Search found 6 matches for BehindTheScenes

Los Angeles Times wrote:
'Assassination of Gianni Versace' delves into the mind of a killer — and societal prejudice

June 20, 2018

The second season focused on the mysterious backstory of spree killer Andrew Cunanan, a gay gigolo and prolific liar who killed four men before his infamous 1997 murder of groundbreaking Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace — one of the few openly gay celebrities of that time. (Cunanan, 27 at the time of Versace’s murder, would kill himself days later.)

In the midst of unpacking all of that, the drama presented a striking portrait of homophobia in the 1990s by examining the injustice that was steeped in societal prejudice — particularly in regards to how police officials handled the case — and the toll of hate, from outside and within.

“The underlying theme was homophobia,” said Edgar Ramirez, who played Versace. “The show talks about the open and raging political homophobia on one side, and it also talks about the internalized — and even more dangerous — homophobia within. What I love about this whole project is how, almost in the likes of a Greek tragedy, it touches upon subjects that are important and that are culturally and socially relevant today more than ever.”

[. . . ]

Criss, who before “Versace” had largely been known for his bright-eyed turn in Murphy’s musical series, “Glee,” was struck by the psychological mapping the role required.

“There’s a lot of different ways we could have written Andrew, because there’s a lot of different ways anybody can glean who he was or what really made him tick,“ Criss said. “People always ask, ‘What’s it’s like to play a spree killer?’ If you boil it down to just that, that’s not who he was. It’s what we know him for. But if you think of all the worst things that anybody’s ever done in their life, the amount of time they spent doing that horrible thing is in the severe minority of the infinite minutes, hours, seconds, moments of their life. Again, I’m not saying this by any means exonerates him from those horrible minutes of his life, but it does beg the attention of the other moments.”

[. . . ]

While Versace’s name brings heft to the narrative, the drama was just as invested in bringing attention to Cunanan’s lesser-known victims — Gulf War veteran and Cunanan’s good friend Jeffrey Trail; architect and Cunanan’s unrequited love David Madson; real estate mogul Lee Miglin; and cemetery caretaker William Reese — and the people whose lives were affected by those murders.

[. .  . ]

[Judith] Light says she hadn’t known much about Cunanan’s killings prior to joining the series. But she remembers the ethos of the time distinctly.

“I didn’t really know much about Cunanan’s prior victims,” she said. “So I wasn’t too familiar with the Miglin case. I remember the Versace killing, and I remember it was a very powerful, visceral experience. One of the most important factors in watching this is to see that, to whatever degree, we still have that [homophobia] going on in our culture.”

That function as a sociological yearbook is ultimately what binds “Versace” to “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

“They’re very different stories,” Criss said. “But they’re excellent examinations of a time period that allows a certain thing to happen, which ends up being a crime — but how that crime affects the social landscape is also a crime.”

TV Line wrote:
Emmys 2018: Lead Actor, Limited Series — Dream Nominees

DARREN CRISS, THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: Gianni Versace may have gotten his name featured in the title of FX’s second American Crime Story, but it was Andrew Cunanan — played to haunting perfection by a not-so-Gleeful Darren Criss — who captivated audiences until the season’s unforgettable conclusion. With each gut-wrenching breakdown and unnerving look, Criss embodied a character capable of skyrocketing him from teen-TV heartthrob to Emmy-nominated powerhouse. And need we remind you about that infamous underwear dance? Playing this role took some serious, well, you know.

 

Track: Darren Criss on Sud Radio (06-20-18)

Darren Criss on Sud Radio (June 20th, 2018) | Source

*Darren’s speaking in English and it is being translated in real time to French.

**Interview recorded on June 17th, 2018

Episode stills for episode 4 of The Assassination of Gianni Versace | 20 June 2018

E! News wrote:
Ryan Murphy Talks New Show With Ricky Martin, and Why He Can't Care Too Much What Donatella Thinks

Mar. 21, 2018

In an exclusive chat with E! News, Murphy reveals how he knew Darren Criss, as Cunanan, could take the show to the depths it needed, his thoughts on the man behind the monster, Andrew's father, Modesto "Pete" Cunanan, and why he can't concern himself too much with what Donatella might think.

There was some skepticism when Darren Criss was cast as Cunanan that he could pull it off, and the finale feels like his most challenging work yet. Did you initially have any doubts?

I did not. It's something Darren and I have been talking about for a long time and I was never going to make this show unless he did it. The stars aligned and I was proud of him. He showed up every day very prepared. He worked longer and harder than anybody. He sensed this could be really the role of a lifetime because they don't write roles like this for young actors. This part is Shakespearean. It's the most difficult, multi-faceted role of the year. It's essentially nine hours of somebody having a nervous breakdown. He went for it. I knew he would.

