CultureVulture
Family of slain designer comes out against the series.
After winning critics, awards and viewers over with American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson, Ryan Murphy is back with a second edition of his anthology series, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
But it looks like, unlike the first edition that picked up nine Emmys, this one has divided critics.
The series, based on Maureen Orth’s book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U. S. History, is an exploration of the murder of the fashion designer in the 1990s as well as the prevalent homophobia in America during that period. With a total of nine episodes, and a cast that includes the likes of Penelope Cruz and Ricky Martin, it is one of the most talked about shows to emerge in 2018.
However, even with Murphy directing, the first episode has premiered to mixed reviews. Though most agree that Darren Criss’s portrayal of serial killer Andrew Cunanan is outstanding, it also looks like the show is more focused on the killer and less on its victim.
As Vox noted, “There’s not as much Versace as you might expect, and it barely delves into his fashion empire. The designer is, instead, a kind of ghost haunting the proceedings, an out gay man who lives openly with the love of his life, insulated by the money that has given him the security to be open about himself.”
Vulture also picked up the same tone, stating: “Throughout, however, more time is devoted to Cunanan than either of the Versaces, and despite Criss’s memorably creepy-enthusiastic performance as Cunanan, the killer never seems like more than an unnerving bundle of insecurity, grandiosity, deceptiveness, and petulance, with a touch of Norman Bates’s birdlike insistence and Patrick Bateman’s obsession with brands. He’s a character who’s tailor-made for viewer projection and thinkpiece generation, but who never registers as a human being as powerfully as the major supporting characters, the Versaces in particular.”
Calling the show “knotty, uneven, and captivating”, Vanity Fair noted in its review: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace has a narcotic pull. Its shifting sense of scale is dizzying as Criss insouciantly flings from extreme to extreme, from prevarication to peril.
The show is both balm and menace, lurid exploitation and primal scream. The series doesn’t have the seismic, prestige heft of People v. O.J., and it doesn’t share its forebear’s piercing intelligence. But in its messy and obliterating swirl, The Assassination of Gianni Versace does something ambitious and rattling. It frames a gay disaster as an intrinsically American one, binding personal values with national ones, tethering one sense of self-worth to another.”
Television critics, Mark Dawidziak noted in his review that the pilot seemed uncertain.
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace doesn’t seem rushed so much as fuzzy and uncertain. In fact, give Murphy credit for attempting something completely different in tone, mood, style, look and pace. But where O.J. was sharply focused and magnificently detailed, Versace is ponderous and plodding.”
NPR’s John Powers, however, found the first episode compelling, stating: “This new series is still well worth watching. Murphy’s at his best when he takes tabloid material and, without draining away its juiciness, reframes it to grapple with serious issues.”
Moving to the actually Versace family, they have come out swinging against the FX series calling it “a work of fiction”, saying that they have not authorized it nor had any involvement in the series.
Responding to their views, FX has released a statement, stating: “Like the original American Crime Story series The People Vs OJ Simpson, which was based on Jeffrey Toobin’s non-fiction bestseller The Run of His Life, FX’s follow-up The Assassination Of Gianni Versace is based on Maureen Orth’s heavily researched and authenticated non-fiction best seller Vulgar Favors, which examined the true life crime spree of Andrew Cunanan. We stand by the meticulous reporting of Ms. Orth.”
It is true that the pilot, directed by Murphy, is not what anyone expected. But with eight episodes left, there is hope that the show will turn some of its spotlight back on the Versaces and not let Andrew Cunanan become the center of the story.
