Guccio Gucci’s great-grandchildren, who founded the luxury fashion house named after him a century ago in Florence, ask filmmaker Ridley Scott to respect the family’s legacy in a new film that focuses on a sensational crime.
“Gucci’s House,” starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, is based on a book about the murder of one of Gucci’s grandchildren, Maurizio, in 1995, and the subsequent trial and conviction of his ex-wife.
Patrizia Reggiani, played by Lady Gaga, has served 16 years in prison for the crime.
One of Maurizio’s secondary cousins, Patrizia Gucci, is worried that the film will go beyond a real captivating crime story and enter the private lives of Guccio Gucci’s heirs.
“We are really disappointed. I speak on behalf of the family, “Gucci told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “They steal a family’s identity for profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system … Our family has an identity, intimacy. We can talk about anything, but there is a border that cannot be crossed. “
Patrizia Gucci said she contacted Ridley Scott’s wife, Giannina Facio, for clarification on the film’s scope, but received no response.
Facio met with members of the Gucci family in the early 2000s to discuss another project that should have focused on the roles of Patrizia Gucci’s father, Paolo, and grandfather, Aldo, in expanding the brand into a player.
The fact that the production company did not reach the new film only adds to the family’s worries, he said.
Ridley Scott’s production company did not respond to requests for comment, also made through its Italian counterpart.
Guccis are not the first Italian fashion family to struggle with on-screen representations of tragic events.
The Versace family released a statement in 2018 about Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” season about the assassination of fashion house founder Gianni Versace, saying the TV series is not licensed and should be considered “a piece of fiction.”
Patrizia Gucci said that her family will decide what additional actions they will take after seeing the film.
Their concerns stem from the cast of the best actors playing family members whose stories intersect little with the assassination of Maurizio Gucci, the current lack of contact with Scott’s producer, and the inaccuracies I see in the book on which the film is based.
Al Pacino plays Aldo Gucci, whom his niece remembers as an experienced salesman who opened Gucci stores in Rome through Condotti and New York, attracting VIP customers and expanding the brand’s global coverage.
Jared Leto also plays Paolo Gucci, whose creative contributions included the idea of creating the famous double G Goble logo, as well as signed moccasins and laminated bags.
This story is told in his own book, “Gucci, the true story of a successful dynasty”, which was published in Italian in 2015.
Patrizia Gucci said the paparazzi photos from the “Gucci’s House” set were not at all reassuring.
“My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all Guccis, and very tall, with blue eyes and very elegant. He is played by Al Pacino, who is no longer very tall, and this photo shows him fat, short, with pearls, very ugly. Shameful, because it doesn’t look like him at all “, said Patrizia Gucci.
Meanwhile, Leto’s Paolo Gucci is presented with unkempt hair and a lilac velor suit that doesn’t fit his daughter’s memories at all. Horrible, horrible. I still feel offended, “she said.
The Gucci family has not been involved in the Gucci fashion house since 1993, when Maurizio sold his remaining stake in Investcorp in Bahrain. It was later bought by the French group PPR, which is now Kering.
The fashion house cooperates with “Gucci’s House”, opening its archives of the film company for costumes and accessories. Salma Hayek, the wife of Kering’s CEO, Francois-Henri Pinault, appears in the film. Leto is a close friend of creative director Alessandro Michele.