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PEOPLES DAILY, friday, MARCH 23, 2018
Entertainment
FROM Tobias Lengnan Dapam
Nollywood films break into Hollywood N
‘American crime story: Versace’ finale is a warning about how a killer is made
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tar Darren Criss and writer Tom Rob Smith speak with THR about the final moments of killer Andrew Cunanan’s life and the themes of the second season of the FX anthology. While the weeks after the premiere of FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story illustrated the path that took Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) on a killing spree across the U.S., Wednesday’s season finale returned to the death of the famed fashion designer and the aftermath of his murder as Cunanan spent his frantic final days before killing himself on a Miami houseboat. The episode brought back many of the series’ allstar guest roster — Judith Light as widow Marilyn Miglin, Max Greenfield as Cunanan’s junkie friend Ronnie, Annaleigh Ashford as Cunanan’s oldest friend Elizabeth Cote, Jon JonBriones and Joanna P. Adler as Cu-
ing increasingly more emotional and hopeless as he took shelter in a houseboat, watching Gianni’s (Edgar Ramirez) Italian funeral on television and reminiscing about his time with the designer. “What if you had a dream your whole life that you were special, but no one believed it,” Cunanan asked. Versace responded that it wasn’t about potential, it was about following through. Penelope Cruz and Ricky Martin returned as Versace’s grieving sister, Donatella, and partner, Antonio D’Amico, respectively, for emotional scenes coming to terms with Versace’s death. And, after Cunanan ultimately shot himself, a final scene juxtaposing Cunanan’s unremarka b l e final resting place and lack of mourners with Versace’s opu-
nanan’s parents — to show how all of the series’ major players were coping with Cunanan’s crimes. Miglin, on business in nearby Tampa, was hoping her husband’s killer would be caught. Adler’s Mary Ann was dumbstruck that her son was responsible for such heinous crimes, Cote pleaded for the return of her kind-hearted friend, and Briones’ Modesto, whom Cunanan called in a desperate haze after realizing he wouldn’t be able to escape the cops, told his son he’d help him but then gave an interview on the news about a potential movie instead. Much of the hour-plus episode featured Cunanan becom-
lent mausoleum and Donatella’s palpable grief. For viewers surprised that Versace himself was present in so few of the series’ nine episodes, writer Tom Rob Smith tells The Hollywood Reporter that it was not his intention to tell Versace’s story. “We were upfront about the source material,” he explains. “We were never doing a biopic of Versace, because that’s this amazing success story. We were always doing a crime story, and the crime story is Cunanan. And what is interesting in relation to the crime story is the symbolism of Versace. What he represents, how he overcame everything that Andrew failed
to overcome: homophobia and relative poverty. All the things that made Versace a success compared to things that made Cunanan destructive.” The finale, Smith explains, is “bringing together all of these people that were destroyed and damaged by Andrew, and really exploring what it is to lose someone. I think this is one of the few stories where the victim’s loss is at the center of this piece — this hole that was created by Andrew.” While Cunanan’s final moments were largely fictional, since the killer was holed up in Miami alone, Criss tells THR that he first thought that Cunanan’s suicide was largely an act of desperation. But after speaking with Smith about it, he realized that the decision was very deliberate. “This is a guy who could have gone to court,” Crisssays.”He could have stretched it out forever. He could have been Charles Manson. If he was looking for fame and notoriety then he could have stuck with that. He could have been incarcerated and continued to be on magazines for the rest of his life. He adds, “This is a guy who has curated his entire life’s story very specifically, to the T. His backstory, what his parents did. Different people knew different versions of him because he was very specific of how his image would appear and what his story was. So I think he must have come to a point where he realized that if he was incarcerated, that narrative was taken away from him and the only way to control or almost canonize his notoriety and infamy would be to take his own life.”The season also touched on the internalized homophobia within law enforcement at the time that potentially hindered the investigation of Cunanan’s other murders before Versace — David Madson, Jeff Trail, Lee Miglin, William Reese — but Smith tells THR the way the homophobia affected Cunanan was also incredibly destructive.
