moments after arriving in a small basement lounge in Park City, Utah.

The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, accounting for much of the activity in the cramped space, but Criss isn’t here for that. The star of FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace just wrapped a set nearby at the ASCAP Music Café, where he performed angsty songs from his sophomore solo release, Homework.

Though plenty of Hollywood types are in town for the indie film festival, Criss says he recognized no one in the crowd at his gig, save for his fiancée, Mia Swier, who has also been joining him on the ski slopes during the day. It’s a bit of a celebratory trip, given that the pair recently got engaged and Criss just finished shooting the final episode in season two of the American Crime Story anthology series, in which he plays megalomaniacal spree killer Andrew Cunanan.

Belting out tunes for a roomful of strangers can be just as gratifying as heading an ensemble cast for his former Glee boss Ryan Murphy on Versace, where he played (briefly) opposite titular victim Edgar Ramírez and on a parallel but separate track from costars Penélope Cruz (as Donatella Versace) and Ricky Martin (as Gianni’s lover Antonio D’Amico).

The nine-episode storyline moves in reverse chronological order: Criss operates in his own thread, which traces the roots of the Talented Mr. Ripley-esque maniac, once dubbed “most likely to be remembered” by his graduating class at a posh San Diego high school.

“One of the great goals in my career is to keep things as versatile as possible and to confuse and to throw people off,” he says. “So, I like it when you have a room full of Sundance people, you know, music folks, music supervisors, filmmakers that are like, ‘Wait, what? He’s a songwriter?’ That really excites me. The same way that, when I was mostly playing music and booked an acting gig, people would be like, ‘What? You’re an actor?’”

Unlike his famous costars, who have toplined studio movies (Ramírez), won an Oscar (Cruz) and enjoyed huge musical success (Martin), Criss has been waiting for his breakout.

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American Tragedy