The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Wants to Celebrate the Lives of the Victims

Ryan Murphy, Darren Criss, Ricky Martin, Edgar Ramirez, and more spilled a few details about the upcoming season of the FX anthology series

By Lauren Piester Aug 10, 2017 1:49 AMTags

The Assassination of Gianni Versace is no People vs. O.J. Simpson

The cast and creative team behind the second installment of FX's American Crime Story anthology series addressed reporters during the FX portion of the TCA summer press tour and not only showed off the first eight minutes of the season, but also gave us a little bit of insight into what we'll see when the show returns in January. 

First of all, it's not going to be anything like the award-winning first season, which took place in a lot of court rooms after an infamous murder. Versace will spend its first episode exploring the murder, and then will go backwards to explore the lives of the people involved. 

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"We're telling the story backwards," Murphy revealed. "The first episode obviously deals with the literal murder itself, and then we tell the story in reverse." 

"We really get to examine the victims," he explained, referring to not only Gianni Versace, but everyone affected by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. "In many ways, we're trying to bring to life and celebrate those people that Andrew Cunanan snuffed out." 

According to Murphy, the show will dive into why Cunanan (played by Darren Criss) killed the five people he killed, but it's also about the state of society in 1997. 

"I think it's more than why he was killed, it's sort of why it was allowed to happen," Murphy said. "We're tying to talk about a crime within a social idea...Versace, who was the last victim, really did not have to die."

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American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: How the Cast Compares to Their Real-Life Counterparts

Ricky Martin, who portrays Gianni's partner Antonio D'Amico revealed that after reports that the real D'Amico disapproved of the project and Martin's portrayal, they spoke on the phone, and Martin did his best to prove it was a respectful portrayal. 

"I said yes to the project of course because I was invited by Ryan, but more than anything, there is a level of injustice with this story, that if I have the opportunity to even talk about it and shed some light on such an unfair scene for the world, I would not say no to it," Martin says he told D'Amico. "I want you to know, I told him, that I will make sure that people fall in love with your relationship with Gianni. That is what I'm here for...And he was extremely happy with it."  

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story will premiere in January 2018 on FX.