ollywood films – 93 DAYS, THE BRIDGE and ISOKEN, would showcase in Hollywood, California, starting on Friday, in what would be the first collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood. This is the first time that the foremost film programme in the world and the most historic of all of Hollywood’s cinema houses are teaming up to bring a film series from Africa to Hollywood. Nigeria joined a select list of seven countries from around the world to be part of the prestigious national screening series, according to the organisers. The inaugural ‘NOLLYWOOD IN HOLLYWOOD’ event would hold at the world famous Egyptian Theater in Hollywood with a red-carpet on Friday night, which would feature the screening of 93 DAYS. It would be a question and answer series moderated by the Chairman of the African-American wing of the Directors Guild of America and an open air, postscreening Nigerian party on the historic Hollywood Boulevard. Also screening, on Saturday, are THE BRIDGE by KunleAfolayan and ISOKEN by Jade Osiberu. Afolayan, Steve Gukas of 93 DAYS and DakoreAkande of ISOKEN would be the ambassadors of Nollywood at the event. The event would be co-presented by the giants of the Hollywood film industry, the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California and The Grauman Egyptian Theatre. Also, O2A Media, Inc., the production company of Nigerian-American filmmaker, OseOyamendan, would be the other
co-presenter. In attendance would be top Hollywood film directors and actors, producers, distributors and faculty of the topmost film programme in the world, the school of cinematic arts at the University of Southern California. Also in attendance would be celebrities, Nigerian-born actors and filmmakers in Hollywood and Consul-Generals of some of African Embassies in Los Angeles. A video by Afolayan posted on Tuesday night about the event is one of the top trending videos on social media this week. Maceo Willis, the operations director for the event, described the historic event as “a miracle”. “It’s a miracle. No one would have thought University of Southern California and The Egyptian would be interested in putting Nollywood on showcase. “Ose – Oyamendan – made a strong case and he had the pedigree to back it up”. Willis, however, expressed disappointments at the lack of support for the historic event by Nigeria. “My biggest shock was that the Nigerian cultural ministry and embassy didn’t see the importance of backing an event that is the biggest showcase in African cinema history despite months of talking to them. “Nations beg for this opportunity that can transform a country’s film and tourism industries and Nigeria almost missed out on it. “Thankfully Air France stepped in and flew in the actors and filmmakers. Hopefully, this is the beginning of great things for Nollywood in Hollywood,” Willis said.
Tessa Thompson to join Chris Hemsworth in ‘Men in Black’ spinoff
Left, John Phillips, right, DimitriosKambouris.
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essa Thompson is joining her Thor: Ragnarok co-star Chris Hemsworth in Sony’s Men in Black reboot. Fate of the Furious filmmaker F. Gary Gray is set to direct the movie, written by Iron Man screenwriters Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. The studio has the film dated for June 14, 2019. Akin to how Jurassic World revived the Jurassic Park film series, Sony’s reboot is to feature new characters rather than Agents K and J, portrayed by original trilogy stars Tommy Lee Jones and
Will Smith, respectively, and will build on the contemporary sci-fi world in which they operated. Details are being kept hidden under a New York City ventilation tower, but sources say the new project is more of an ensemble piece than a two-hander and will be more global in scope. Hemsworth’s deal isn’t closed but is expected to. Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are back as producers, while Steven Spielberg is returning as executive producer. David Beaubaire is over-
seeing for Sony. In addition to her scenestealing work as the Asgardian warrior Valkyrie in Ragnarok, Thompson appeared in Alex Garland’s recent sci-fi picture Annihilation and is currently shooting Creed II, returning for the boxing drama sequel along with Michael B. Jordan. This summer she’ll stars in Annapurna’s Sorry to Bother You and has a prominent role in HBO’s upcoming second season of Westworld, which launches this spring. She is repped by Greene and Associates, Mosaic and JackowayTyerman.