Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/974985
T H E A S S A S S I N A T I O N O F G I A N N I V E R S A C E | P E R S P E C T I V E 5 7 In The Assassination of Gianni Versace, there's a killer and a victim, each with operatic tastes. While Gianni Versace lived amid every flourish of his imagination, Andrew Cunanan had next to nothing, but hungered for everything. grand reinvention of his sink setup has dual gold basins and gold faucets in a black marble counter. At the stand-in for the nearby Normandy Hotel, Andrew holes up among hustlers and addicts. The soundstage interior featured a sink discolored with rust and microbial life that suggested how the hotel's denizens lived close to death. A joy for me is knowing that Ryan is always as interested as I am in both high and low, the glamour and the grit. Early in our process, I presented boards that included roadside structures in poetic decline, as captured by Stephen Shore. The storytelling would not catch up to these sets for many months, but Ryan noticed the minute detritus, the signs of wear and anguish—asking me never to sanitize. I had license, from start to finish, to balance the lavish with the vile. And it was a long way: The story presents stark scenery and sanctuaries in a hellbent cross- A. VERSACE CASA CASAURINA SET, BUILT ON FOX STAGE 16. B. NORMANDY HOTEL INTERIOR BUILT ON FOX STAGE 10. PHOTOS COURTESY OF FX. B