Ricky Martin signs up for gay American Crime Story role
Ricky Martin has signed up for a role as Gianni Versace’s same-sex partner on American Crime Story.
The anthology TV series will focus on a different topic each season, with the first season starring Cuba Gooding Jr as OJ Simpson.
The third season, set to air in late 2018, will focus on the case of Andrew Cunanan, who went on a three-month killing spree in 1997, in which he murdered five people including fashion designer Gianni Versace before taking his own life.
It was previously reported that Darren Criss will play Cunanan in the upcoming show.
It has now been announced that singer Ricky Martin will be joining the cast, as Versace’s partner Antonio D’Amico.
The role will be the first gay acting role for the Livin’ La Vida Loca singer since he came out as gay in real life in 2010.
The Puerto Rican musician is a father to sons Matteo and Valentino, born by a surrogate mother.
Relatively unknown actor Édgar Ramírez will play Gianni Versace, while Penélope Cruz will play his sister Donatella Versace.
The show will draw from Maureen Orth’s 1999 book Vulgar Favors, which covers the murder of Versace and the resulting manhunt for Cunanan, attempting to offer a psychological profile of the killer.
The motive for the killings was never clear, though newspapers made much of the sexuality of the openly gay serial killer, who lived in San Francisco’s Castro District and frequented local gay bars.
US network FX accelerated production after reading the first script and clearly being impressed by it. It’s expected that showrunner Murphy will direct the first episode.
Versace, born in 1946, founded the iconic fashion house that boasts his name, and ran the company until his death.
He was survived by his partner, model and designer Antonio D’Amico, who now runs his own fashion company.
American Crime Story’s first series, The People v. O.J. Simpson, picked up 10 Emmy Awards this year, including Outstanding Miniseries.
Murphy recently opened up about the issues he had with “very homophobic” studio executives while making Popular, one of his earlier shows.
He’s hoping to do better himself though, and has committed to hiring a diverse directing team, including women and ethnic minorities, across all his shows.
