Ryan Murphy: screenwriter, director, producer, sadist. Back in October, the American Crime Story creator hinted (none-too-subtly) that Lady Gaga would play the role of Donatella Versace in the show’s third season, titled Versace/Cunanan: American Crime Story. (While moderating an EW PopFest panel, Tim Stack put it to Murphy that Gaga would be the perfect choice to play Donatella, to which the TV exec replied, with a cheeky smile, “Ya think?”). In November, US Weekly confirmed the news.
Now, however, Murphy claims he was just toying with our emotions. In a recent interview with Variety, Murphy explained that the Joanne singer simply doesn’t have the time to impersonate her designer BFF. “She’s a friend. But she’s very busy this next year,” Murphy confessed. “She’s doing Super Bowl and then she’s doing A Star Is Born, and I believe that she’s going on tour. And when you’re going to do a show like Versace, it’s a five-month commitment, it’s a very big show, we’re shooting it all over the world. So I just don’t think with her schedule, I knew that it would never had (sic) worked.”
Of course, as the Cut points out, the showrunner has a certain fondness for messing with his viewers’ heads for the sake of hype. Ahead of the sixth season of American Horror Story, Murphy greenlit the release of fake teasers that made it impossible for watchers to guess the actual theme of the show. So, for all we know, Gaga could still be on board. The performer does have a habit of showing up places unannounced. But still, it’s unlikely that Murphy would go on record and flat-out lie to Variety, so maybe Versace/Cunanan will be tragically Gaga-free.
We’re left with three questions: Why would you hurt us this way, Ryan Murphy? With Donatella’s doppelgänger out of the running, who will play the murder victim’s younger sister? Why did Cunanan do it? We suppose we’ll have to tune in to find out. Well played, Murphy. Well played.
[ via Variety ]
