LOS ANGELES (AP) – 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.
“I’ll make sure people fall in love with your relationship with Gianni,” Martin, who plays D’Amico in FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, recounted telling him.
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.
Executive producer Ryan Murphy, taking part in a panel discussion Wednesday with Martin and others working on the project, said D’Amico may have been judging it 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.
But Murphy said the series is a drama and not a documentary, adding, “you have to be respectful but make it your own.” It’s part of his American Crime Story anthology that began with the Emmy-winning The People v. O.J. Simpson.