The final two episodes shed a lot of light on Andrew Cunanan's relationship with his father. Do you feel like his dad was the real monster behind this tragedy?

In no way did I want to glamorize what Andrew Cunanan did, because what he did was monstrous and horrific and took the lives of five people. I was interested in showing the trail of destruction that he left but also interested in… nobody is born a monster. Nobody is born a psychopath or sociopath and I thought, unlike OJ Simpson, where we never really went into OJ's backstory or childhood in that way, here was an opportunity that we could.

And I thought that Andrew's father being a Filipino man and chasing the American dream and having to win at all costs – were things that he passed down to his son. And I think the physical abuse, the sexual abuse, that Andrew witnessed his father hitting his mother repeatedly, the violence that he grew up with, he became desensitized to it and that was all in the water and part of the reason why he was able to kill so easily and with very little remorse.

What is known about whether Andrew was physically or sexually abused by his father? The show strongly infers it, but doesn't actually go there.

It's hard because it's hard to substantiate that. We had people discussing his childhood, who claimed in Maureen Orth's book that, look, any boy that's given the master bedroom…you have have to question what those motivations are about. But obviously, we had a point of view, and Maureen Orth had a point of view, and eye witnesses and people who knew Andrew. But everybody was a victim in it. It's such a dark, American story about identity and the quest for fame and all of that stuff, which are issues that I've always been interested in.

[. . . ]

Spoiler alert, and it's a small thing, but … Did Darren Criss really eat dog food for the scene in tonight's finale?
Andrew Cunanan definitely ate dog food. Darren did not eat dog food, although I don't know what that stuff was, but whenever I would watch the edits, it would make me gag. It was wet and moldy. I wouldn't recommend it.

The finale of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story airs tonight, 10 p.m. on FX.

ET Canada wrote:
Stars Talk ‘ACS: Assassination Of Gianni Versace’ Finale



“American Crime Story: Assassination of Gianni Versace” stars Ricky Martin, Edgar Ramirez and Darren Criss talk about the final episode of the show and why they hope the show will spark a conversation about ongoing homophobia in America.

Darren Criss Army wrote:
ACS Versace Appreciation Days #ThanksForACSVersace



















For more info: @TheCrissProject

carlinjames917: Tonight, America meets the Cunanans! #ACSVersace
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#AmericanCrimeStory #FamilyPhoto #Versace #AndrewCunanan #FilAm #GianniVersace #Filipino #Italian #Americans #DarrenCriss #ActorLife #BehindTheScenes #DysfunctionalFamilyPhoto

Los Angeles Times wrote:
'The Flash' and 'Supergirl' musical crossover kills with cuteness

March 22, 2017

Watching the jaunty episode titled “Duet” was like inhaling pure joy — a saccharine-saturated performance so ridiculously self-aware that both leads Barry “The Flash” Allen (Grant Gustin) and Kara “Supergirl” Danvers (Melissa Benoist) intermittently dropped character to look around the set, as if they too couldn’t believe the charm of what they were creating.

Former “Glee” star Darren Criss was cast as antagonist the Music Meister. He popped into the last few minutes of a previous “Supergirl” episode and “whammied” (yes, whammied) Supergirl into the musical fantasy land.

[. . . ]

Naturally, Supergirl’s National City “Scooby” gang were concerned about said “whammying,” so they crossed over to the alternate dimension that houses Flash and his Central City compatriots. Fortunately, the Flash was also whammied by the Meister and — presto! — the musical crossover was set.

Although the rationale behind the villain’s evil scheme wasn’t entirely coherent — he wanted to drain their powers while making them understand love, or something? — it didn’t need to be. Criss was put in this episode for two reasons: to look good in red suspenders and to sing. And he did both quite well.

[. . . ]

If you’re going to do a musical episode on television and compete with legendary greats like “Once More With Feeling” from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “The Nightman Cometh” installment of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” the key is to commit.

“The Flash” accomplished this by doubling down with a happy ending that wound up with the title character proposing to his love interest, Iris West (Candice Patton), through song. The number, penned by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (who just won an Oscar for “City of Stars” from “La La Land”), hits hard when the world’s fastest superhero starts crooning “Runnin’ Home to You.”

“Duet” was sweet, sweet cheese. It was a kitten delivering a Hallmark card with the words “you’re purr-fect” spelled out in glitter. But it knew it and steered into the delightful.

In a TV world awash in procedural dramas and murder mysteries, sometimes it feels pretty great to take a song break.