Biopics are always a touchy subject, especially when it comes to those that lived through the events being depicted. The heirs to the Gucci fashion empire have certainly made their feelings known when it comes to Ridley Scott’s latest film, House of Gucci. They protested throughout the production, and now the release of the Lady Gaga/Adam Driver led ensemble piece, the Guccis haven’t minced words when it comes to their disapproval of the finished product. Frankly, neither has the director, as Ridley Scott dropped an F-bomb after the Gucci family complained about this recent picture.
During a Q&A with Total Film, via GamesRadar, Scott went hard when it came to some of the numerous criticisms that have been lobbed at his awards hopeful. Weighing in on the ever present debate of physical resemblance versus performance, Sir Ridley exhibited his trademark candor, and chose his swearing carefully when defending the choice of Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci. Here’s what he had to say:
The people that were writing from the family to us at the onset were alarmingly insulting, saying that Al Pacino did not represent physically Aldo Gucci in any shape or form. And yet, frankly, how could they be better represented than by Al Pacino? Excuse me! You probably have the best actors in the world, you should be so fucking lucky.
Casting actors like Pacino and Jared Leto in House of Gucci is always going to be a hot button issue. That much was true from the beginning, as Patrizia Gucci made the family’s displeasure known quite early in the press cycle for the recent box office hit. Based on the details that Sir Scott has provided in his statement above, it sounds like this correspondence took place around the time of Ms. Gucci’s comments, if not before.
While his defense of Al Pacino is pretty standard, Sir Ridley Scott went on to defend two more points of order in the same conversation. The comedic tone that’s present in portions of the film, as well as the casting of Jared Leto as Paulo Gucci, both overlapped into a special sort of storm for The Last Duel director to elaborate upon. Mr. Scott tackled those twin subjects with these expletive free words:
I think a lot of it is comedic. Certainly for the first two acts. Jared Leto, there's not a lot of information about [his character] Paolo, but there are pictures of Paolo and that's exactly what Paolo looks like. We found the pictures and Jared did what he did and dressed the way Paolo dressed. There's not a lot of Paolo on camera talking. And so that had to be, to a certain extent, imagined, but clearly Paolo was a very colorful and flamboyant man.
If you’re making a movie about the lives of people who are still living, there’s always going to be a controversy. House of Gucci is only the latest case study in such bone picking, and even fashion designer Tom Ford, as well as convicted murderer Patrizia Reggiano have been vocal about their own displeasure. No matter what, the film is out in the open, and it’s gotten critics and audiences talking about what they like, and what they don’t. So all of this controversy just might make the finished product even more of a can’t miss social event.
House of Gucci is currently showing in theaters, just in time for awards season buzz to potentially carry it throughout the rest of the year’s calendar. Other movies could see that same sort of attention, as we’re not over 2021’s release schedule just yet. If you want to dive deeper into the process that went into this very picture, Sir Scott was a recent guest on our in-house podcast ReelBlend, and there’s also a series of interviews with the cast that may be of interest.
