FASHION TO DIE FOR
With the account of the murder of designer Versace, ‘American Crime Story’ continues to deliver, writes
The death of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was one of the key moments of the ’90s. Newspapers and magazines splashed photos of Versace’s opulent South Beach Miami mansion across their pages and everyone who was anyone was photographed draped in black and shedding tears at his funeral — from Elton John to Princess Diana. It’s no surprise then that show creator Ryan Murphy, who loves a juicy tabloid tale, chose Versace’s death at the hands of serial killer Andrew Cunanan as the material for the second season of his anthology series American Crime Story.
It follows its successful first outing, which dealt with that other key moment of the ’90s — the OJ Simpson trial. As the creator of Glee, American Horror Story and the recent Feud, Murphy likes shows that mix generous amounts of camp, glamour and dark undertones.
In the character of Cunanan (played by Glee alumnus Darren Criss) — he’s found a suitably twisted, troubled prisoner of the society of aspirations and celebratory obsessions which Versace fed, became part of and ultimately fell victim to.
LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCA
We begin on a balmy July 1997 morning in the lavish, baroque interior of Versace’s opulent Casa Casuarina mansion: the happy and content designer (played with eerie exactness by Edgar Ramirez) begins his day in the company of an army of servants and his partner Antonio D’Amico (played as well as you’d expect by Ricky Martin). After breakfast and dressed in his finest ’90s South Beach casual wear, Versace takes a stroll to the local news agent, where he greets everyone with a cheery wave and picks up copies of his favourite European glossy fashion mags.
Upon returning home, while opening his gate, Versace is shot in the head by a handsome but troubled-looking young man who runs off, leaving the designer quickly fading away in a pool of blood and bloodied magazines carrying ads for his clothes. From there Murphy cuts back in time to examine Cunanan’s psychotic history and the show moves between times as the police begin their manhunt for the assassin.
If you’re familiar with the story, you’ll know that this show will ultimately have a very different resolution to the OJ Simpson case and the flashing forwards and backwards is necessitated by events — Versace was Cunanan’s fifth and final victim in a killing spree that spanned three months from Minneapolis to Chicago before his arrival in Florida.
Raised in a comfortable middle-class home by a navy officer Filipino father and an Italian mother, Cunanan’s early life was one of relative comfort and expensive boardingschool education until his father abandoned the family to escape arrest for embezzlement. The rest of the young man’s life seems to have been one devoted to keeping close to rich men who could keep him in the luxuries and high-end lifestyle he had become obsessed with.
KILLER CHARM
For Murphy the juiciest bits of the story are in Cunanan’s journey and increasing sadism and in Criss he’s chosen an actor who gives a chilling and layered performance — skilfully veering, American Psycho-style between glacial, expensively dressed charm and manic psychopathic bloodlust.
Three episodes and two murders in, Murphy seems to have found a balance between his natural urge to concentrate a little too long on the lavish attractions of Versace and his world. This is including his relationship with his sister Donatella (an uglified but not quite altered enough Penelope Cruz) and the more difficult task of untangling the homicidal passions of Cunanan, which bodes well for the remaining six episodes.
Whether or not Murphy will draw us along a path that places Versace as a victim of desires and obsessions that he helped to create remains to be seen. But for now American Crime Story continues to deliver plenty of intrigue, committed performances and twists in the tale to keep you tuning in for a satisfying weekly hit.
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LThe Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story is on FOX (DStv 125). Fridays, 3am