FX(NEW YORK) — Following in the footsteps of the highly-rated, Emmy-winning The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, producer Ryan Murphy’s follow-up, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, could also win Emmy gold tonight.
Inspired by actual events, Assassination centers on the murder of the world-famous designer by Andrew Cunanan, a con man and brutal spree killer who murdered four people prior to killing Versace. He became the subject of a nationwide manhunt that landed him on the FBI’s Most Wanted List before he fatally shot himself on July 23rd, 1997.
The drama has scored 18 Emmy nominations — the most of any limited series this year — including Outstanding Supporting Actor noms for Edgar Ramirez, who plays the doomed lead character, and Ricky Martin, who plays his lover. Penelope Cruz and Judith Light also were recognized in the Outstanding Supporting actress category.
Glee veteran Darren Criss was nominated in the lead actor category for playing Cunanan, and he tells ABC Radio what drew him to the part.
“I’m in the business of…feelings, and psychology,” he explains. “So getting to get your hands on somebody who had such a massive array of emotions and, and thought processes that were so close to being the best of us, but were just ‘off’ enough to be the other side of that? That’s fascinating.”
He continues, “[Cunanan] was such a chameleonic liar that you just — we just don’t know what’s true or what’s not. So you have to…stick to the sort of emotional core of…things that happened to him, and…that happened to people around him.”
The 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards air tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
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