In 2015, Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas was actively preparing to portray legendary Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace. That August, he even completed an intensive one-month course at the prestigious Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London to better embody the role. The plan was for Banderas to star in a film about the murdered designer, which was to be directed by Danish filmmaker Bille August.
The project was in development when, in 2016, it was announced that the next season of the popular anthology American Crime Story, produced by Ryan Murphy, would focus specifically on Versace’s murder.
In this context, it became clear that competing with a large-scale series from a major studio made little sense. The cast of the series was finalized by early 2017, and in July of that year, Banderas officially announced the cancellation of his film. According to Banderas, he met with director August at the Cannes Film Festival, where they discussed the situation.
Read more: Why Did Uma Thurman Turn Down ‘The Lord of the Rings’?
Later, Banderas admitted that over time he realized he was not the best candidate to play Gianni. His personal acquaintance with the designer showed him that Versace had a unique charisma—an intangible “something” that he himself lacked.
In addition, the project faced another obstacle: the Versace fashion house disliked the idea of cooperating, making it difficult for the director to obtain official support. Interestingly, the brand was also lukewarm toward Murphy’s series, yet it ultimately became the most prominent on-screen portrayal of Gianni Versace’s life and tragic death — effectively burying Antonio Banderas’s film.
