Edgar Ramirez became very emotional when it came to portraying Gianni Versace’s death in a new TV series.
The Venezuelan actor stars in Ryan Murphy’s FX show The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, which explores the murder of the Italian fashion designer by serial killer Andrew Cunanan in 1997.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night (17Jan18), Edgar shared that the death scene was the hardest to film, especially as it was shot at the exact spot where Gianni died, outside his mansion in Miami Beach, Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8fq9IIWCcU
“It was the same steps, it was very emotional. Those were the steps where he died, actually where he was dying because he was actually declared dead maybe 40 minutes after he got shot,” he said. “So, for me, it was very difficult not think maybe during those minutes that he was lying on those steps, he was unconscious but maybe he was listening, listening to all the chaos and all the pain around him. So that haunted me for a while.”
The Versace family have distanced themselves from the TV show and Maureen Orth’s 1999 book on the subject, Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U. S. History, deeming them to be “works of fiction”.
However, Edgar is certain that the TV show not only accurately displays real events but also delves deeper into other issues affecting society in the 1990s.
“Ryan has an amazing talent to identify stories that are both dramatically gripping and at the same time are socially and culturally relevant,” the 40-year-old shared. “The underlying theme of our show is homophobia. Because basically, we tend to think in the ’90s the world was just like our world today, and actually, it was very different. Because when you look into this investigation the element that comes back to the surface constantly is the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ element.”
When questioned over whether or not he realized he resembled Gianni previously, Edgar said he had never considered the comparison, and feels his own father is the real doppelganger, just with “less hair and more tan”.
