{"id":111061,"date":"2017-08-10T02:14:38","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T06:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=111061"},"modified":"2017-08-10T02:14:38","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T06:14:38","slug":"ricky-martin-defends-versace-murder-drama-as-respectful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/10\/ricky-martin-defends-versace-murder-drama-as-respectful\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Martin defends Versace murder drama as respectful"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ricky<\/a>
Ricky Martin in store appearance, Westfield Hurstville, Sydney Australia (Photo By Eva Rinaldi – Ricky Martin in store appearance, Sydney Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES — Ricky Martin said he reassured Gianni Versace’s longtime partner Antonio D’Amico that the pair will be treated respectfully in a TV drama about Versace’s 1997 murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll make sure people fall in love with your relationship with Gianni,\u201d Martin, who plays D’Amico in FX’s \u201cThe Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,\u201d recounted telling him.<\/p>\n

Martin said he spoke by phone Wednesday to D’Amico after he had publicly criticized the series for what he called inaccuracies. It’s in production and set to air in January.<\/p>\n

Executive producer Ryan Murphy, taking part in a panel discussion Wednesday, said D’Amico may have been judging the project based on a paparazzi photo snapped during filming outside Versace’s Miami Beach mansion. It’s where the famed fashion designer was shot by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.<\/p>\n

But Murphy said the series is a drama and not a documentary, adding, \u201cyou have to be respectful but make it your own.\u201d It’s part of his \u201cAmerican Crime Story\u201d anthology that began with the Emmy-winning \u201cThe People v. O.J. Simpson.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reference to \u201cassassination\u201d in the title is deliberate, Murphy said.<\/p>\n

The word has a political overtone that indicates killing to make a point, \u201cand that’s exactly what Andrew Cunanan did,\u201d he said of the man believed to have killed at least four others before Versace. Cunanan committed suicide about a week later as police tracked him.<\/p>\n

Cunanan was targeting gay men and Versace was among the rare celebrities who dared to be open about their sexuality at a repressive time, Murphy said. That motivation and law enforcement’s failure to stop the murders, which Murphy blamed on homophobia, were chief reasons he decided to make the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cVersace was the last victim and he didn’t have to die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez (\u201cThe Girl on the Train\u201d) plays Versace, with Darren Criss (\u201cGlee\u201d) as Cunanan and Penelope Cruz as Versace’s sister, Donatella.<\/p>\n

Murphy said the series honours the loss of all Cunanan’s victims who were taken too soon. But Versace was a genius whose potential to disrupt society was lost, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re in a world that Gianni Versace created,\u201d Ramirez said, one that combined sexiness, glamour and opulence in unparalleled ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Ricky Martin said he reassured Gianni Versace’s longtime partner Antonio D’Amico that the pair will be treated …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":111063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[20905,11191,20904],"class_list":["post-111061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-antonio-damico","tag-gianni-versace","tag-ricky-martin","mauthors-lynn-elber","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}