Darren Criss takes a dark turn in ‘Versace’
Darren Criss doesn’t have to worry that he’ll be forever typecast as that cute, preppy singer from Glee.
FX’s limited series, The Assassination of Gianni Ver
sace: American Crime Story (Wednesday, 10 ET/PT) roughs up that wholesome image.
Versace, a follow-up to 2016’s Emmy-winning O.J. Simpson courtroom saga, recounts Cunanan’s 1997 murder spree, which claimed five lives as the 27-year-old traversed the country, ending with the iconic fashion designer outside his mansion in Miami Beach.
Criss, 30, best known as Warblers singer and Kurt’s lover (and eventual husband) Blaine Anderson on Glee, reunites with executive producer Ryan Murphy on a darker story with a bigger, weightier role.
“I had a great time doing Blaine, (but he) is part of a more ensemble piece,” he says. “It was nice to be on a big- ger playing field with Ryan and to get our hands dirty.” Murphy said Criss was the first actor he cast for the pivotal role in Versace, based on Maureen Orth’s book, Vulgar Favors. The high-powered cast also includes Oscar winner Penélope Cruz as Versace’s sister, Donatella, and Ricky Martin as his partner, Antonio D’Amico.
Criss acting against his Glee image works well in Versace, executive producer Nina Jacobson says.
People might ask, “How could that ( Glee) guy be this guy? (just as) the people who knew Andrew said, ‘ How can that guy be this guy?’ ” she says.
Criss has a likability but also an ability to go darker, Jacobson says. “Andrew was not your garden-variety psychopath, torturing animals as a child. He was well-liked, warm, connected to people. To watch his descent and see his humanity but still never excuse his actions, I thought Darren just had that: the glibness, on one hand, and the depth.”
Criss says Murphy first mentioned the role to him three years ago.
“Lady Gaga had just been announced to do American Horror Story, and so I remember jokingly saying to him, ‘Well, let me know if you need a wily bellhop to run around.’ I was kind of joking — but not,” says Criss, who appeared in two episodes of that season’s AHS: Hotel. “He said, ‘I’m doing this O.J. (story). It’s more of a courtroom drama and I really want to do a manhunt. I want to do this Versace-Cunanan story. How much do you know about him?’ ”
Criss felt an obligation to understand the well-educated gay man, whom the series portrays as initially killing out of personal passion but later adopting more political motives. Versace, one of the most prominent openly gay men of that time, was his final victim before he took his own life a week later.
“It’s my job to be empathetic. If I set out to paint him as a monster, then there’s no point in telling the story. This isn’t a Bond villain,” he says.
Criss shares some surface similar- ities with Cunanan: Each is from California, has a parent from the Philippines and is college-educated.
With an education, friends, a gift for storytelling (or lying) and no history of social problems, why did Cunanan become a murderer?
Orth suggested the young man was willing to kill to become famous and that he envied Versace, who had the fame, riches and romantic relationship he desired.
Cunanan had disadvantages and setbacks that many others encounter without suffering such “an extreme fall from grace,” Criss says. “There are things that happened with him that would have changed most people and made them think about their lives differently, whereas Andrew, instead of facing reality, continued to cover it up with more lies and more fantasy that would ultimately” lead to tragedy.